Notre Dame Fine With Students’ Plan to Protest Mike Pence Speech

Notre Dame Fine With Students’ Plan to Protest Mike Pence Speech

This is about more than Mike Pence. These students are disrespecting the office of the Vice President.

The Washington Post reports:

Notre Dame students plan to protest against Mike Pence at commencement — and the university is okay with it

Some graduating seniors at the University of Notre Dame say they are planning to protest the presence of Vice President Pence at their commencement by standing up and quietly walking out of the ceremony. School officials say they won’t try to stop them.

Pence will give the commencement address at the nation’s most prominent Catholic university on May 21 at the campus in South Bend, Ind. In the past, the university invited newly inaugurated presidents to give the address in their first year of office — and six previous presidents accepted — but this year was different.

Thousands of students and faculty members signed a petition asking Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John Jenkins, not to invite him, saying that they did not think Trump’s actions and behavior were in line with the school’s values. While there were Trump supporters who wanted him to speak, the school decided to instead invite Pence, a former Indiana governor.

A coalition of student activist groups at Notre Dame called We StaND For is planning the walkout to protest policies Pence pursued as governor that they say targeted the most vulnerable. Other groups from outside the school community will, at the same time, hold a protest just south of campus to show solidarity with the students, according to Bryan Ricketts of We StaND For.

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