Students at the University of Notre Dame have reacted strongly to the announcement that Vice President Mike Pence will serve as this year’s commencement speaker. University President John Jenkins announced the decision to host Pence as the speaker at this year’s graduation event in a press release. Jenkins stated that 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.” Although there have been no calls to disinvite Vice President Pence, students at the University of Notre Dame have been expressing their concern over the decision to offer him the role of commencement speaker. The university’s College Democrats organization expressed their concern over Pence’s stances on immigration, abortion, and healthcare, suggesting that his values contradict those of what the group would consider an appropriate commencement speaker. “Vice President Pence has demonstrated this ‘quiet earnestness’ and ‘moral conviction’ on numerous other occasions: when he refused to allow Syrian refugees, fleeing from violence and terrorism, to find refuge in our state; when he limited a woman’s right