Penna Dexter

Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to be the commencement speaker at the University of Notre Dame this year. But two snowflake types in Notre Dame’s senior class say that, because he represents the Trump administration, the vice president’s presence on campus will make them feel “unsafe.” Notre Dame often invites newly elected presidents to address the graduates, but — well — there was this petition against inviting President Trump. Besides, Mike Pence is the perfect choice. He’s articulate, gracious, and the recent Governor of Indiana, the state where Notre Dame sits. University officials say they won’t alter the school’s plans for graduation. But hundreds of alumni and staff have signed a letter being circulated on social media expressing empathy for students who feel “marginalized” by White House statements and policies. Poor babies. Certainly there will be other claims by graduating college seniors that they’ll be “traumatized” by the commencement speaker their school has chosen. We’re already seeing rioting, violence — sometimes criminal violence, — property damage, physical assault, and cancelled speeches on various campuses. Students whine that if they’re female, non-white, or openly non-heterosexual, they are in physical or psychological danger from hearing a conservative speak. This students-as-victims mantra is really another very disturbing manifestation of the leftist ideology that has, for decades, prevailed among faculty and administrations of the nation’s colleges and universities. The Wall Street Journal recently published an opinion piece by conservative thinker Heather Mac Donald, whose speech at Claremont McKenna was cut short by protestors. She points out that, at the center of all this campus intolerance is a worldview that sees Western culture as both racist and sexist. “The overriding goal of the educational establishment” she writes, “is to teach young people within the ever-growing list of victim classifications to view themselves as essentially oppressed.” Universities had better start clamping down and enforcing the law. Otherwise, after graduation, snowflakes will be in for a rude awakening in a world where no one’s gonna protect them from opinions they don’t agree with.