At Notre Dame’s commencement, Vice President Pence blasts free speech suppression on college campuses as “noxious” and “wholly outside the American tradition.” During his speech, a few dozen students got up and walked out in protest of the Vice President, essentially proving his point.
Vice President Mike Pence blasted the “noxious” tide of left-wing intolerance sweeping college campuses during his Notre Dame commencement speech Sunday, calling it “the suppression of freedom of speech” and “wholly outside the American tradition.”
Pence praised Notre Dame for welcoming deliberation and allowing visiting speakers, no matter how unpopular, to be allowed to speak their minds in the open. He ripped new campus phenomena like “speech codes” and “safe zones.”
“But Notre Dame is an exception, an island in a sea of conformity so far spared from the noxious wave that seems to be rushing over much of academia,” he said. “While this institution has maintained an atmosphere of civility and open debate, far too many campuses across America have become characterized by speech codes, safe zones, tone policing, administration-sanctioned political correctness, all of which amounts to nothing less than suppression of the freedom of speech.”
Although Pence did not mention conservatism in his remarks, such practices often create a chilling effect for right-leaning students due to overwhelming left-wing tilts on major college campuses.
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