--- description: Notre Dame students plan to walk out of Vice President Mike Pence's commencement speech title: Notre Dame Students Plan to Protest Mike Pence's Commencement Speech image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd98ac9d2545c25bb/6988ce330a4a22b9a49ce3e2/mike-pence-notre-dame.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Notre Dame Students Plan to Protest Mike Pence's Commencement Speech by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. May 19, 2017 10:39 PM CUT  US Vice President Mike Pence arrives to a news conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference at the White House May 18, 2017 in Washington, DC. US Vice President Mike Pence arrives to a news conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference at the White House May 18, 2017 in Washington, DC.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. May 19, 2017 10:39 PM CUT Some [University of Notre Dame](http://time.com/money/4402114/notre-dame-money-financial-aid-best-colleges/ "undefined") students plan to walk out of [Vice President Mike Pence](http://time.com/4784340/mike-pence-creates-pac/ "undefined")‘s commencement speech at the university on Sunday. Notre Dame’s student activist coalition, We StaND For, planned the walkout to stand in solidarity with those affected by Pence’s policies, the group said in a [statement](https://twitter.com/WeStandForND/status/864502392750002177/photo/1?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wndu.com%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2F423131864.html "undefined"). “During his time as governor of the state of Indiana and now as Vice-President, Pence has targeted the civil rights protections of members of LGBT\_ community, rejected the Syrian refugee resettlement program, supported an unconstitutional ban of religious minorities, and fought against sanctuary cities,” the coalition said. “All of these policies have marginalized our vulnerable sisters and brothers for their religion, skin color, or sexual orientation.” We StaND For said inviting Pence to speak contradicts Notre Dame’s Catholic values. The university’s decision to have Pence speak has caused controversy elsewhere — more than 1,700 Notre Dame alumni [signed a letter](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdOFdgYwff4rH%5FyNeGUGNS453hCZSrILRy7rZs5NuB0scF7Bw/closedform "undefined") expressing disappointment that Pence was appointed as commencement speaker. Several other groups will protest the speech off-campus, including Planned Parenthood of Indiana & Kentucky, the Nu Black Power Movement and Alliance for Democracy, the [Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/17/notre-dame-students-plan-to-protest-against-mike-pence-at-commencement-and-the-university-is-okay-with-it/?utm%5Fterm=.32bc4b2291b2 "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4787061/mike-pence-notre-dame-protest-walkout/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4787061/mike-pence-notre-dame-protest-walkout/"},"headline":"Notre Dame Students Plan to Protest Mike Pence's Commencement Speech","datePublished":"2017-05-19T22:39:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:02:01.505Z","description":"They're planning to walk out","url":"https://time.com/4787061/mike-pence-notre-dame-protest-walkout/","keywords":["White House","Education","Mike Pence","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd98ac9d2545c25bb/6988ce330a4a22b9a49ce3e2/mike-pence-notre-dame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd98ac9d2545c25bb/6988ce330a4a22b9a49ce3e2/mike-pence-notre-dame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Joint Press Conference With Colombian President Santos","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Joint Press Conference With Colombian President Santos","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4787061/mike-pence-notre-dame-protest-walkout/","name":"Notre Dame Students Plan to Protest Mike Pence's Commencement Speech"}}]}] ```