Notre Dame Students and Obama
March 22, 2009, 4:27 pm
Posted by Cathleen Kaveny
A bit of perspective on the current student body’s political sensibilities
Current ND students appear to have voted for Obama over McCain by about 10 percentage points.
Many of them identified the economy and foreign policy as major factors in their votes.
One may not agree with the holder of the office, but there should be more respect for the office itself. What the student body of a school (or faculty or alumni) thinks about a president may carry some weight. Ultimately, however, it is irrelevant to his or her presence on a campus as speaker at graduations.
I recall reading about a ND graduating student turned his back on Bush when he commencement-spoke at ND in 2001. (He protested Bush’s stand on capital punishment.) I understood the gesture but considered it silly and disrespectful of the office.
Who knows, maybe in May one or two ND graduating students will turn their backs on Obama as a gesture of protesting against one or another of his positions. If that happens, I would consider it silly and disrespectful of the office.
BTW when did the presence of a president at a graduation ceremony first become “controversial”? Perhaps in 1967 or 1968 when LBJ was despised on many campuses because of Vietnam? It’d have been a total reverse from his famous commencement address on the Great Society at University of Michigan in 1965.
I should add that let’s suppose Bush commencement-spoke at ND in, say, 2005 or 2008 & a vehemently antiwar student turned his or her back on him, I too would consider it silly and disrespectful of the office of POTUS.
In many ways, it’s disrespectful of one’s own academic institution too. Controlling one’s urge for the sake of the institution is the right thing to do at certain occasions. Commencement ceremony would qualify as one such occasion.
One might consider not protesting as passive and wishy washy. One can show respect while protesting, anyway. (Some might consider it disrespectful for you not to give your name) It is one of the great benefits of the French Revolution or the Enlightenment. It might even be called the American Way. Much more than Emily Post. Or is the latter going to be the criteria.
Ghandi showed that non-violent protest can be considered holy. And where would civil rights be in this country without the non-violent protests of King, Hesburgh and other great leaders. And no respectable academic can talk of just war theory without parsing Berrigan.
It is like the saying that evil happens when good people keep silent. If truth be told most people are afraid to speak out because fear of loss of position or status. We envy the wo/man who speaks with conscience. Still a rarity. A lot has gotten done without the influence of emperors and monarchs.
I think I’d be disappointed/annoyed if I were graduating from ND this year, but only for practical reasons. The security measures that come with having a president on campus can be a major disruption — and can make the graduates feel pushed aside on their big day. Bush II spoke at my college’s commencement a year or two before I graduated (while he was president) — there were mixed reactions to his presence and his performance as a speaker, but I think everyone agreed that the added security was a major annoyance! I guess it might be worth it to hear Obama, but I still think I’d prefer a secret-service-free commencement ceremony.
Of course, I may just be bitter because my graduation was also disrupted and delayed, both by a sudden and dramatic increase in security (thanks to a small bombing on campus just a few days earlier), and by torrential rain. And I didn’t even get to see a political superstar for my troubles. By the time we were in our (wet) seats, nobody much cared who was getting an honorary degree.
NCR has a piece on line today about the Cardinal Newman Society ranting against the Obama one being honored.
This makes me think that ND made the right and balanced commencemewnt choices this year.
Those numbers seem lower than I would have thought for that age group.
When my son graduated from ND in 1992, the valedictorian strongly criticized the administration of President George Bush I, who as commencement speaker, responded to her in a civil way, though of course disagreeing with her. Then Daniel Patrick Moynihan, recipient of that year’s Laetare medal, spoke, and in his comments supported the critique offered by the valedictorian. Then Moynihan publicly thanked President bush for inviting hiiim, to fly back to Washington on the presidential plane. A fine time was had by all.
But the local bishop of Fort Wayne announced that he would not attend the graduation Mass because Moynihan was being honored and Moynihan had a “pro-choice” legislative record. I’m sure that the bishop felt he was upholding something or other. In any case, I hardly think that he was missed.
Not surprisingly heated opinions over the news have been flying off the Wide World Web, including a website normally devoted to Irish football. Here’s one from an alumnus, whose opinion I am happy to share.
http://www.ndnation.com/boards/showpost.php?b=backroom;pid=1330047;d=all
These posts about protesting Obama as the commencement speaker are shameful, ridiculous, and embarrassing.
My wife and I are ND grads and staunch democrats – she graduated in 2001 when George Bush was the speaker. We both hated George Bush then, and we still hate him now. Hell, we hated his dad. But both of us were extremely proud that he spoke at Notre Dame, and I am still proud to mention that today when the subject comes up. I’ll always be proud when any President comes to speak at Notre Dame – whether he is a Democrat or a Republican. It is good for the students, good for the community, and most importantly it is good for the University.
If you don’t agree with Mr. Obama’s politics, please protest outside the building before the ceremony. Send a letter to the White House. Hang a sheet outside your dorm room. But please don’t embarrass yourself, the Alumni, and the University by making an outburst during the graduation itself. Everyone should be proud when a sitting president comes to speak at their school. Any other university would love to have someone of that stature – heck, would you rather have UCLA’s speaker?
What percentage of the student body is non-Catholic?