Dear Commons Community,
A group of about one hundred students walked out of the Notre Dame commencement ceremony yesterday in protest of the speaker, Vice President Mike Pence. As reported by the New York Times:
“Vice President Pence praised Notre Dame, one of the nation’s most prominent Catholic universities, as “a vanguard of freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas.” Other schools do not measure up, he said.
“While this institution has maintained 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,” he said. “These all-too-common practices are destructive of learning and the pursuit of knowledge, and they are wholly outside the America tradition.”
The protest began as Mr. Pence began his remarks at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind., where degrees were conferred on 2,081 students. As the students left the stadium, the audience erupted into a mixture of boos and applause.”
Tony