University of Notre Dame leftists are in an uproar over the announcement that Vice President Mike Pence will be delivering their spring commencement address in May and will receive an honorary degree from the institution. Outraged students are citing the comfort of their families and a difference in values as justification for their opposition. Some are even boycotting the ceremony, and liberal activist groups are leading the charge against the invite.
Notre Dame senior Xitlaly Estrada and her friends lament their big day will be compromised by Pence’s opposing values.
“A lot of us are concerned for our families’ comfort,” says Estrada, president of the Latino Student Alliance. According to NBC News, Estrada and other LSA members worry that their guests will feel unwelcome at a ceremony honoring an administration that has “degraded” their Hispanic identities.
For Estrada and her like-minded peers, however, it really boils down to a personal conflict— an inability to stomach someone they don’t like. Estrada explains, “having a commencement speaker that is diametrically opposed to everything I am and everything I stand for is very heartbreaking.” Like so many college students, they have been conditioned to believe that they should not have to hear any opinion that disagrees with their own.
Interestingly enough, Estrada believes the Trump administration is “anti-Catholic” and that Pence as “anti-woman.” It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that most of the university’s leadership finds itself on the same side of the fence. After all, they welcomed President Barack Obama with open arms in 2009 despite his pro-abortion stance and connections with Planned Parenthood, both of which are “diametrically opposed” to the Catholic Church and its teachings. The university has also welcomed speakers like abortion activist Wendy Davis who, in 2016, told students how abortion is necessary for the advancement of women, and praised Planned Parenthood.
Jessica Pedroza, vice-president of the Student Coalition for Immigration Advocacy at Notre Dame is also up at arms about the announcement for similar reasons. She believes that “Trump and Pence have run a campaign based on hate and fear against certain communities,” and that conferring an honorary degree on Pence will somehow minimize its value.
Before the announcement, thousands of students and faculty members signed a petition urging the school to break with tradition and not to invite President Donald Trump. Four of the last six presidents have delivered a commencement address at the Catholic university during their first year in office, but it’s unclear if Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, even invited Trump.
Jenkins is no fan of the POTUS, arguing his executive order limiting travel and refugees from some Muslim-majority countries would “demean our nation.” In December, he expressed hesitation about inviting Trump, as he didn’t “want the surrounding controversy to distract from the central purpose of commencement.” Obviously, he thought Pence was a safer choice.
As Indiana’s 50th governor, Pence is thrilled about the honor, and is not letting the controversy get to him. In a White House statement, he noted:
While there is a chance that the university will rescind their invite out of cowardice, as Rutgers did to Condaleeza Rice in 2014, it is likely that graduating snowflakes will have to stake out their safe space outside of the ceremony.
