Notre Dame Graduation Walk-out, Part II

It was a peaceful protest in the eyes of many Americans who have very strong feelings about Mr. Pence’s personal and political records, records—statements, votes, and executive actions—that paint a picture of a broadly intolerant ideologue who has made up his mind and refuses to accept the possibility he may be wrong on issues of great importance to a large segment of the American public.

From a number of interviews broadcast over the past two days, it is clear that the graduates who walked out did so en masse in protest of Notre Dame’s selection of a commencement speaker whose views on LGBT rights, immigration, morality, and personal choice ran counter to the protesters’ values. 

It seems clear, as well, that some of the parents of the protesting students were also on board with their sons’ or daughters’ positions. There is nothing disgraceful about the peaceful expression of genuinely-held moral and ethical points of view. And while many graduates and parents probably were offended by the walk-out, even they should admit it was done with little disruption. Even at that, it was not a disgrace.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I personally wouldn’t attend a Pence speech if I were offered a million dollars, or for any other price, either in coin or material. I have little use for the man as a public figure, and less use for Trump (and a close look at many of my Huffington pieces going back into 2016, will bolster evidence of my generally liberal leaning on this point).

From my point of view, the walk-out was a short-lived protest against a long-term problem. Walking out of a commencement speech because Mr. Pence espouses views that are, in the eyes of the protesters, anathema to human rights and religious freedoms, had no effect whatsoever on Mr. Pence. It may have sent a signal to Notre Dame’s leadership not to do THAT again, but I don’t know. I don’t think it moved the needle of change much, if at all.

Father Theodore Hesburgh, who served as Notre Dame’s President for 35 years, said,

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.

To my mind, the walk-out was an uncertain trumpet, lacking clarity of purpose and failing as a bright call to action. It was not a Black sit-in at a Whites-only lunch counter; it was not a Freedom Rider bus; it was not a lone stranger holding off tanks in Tienanmen Square. If you are going to lead a protest, go big. Don’t use up the temporary capital of a commencement speech no one cares about anyway.

I recently wrote an answer on both Quora and in my Huffington column on this topic that elicited heated and countervailing comments. The source of most of the discontent with my position was traced to these paragraphs:

“But, in real life, the Notre Dame graduates and the Bethune-Cookman graduates [who protested Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s presence at their graduation] are going to have to work with people with whom they disagree; they will have to deal with real life situations that make them uncomfortable; they will have to learn adult coping strategies for getting along with unprincipled people (maybe even their bosses) without diluting their own principles; they will have to learn that walking away from a problem is an abrogation of civil, personal, and professional responsibility.

Changing the world requires showing up every day and working toward the goal under the best and meanest of conditions. It requires cooperating with a wide range of people who you may dislike, who may dislike you, and with whom you may have vivid disagreements. It requires patience and empathy and a long-view toward the future.”

I was taken to task for suggesting that the Notre Dame graduates were not sensible enough to know their own minds; that I was encouraging acquiescence over action.

Let me be clear: I don’t equate remaining in place as acquiescence...I’m not suggesting that by not walking out, they would be meekly condoning what Pence was selling. That would be morally disgraceful. The students had every right to walk out as an expression of their disapproval.

I just think that picking one’s battles over moral causes should come with something more than a walk-out. If the students who took the walk continue to express their outrage over Trump/Pence by activism…writing, running for office, working in some practical measure to refute all the BS that the White House is passing out, then that would be the kind of messaging I’d get behind—and do get behind.

That would be vision. That would be the call of a most certain trumpet.