When Vice President Mike Pence delivers the commencement speech at Notre Dame today, he'll likely speak to fewer people than he expected.
Some students at the Catholic university plan to walk out of the speech as part of a protest against Pence and his policies, which they say target marginalized people on the basis of their religion, skin color or sexual orientation, according to the student activist group We Stand For.
Luis Miranda, a co-organizer of the walkout, said Pence, as Indiana governor and as vice president, targeted vulnerable people with his policies. Catholic values promote standing up for the poor and marginalized, so he plans to stand up on Sunday, literally.
Miranda said some of his family members are undocumented immigrants and have felt under siege by the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration.
"They are going to be in the audience in one of the most important moments of my life with someone targeting them for who they are," he said.
The plan, according to a Facebook event, is to stand up when Pence begins speaking, walk toward the exit quietly, and, of course, live tweet the protest under the #WalkoutND hashtag.
As of Thursday afternoon, about 75 people had signed up to participate in the walkout.
"This is not just about the numbers, but about standing up for truth," Miranda said. "We feel that there is power in truth and hopefully there will be power in numbers that come stand up with us."
We invite all Notre Dame students to help take back our commencement this coming Sunday! #WalkoutND pic.twitter.com/ifOt5RB4hO— We StaND For (@WeStandForND) May 15, 2017
The university is not particularly worried about the protest.
Paul Browne, a spokesperson for Notre Dame, said walkout organizers reached out to police and administrators ahead of time to plan the quiet proceedings.
"We're not concerned," Browne said. "We think they will be respectful in the way they express their differences with the administration."
Browne said officials were more concerned with the potential for thunderstorms on Sunday, which could force them to move the commencement from the spacious outdoor football stadium to a smaller arena.
A number of prominent Republicans have faced student opposition at commencement speeches this graduation season. Last week, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced raucous booing at a speech at historically black Bethune-Cookman University.
Pence will become the first vice president to deliver a commencement speech at Notre Dame when he receives an honorary degree today, according to the university.
Six presidents from both sides of the aisle have given commencement speeches at Notre Dame, including Barack Obama in 2009 and George W. Bush in 2001.
"It is fitting that in the 175th year of our founding on Indiana soil that Notre Dame recognize a native son who served our state and now the nation with quiet earnestness, moral conviction and a dedication to the common good characteristic of true statesmen," Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins said in a statement.
Pence received his bachelor's degree from Indiana's Hanover College and attended Indiana University School of Law.
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Dozens of Notre Dame Students Walk Out of VP Mike Pence Commencement Speech
From: NBC News
Dozens of students at the University of Notre Dame walked out of their commencement ceremony today when Vice President Mike Pence took the stage — in protest of the administration and policies he represents.
Some members of the larger crowd cheered the walk-outs on, while others booed the students who marched out of gates 27 and 28 of Notre Dame Stadium during the school's 172nd commencement. The walk-out came before the students received their degrees, and they were not allowed back in, officials said.
The move was not totally unexpected, since the student organization WeStaNDFor had shared their plans ahead of time. They believe that the politics Pence, the former Indiana governor who was raised Catholic, represented contradicted the Catholic social virtues Notre Dame extols.
"He has supported policies that have targeted the weakest and most vulnerable among us," said graduate student Luis Miranda, a member of the group, told NBC affiliate WNDU before the protest. "These are my classmates; these are my friends; these are our family members as well. We're standing up for them. We're standing up for their dignity."
South Bend Equality, a group participating in the event, expanded further on the specific issues that they were protesting.
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| Notre Dame students walk out of the commencement ceremony as Vice President Mike Pence is introduced at Notre Dame Stadium o n May 21, 2017, in South Bend, Indiana. Santiago Flores / South Bend Tribune via AP |
"Our members lived in South Bend when Mike Pence was governor," the group said in a statement. "We know all too well how his policies endangered or caused direct harm to public education, health care, women's rights, the environment, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants and refugees, reproductive rights, local infrastructure, the economy of our state, and more."
Instructions were quite simple: "Sit with a friend in your college," read an invitation titled "Taking Back Our Commencement."
"Stand up and walk out once Mike Pence starts to speak," it directed. "Respectfully and quietly exit the stadium."
Only 50 were expected to take part in the silent gesture, but reports estimated that more than 100 students headed for the exit when Pence, who earned an honorary degree from Notre Dame, walked toward the podium.
There were also demonstrators unaffiliated with the graduation ceremony who gathered near the Notre Dame campus to protest the vice president's presence.
Participants deemed it a successful demonstration.
With 100+ participants #WalkoutND was a wonderful success. Thank you all for the support!— We StaND For (@WeStandForND) May 21, 2017
Pence's remarks began as students walked out, but he did not address the elephant leaving the room — instead addressing religious liberty, President Donald Trump's Sunday morning speech in Saudi Arabia and encouraging leadership in broad strokes terms.
"University of Notre Dame Class of 2017, this is your day," Pence said in closing. "So go, Irish — the future is yours."
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