SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Dozens of graduates and family members silently stood and walked out Sunday as Vice President Mike Pence began his address at Notre Dame’s commencement ceremony.
Pence, the former governor of Indiana, was invited to speak after Notre Dame students and faculty protested the prospect of President Donald Trump being invited to become the seventh U.S. president to give the commencement address.
Pence spoke briefly of Trump, praising his speech to the leaders of 50 Arab and Muslim nations earlier in the day in Saudi Arabia. Pence said the president “spoke out against religious persecution of all people of all faiths and on the world stage he condemned, in his words, the murder of innocent Muslims, the oppression of women, the persecution of Jews and the slaughter of Christians.”
Trump has faced harsh criticism for his anti-Islamic rhetoric during the campaign, as well as his administration’s legal battle to impose a travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries.
Earlier in the ceremony, valedictorian Caleb Joshua Pine urged a “stand against the scapegoating of Muslims” and criticized Trump’s push to build a wall along the Mexican border.
Cassandra Dimaro and her parents were among those who walked out. Dimaro told the South Bend Tribune that it was a show of solidarity “for those of us impacted by the policies of the Trump administration.”
Pence didn’t comment on the walkout, which was expected, but he did allude to clashes at campuses elsewhere that have derailed appearances by controversial speakers, such as conservative firebrand Ann Coulter at the University of California at Berkeley.
“This university (Notre Dame) is a vanguard of the freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas at a time, sadly, when free speech and civility are waning on campuses across America,” he said.
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I saw plenty of conservatives crowing about how these are the millennial brats who will never get a job, but if they had any knowledge of contemporary workplace politics they’d know it’s the Pences of the world who are the nuisance employees getting shoved out the door.
Crow all you want, conservatives… What I see is young people who care enough to take action, even in a small way. These are people who will vote, who will volunteer, who will twll their friends and family about their views.
These young people will decide the future, and they’ve decided they don’t want to sit through any more of your bullshit.
I had to laugh out loud when I read somewhere that susPence “looked forward
to introducing the graduates to new ideas.”
I’m sure they sat in rapt attention as he crowed about the most recent
technological breakthrough he’d recently witnessed.
My favorite was the young woman with the LGBTQ flag painted on her mortarboard who stood
almost directly in front of him and turned her back. Snap!
Some grads protested Obama’s speech at ND 8 years ago, too.
Both then and now, they all got degrees from a prestigious school that will substantially lower the odds of them ever going hungry, living without health insurance, or being homeless.
It is interesting to note the folks who are critical of these students and would use the term ones conscious when disagreeing with a speaker or policy. They will defend the Little Sisters of the poor who don’t want to sign a waver.
Yet they trash these students who merely turned their backs and walked out.
The graduates see their more Pope Francis like Catholic values upended and don’t want to hear a man and administration who has contempt for public institutions and whose policies have a detrimental impact on them and the country. A man who thinks a woman’s fertility ought to be managed by the state a thinks gays ought to be “repaired”
Policies would lead to 24 million fewer with health insurance. A potential rise in the maternal and infant death rate. Allowing 45k per year to die because of the lack of health insurance. Some underfunded voucher plan for veterans.
Support for scam for profit schools while attempting to gut public education what John Dewey called “the great leveler” You could see why they dislike the administration.