Ever since the announcement about President Obama giving the commencement address at this year’s graduation was made, I’ve been a little ashamed of my alma mater. The University of Notre Dame’s name has always been associated with tradition, prestige and service but the controversy that protesters stirred up over Obama’s impending visit is enough to tarnish the golden dome, just a little. School officials handled the entire incident fairly well and implored the Notre Dame community to welcome the President with an open-mind. But as usual, it is the negative voices that rang loudest. For months leading up to the event, many Domers followed the events that precipitated the President’s visit through the news and through school newsletters. Each time ardent protestors played a prominent role but on May 17, 2009, good, common sense won out. What protestors failed to understand is this fundamental idea that you can better refute an opponent’s position if you know his or her argument. But even more basically, if we close ourselves off to ideas and politics that are not in keeping with our own, we cut ourselves off from opportunities to grow and learn.Even with his choice of topic (abortion) and even though he would be addressing a crowd mainly comprised of Catholics, I’m really not sure why this grew into such a controversy when we’ve had many speakers pass through campus whose ideas we did not agree with. But we welcomed them and were respectful. The class of 2002 got George W. Bush and made the most of it. I vaguely remember Vincente Fox, President of Mexico, being on the podium at my graduation but can’t remember much beyond that. I’m sure that the class of 2009 won’t soon forget President Obama's address. He stayed calm when dissenting voices spewed hateful words and it was a proud moment when Domers tried their best to drown out negativity with shouts of “We are ND” and “Yes we can.” The speech itself is entertaining and informative and a great thing to witness.
