Pence: Assault on Free Speech Jeopardizes ‘Liberties of Every American’

Vice President Mike Pence encouraged Notre Dame graduates to “be exceptional from this day forth” and “be leaders for the freedom of thought and expression” in a country increasingly shunning those values, during a speech Sunday at the university’s commencement ceremony.

Proudly reminding his audience that he was “a son of Indiana,” the vice president expressed how pleased he was to return to the state where he served as governor just a few short months ago. Praising Notre Dame for the “exceptional” education it offers all its students, Pence urged the graduates to “carry the ideals and the values that you’ve learned at Notre Dame into your lives and your careers.”

“I would submit that the increasing intolerance and suppression of the time-honored tradition of free expression on our campuses jeopardizes the liberties of every American.”

“My charge to all of you is simply this: Be exceptional from this day forth,” Pence said. “As the Good Book says, to whom much is given, much will be required. So I urge you, as the rising generation — carry the ideals and the values that you’ve learned at Notre Dame into your lives and your careers.”

The vice president noted that freedom of speech has come under siege at many U.S. universities, as bitter partisanship and intolerance have taken root and festered. Saying that Notre Dame is still a place “where deliberation is welcomed” and where “opposing views are debated” and where speakers are “afforded the right to air their views in the open for all to hear,” Pence urged the graduates to carry those principles with them.

“And in these divided times, I urge you to take one more aspect of the culture of this historic institution into the mainstream of American life,” Pence said.

“If the emanations of free speech were charted on a map like infrared heat signatures, one would hope that universities would be the hottest places — red and purple with dispute; not dark blue and white — frozen into cant, orthodoxy, and intellectual stasis,” Pence said. “If such a map were to exist, Notre Dame would burn bright with the glow of vibrant discussion. This university is a vanguard of freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas at a time, sadly, when free speech and civility are waning on campuses across America.”

Praising Notre Dame for being “an island in a sea of conformity,” Pence lamented the spread of speech zones, safe zones, and “administration-sanctioned political correctness” that impede education and stunt students’ growth. Condemning the suppression of the freedom of speech that results from such an environment, the vice president said those practices “are wholly outside the American tradition.”

“As you, our youth, are the future, and universities, the bellwether of thought and culture, I would submit that the increasing intolerance and suppression of the time-honored tradition of free expression on our campuses jeopardizes the liberties of every American,” Pence said. “This should not — and must not — be met with silence.”

Saying that protecting freedom of speech and freedom of religion are two of President Donald Trump’s highest priorities, Pence promised that Notre Dame’s graduates will “have an ally in our still-new administration.”

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“And just as Notre Dame has stood for those who are persecuted for their faith around the world, just a short while ago in Saudi Arabia, this President spoke out against religious persecution of all people, of all faiths,” Pence said, referring to Trump’s address at the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during his first trip overseas.

“And on the world stage, he condemned, in his words, ‘the murder of innocent Muslims, the oppression of women, the persecution of Jews, and the slaughter of Christians,'” Pence said. “And where this President has stood for the unalienable right to life at home and abroad, I’m so proud that the University of Notre Dame has stood without apology for the sanctity of human life.”

If Notre Dame’s graduates live with “courage and conviction” and honor the principles of faith and freedom they learned at the university, Pence insisted that the country’s best days were yet to come.

“If you hold fast to [God], to the faith that you have deepened in this place, and to all that you have learned and the examples you’ve seen, I know you will not only persevere, you will prevail,” Pence said. “And you will lead your families, your professions, and our country to unimaginable heights.”