Late spring is a time for celebration. It’s during this time that thousands of students wait to hear their names, shake with their right, take with their left and get to call themselves a college graduate. Along with that diploma, sometimes comes a surprise. Comedian, Will Ferrell, famed physicist, Kathryn Johnson, the Dalai Lama, Oprah Winfrey and even Guy Fieri, were invited to speak to the graduating classes of 2017. Usually, these famous faces bring an extra layer of joy to graduation day, but one in particular sparked heated debate and fiery backlash.
On May 21, University of Notre Dame’s Class of 2017 was addressed by Vice President Mike Pence. It was a bold move, as Pence is not necessarily an uncontroversial character. Some students also took it upon themselves to make their thoughts known. Around 100 of the graduates, according to the protesters, walked out on Pence, which would make up a little less than 1/20th of the entire class.
As videos surfaced, social media wars erupted. Some praised the students’ audacity, while others considered it a childish display. As for myself, I stand with the former. I believe that there is a strong case to protest the presence of the vice president on campus. Here are just five of the completely factual misdoings of Pence.
1. "Smoking doesn't kill"
No, you don’t need to get your eyes checked. Pence actually said that. In 2001, Pence claimed that cigarettes don’t kill people because two thirds of smokers don’t die due to illnesses brought on by smoking. It’s fairly reasonable to say that it is an absurd statement. First of all, many lifestyle-related illnesses have no one particular cause. It is physically impossible to locate the straw that broke the camel’s back. However, just because you can’t find the straw doesn’t mean that it’s imaginary. In case anyone needs convincing that smoking kills people, just take a look at a box of cigarettes. Every package sold in the United States is required by law to warn consumers of the effects of smoking.
2. Killing the Clean Power Plan
I think that we can all agree that air pollution is bad, right? Wrong. In 2015, former President Barack Obama introduced the Clean Power Plan, which regulated the amount of carbon emissions being produced by power plants. Pence, as governor of Indiana, called the policy shift toward a healthier environment a “war on coal”, as well as an “overreaching scheme” created by the Environmental Protection Agency. If the name of the Clean Power Plan wasn’t clear enough, the alternative to clean power is unclean power, which is devastating for the environment, as well as ourselves. One day we will run out of non-renewable resources, like coal. Pence is obviously content with ignoring that reality.
3. Guns in school parking lots
In 2014, Pence signed a bill into law, which allowed for gun owners to keep their firearms in their car on school property. It doesn’t take too much imagination to think of the tragic consequences of a law like that one. It puts powerful weapons in close proximity to children. Equally frightening, it considers an unattended car as a safe place to keep a gun. Cars get stolen. That should be enough to make people think twice about leaving their weapons in their car, let alone in a school parking lot.
4. Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Usually, state laws aren’t the focus of national news coverage. However, when that state law allows for businesses to deny services to LGBTQ people based on the premise that it is in violation of their religious beliefs, you can bet that there will be backlash. Essentially, the law permits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. As a result of the RFRA, some restaurants were turning away gay couples simply for being gay. It is a classic example of bigotry signed into law by the now-vice president.
5. Kiss the 14th Amendment goodbye
To add to the crazy that is Pence, as a congressman, our current vice president proposed a law that was in direct contradiction to the Constitution. Under the 14th Amendment, any person born in the United States is a citizen, without exception. Pence wasn’t happy with that, though. He co-sponsored a bill that would not only render American birthright citizenship gone, but further the battle against immigrants. His idea, as proposed in the bill, was to only grant partial citizenship to children born to one parent who is a citizen and one who is not. Luckily, the bill never got far enough to receive a vote. Nevertheless, the proposal demonstrates just how unkind Pence can be toward immigrants.
The vice president is not a friend to everyone. The way I see it, the students of Notre Dame who walked out of the Commencement Address were justified. College students are customers and customers deserve to have their interests attended to, being that they are reasonable. How does Pence serve the needs of the gay graduate, the immigrant graduate, the graduate who is a victim of gun violence, the graduate who lost a family member to smoking, the environmentally-conscious graduate? Also, in a country built on protest, it is imperative to hear the disenfranchised, the victimized and the quiet speak their minds. Instead of being upset with protests, we should be taking the time to assess what is being protested.
