President Obama’s Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It

Hecklers briefly interrupted President Obama’s much-anticipated commencement address this afternoon at the University of Notre Dame, but they were quickly shouted down as the crowd filling the Joyce Center on the Indiana campus booed them and chanted “We are ND.”

The ceremony, which was Webcast live, continued as it had begun, in an atmosphere that was both celebratory and respectful, and was punctuated many times by cheers, applause, and standing ovations. The crowd cheered as Mr. Obama entered the arena, and again when university officials placed a yellow stole over his academic robe as he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree, and especially as he was introduced by Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins. Father Jenkins praised the president’s decision to accept the university’s invitation, saying Mr. Obama was “not someone who stops talking to those who differ with him.” He paused, then added, “Mr. President, this is a principle we share.”

A storm of criticism had greeted the Roman Catholic university’s invitation to Mr. Obama in March to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree, because of his support for abortion rights and embryonic-stem-cell research.

Some opponents of those policies refused to attend today’s ceremony, while others attended but signaled their disapproval by not standing during the ovations, or by decorating their mortarboards with a cross and two small footprints.

During his speech, Mr. Obama in part used humor to both acknowledge and defuse the controversy. In thanking Notre Dame for the honorary degree, he alluded to the alternative honor he had received last week at Arizona State University, which named a scholarship program in his honor but declined to award him an honorary doctorate. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this,” Mr. Obama told the crowd today, “but these honorary degrees are apparently pretty hard to come by. So far, I’m only one for two as president.”

He also addressed the abortion controversy directly, saying that even those who disagree on the issue “can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.” And he outlined the numerous challenges that confront today’s college graduates, and said that to meet those challenges, “we must find a way to live together as one human family.”

While the campus was largely tranquil today, the Chicago Tribune reported, students on both sides of the issue were unhappy with the intrusion of national politics on a day of academic celebration. One student, Sebastian Palacio, whose family had flown in from South America, told the Tribune that he agreed with the anti-abortion protesters, but added, “There’s a time and a place, and this isn’t it.”

Another student, Whitney Young, whose family carried an Obama cutout in support of the president, said she respected her fellow students who had chosen to boycott or protest Mr. Obama’s appearance, but “the extreme outside protests do a disservice to the cause,” she said. —Charles Huckabee