I had a sick child at home Wednesday, which is why I missed pro-life activist Randall Terry’s press conference where he announced an ideological war against the University of Notre Dame for its temerity in inviting President Obama to speak at its May 17th commencement.
Mr. Terry is setting up an office in South Bend, Ind., to coordinate protests around and during the graduation ceremony. “We will raze hell in this battle to keep Obama from speaking at Notre Dame,” he says on stopobamanotredame.com, one of a zillion new Web sites started this week on the topic. (He used “raze,” rather than “raise,” intentionally.)
I never thought there would be so much red meat involved in a simple commencement speaker, but check out some of the comments on several Facebook groups devoted to the controversy. Unofficially, I was told that Notre Dame’s switchboard nearly had a meltdown last weekend after the university and the White House announced the Obama appearance on Friday the 13th.
I’ve talked with a few students, and there are two points of view here. One is the free-speech issue of Notre Dame being willing to listen to all viewpoints, even though the university may have huge philosophical differences with the speaker. The university president has said he hopes the invitation will be the start of a dialogue with the White House.
The question is: Does one have to give such a prestigious platform to one’s opponents - along with an honorary doctorate?
Notre Dame has angered Catholics in the past by allowing a “Queer Film Festival” and showings of the racy “The Vagina Monologues” play as part of its quest to remain on par with secular institutions. This was part of a complaint earlier in the week by Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop John D’Arcy when he announced his boycott of the graduation. Notre Dame, he wrote, “has chosen prestige over truth.”
The other point of view has to do with a kind of brand protection for Catholicism. Notre Dame is named after the Virgin Mary, these Catholics say. What is the university doing allowing speakers at an institution set up in 1842 in her honor? And if the university is truly open to all viewpoints, why doesn’t it invite a Holocaust denier to speak? Or are there limits that not even Notre Dame is willing to breach?
”Many” seniors are discussing boycotting the event with their families, one of the dissenting students told me. Others will show up with some kind of protest symbols on their mortarboards. Protests will be “respectful and prayerful,” the student added. She estimated 50 people came to an organizing meeting Tuesday night for dissidents. The 11 student organizations represented there created a Web site at ndresponse.com and have parceled out committee assignments on alumni donors, lectures, panel discussions and media relations.
Students do want to keep their efforts separate from the many outside pro-life groups that are making hay out of this event. (One can’t totally blame them for taking advantage of such a delicious opportunity.)
”Third-party groups don’t attend the university,” my contact said, “and are coming from a different perspective than we are.” So, be warned, Mr. Terry, et al.: There is such a thing as overkill. Establishing a war room close to a campus that you never attended as a student could be taken that way.
• Julia Duin’s “Stairway to Heaven” column runs Thursdays and Sundays. Contact her at Julia Duin
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