By The Beacon Editorial Board
Colleges and universities across the country pay top dollar for prominent and eloquent graduation speakers and for good reason. What better way to cap off four plus years of higher education, on top of 12 years of public school, with a rousing speech from a powerful or expressive figure about the future and your potential?
Probably the most powerful speaker a college could hope for would be the president, and those colleges are lucky that the current president has a knack for speechmaking.
With all of that in mind, we can't understand why there is such an uproar over the University of Notre Dame's invitation toward Barack Obama to speak at their graduation ceremony this year.
Ten priests from the Congregation of the Holy Cross, the order that founded both Notre Dame and the University of Portland, claim that the school risks distancing itself from the Roman Catholic Church by inviting Obama because he supports abortion rights.
These priests are unnecessarily politicizing a simple issue, attaching undue weight to what is a small part of the general operation of Notre Dame as a university. Inviting Obama as their graduation speaker, while he may be pro-choice in his reproductive politics, does not mean Notre Dame condones abortions or stem cell research.
The Rev. John Jenkins, C.S.C, Notre Dame's president, said the same himself, conceding that although the school administration might not agree with Obama on some things, they won't jump to criticize.
A university's message, goals and affiliations are not reflected solely by the graduation speakers they invite. Curriculum, the campus life, student organizations - these are what reveal the real soul of the school.
Taking a page from the priests' fallacious logic, Notre Dame supports not just Obama but the five other sitting presidents who have addressed graduates as well - among them Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Therefore, Notre Dame must support the Interstate Highway Act, peace in the Middle East, useless missile defense systems and multiple wars in Iraq ... things that may or may not be Christian.
Beyond his stance on reproductive issues, what about Obama's policies regarding health care reform, economic security and environmental stewardship, all things in line with Catholic social teaching?
Just like one shouldn't vote on a single issue, they probably shouldn't praise or condemn guest speakers on them either.
Any school would be happy to have a sitting president come and speak. From a bottom line perspective, the school can place a feather in its public image cap.
A school that can bring heavy hitters like the president looks like one that is on the cutting edge of meaningful, civic-minded scholarship.
We're happy that Notre Dame wrangled such a prestigious speaker. Good for them.
But in the event that they renege their invitation to President Obama, we're sure their sister school across the continent will be more than happy to have him speak at thier graduation cermony.
