Did you know that Barack Obama gave the commencement speech at Notre Dame in 2009? Did students walk out on him? And what would have happened if they did? Conservative students did protest Obama in 2009 over disapproval of his abortion policy and embryonic stem-cell research, but there was no disruption of the ceremony.
Five other presidents in addition to Obama have given speeches at Notre Dame’s commencement ceremonies, but Sunday marked the first commencement address by a vice president. Notre Dame also honored Pence with an honorary degree. Pence is a native of Indiana and was raised Catholic but did not attend Notre Dame. University President Rev. John I. Jenkins said, “It is fitting that in the 175th year of our founding on Indiana soil that Notre Dame recognize a native son who served our state and now the nation with quiet earnestness, moral conviction and a dedication to the common good characteristic of true statesmen”
Just as Pence began to speak, a few students got up, turned around and walked out. Really? The snowflakes continue to amaze and astound. Student Luis Miranda, part of the student group We Stand For, organized the protest to stand up for poor people. Miranda said that Pence’s policies as Indiana governor targeted vulnerable people, and went on to say that some of his family members are undocumented immigrants.
“They are going to be in the audience in one of the most important moments of my life with someone targeting them for who they are,” he said. Students began planning the walkout weeks ago when Pence was named as commencement speaker in March.
The students actually sent out a Facebook event to solicit other students and of course live Tweet the protest (looks like the snowflakes DO have something in common with Trump after all). Around 70 students walked out, and gathered at the campus main gate to wait it out. Miranda said it wasn’t about the numbers, it was about standing up for truth. What truth?
Specifically, the students issued a statement, saying they were protesting several things, including Governor Pence’s prevention of Syrian refugee settlements in Indiana and Pence’s support of the Trump immigration ban and sanctuary city policy. And of course, what protest would be complete without throwing in Pence’s opposition to gay rights, which, of course, the students included for good measure.
Apparently, the university wasn’t too worried about the protest. To their credit, the walkout organizers did actually consult with Notre Dame administrators and police to plan the protest. University spokesperson Paul Browne stated before the event that he thought students would be respectful in expressing their differences of opinion with the administration. And they were.
Pence is one of several Republicans who have had to deal with student protests at commencement speeches this May. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was booed at her speech at the historically black Bethune-Cookman University.
Pence didn’t miss a beat. True to form, he was a class act all the way. He never gave credence to the walkout specifically, but he did praise Notre Dame as a “vanguard of freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas”.
He went on to say that he was happy to see a campus with open deliberation: “Sadly, when free speech and civility are waning on campuses across America, Notre Dame is a campus where deliberation is welcomed, where opposing views are debated, and where every speaker, no matter how unpopular or unfashionable, is afforded the right to air their views in the open for all to hear.” Hurrah!
Pence condemned other campuses for creating an environment of political correctness, safe zones, policies on tones, and stated that all of these are not helpful and are definitely forms of suppression of free speech.
Parents Thomas and Nataline Duffy traveled from New Jersey and were in attendance to see their son graduate; they described the walkout as “disgraceful”. Duffy went on to say “We think it’s in poor taste. We think it’s disrespectful. It’s so unnecessary. This is a good man who is coming here for graduation. I think better of Notre Dame students that they’d do this kind of thing. But it’s a very small group. I don’t think they represent Notre Dame at all.” Duffy’s son did not participate and didn’t know any of the students who did.
What remains to be seen is whether in 20 years, these cream puffs will look back and say “I walked out on the Vice President of the United States rather than walk across the stage like a big boy or girl and get the diploma I’ve earned”.
It would also be interesting to find out what these student’s parents thought as they walked out on their graduation ceremony. Notre Dame tuition is roughly $40,000 a year. After coughing up $120,000 to educate their child wouldn’t parents want to proudly watch them walk across the stage, only to see them storm out of the ceremony like a five-year-old who didn’t get a cookie?
~ Christian Patriot Daily
