Notre Dame Students Walked Out In Protest as Mike Pence Gave a Graduation Speech
Move over, Betsy DeVos! There’s another political figure getting booed and causing protests as they try and give a graduation commencement speech.
Vice President Pence was in his home state of Indiana to deliver the commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, an 85% Catholic school, on Sunday, and protesters were ready for him.
The protest, which was organized by the University of Notre Dame student activist coalition We StaND For, saw about 150 students walk out of the commencement ceremony to a few boos and a few cheers.
According to the Indy Star, students had been planning this act of resistance for weeks, and knew they would not be able to re-enter the ceremony after they left.
They were protestingPence’s views on LGBT and women’s rights, immigration, and criminal justice, andmade that known by leaving the second he took the podium.
In his speech, Pence praised Notre Dame for maintaining an atmosphere of civility and open debate.
“Far too many campuses across America have become characterized by speech codes, safe zones, tone policing, administration-sanctioned political correctness, all of which amounts to nothing less than suppression of the freedom of speech,” the vice president said.
The students and family members who walked out of the Pence speech gathered outside the stadium, where they were greeted with applause by a handful of faculty members.
“The participation and degree-conferring of VP Pence stand as an endorsement of policies and actions which directly contradict Catholic social teachings and values and target vulnerable members of the University’s community,” Xitlaly Estrada explained in a press release shared on social media.
They were just exercising those rights that Pence was talking about.
Point made!
