Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • News
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus Updates
  • Faith
  • Opinion
  • Christmas
  • Set Free Course

Students at Small Christian College Left ‘Shaking’ After Mike Pence Was Named Commencement Speaker

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Share Tweet
By Tré Goins-Phillips
Editor

April 16, 2019

So many colleges and universities across the country have traded their statuses as bastions of higher learning to become echo chambers of ideas cultivated by the political elite. A small school in Indiana joined those ranks recently, when students learned Vice President Mike Pence would be speaking at their graduation in mid-May.

Students and alumni from Taylor University — a Christian college in Upland — launched a petition after it was announced Pence, the former governor of Indiana, would be delivering the school’s commencement address.

Taylor University Stands by Decision to Invite Mike Pence to Speak at Graduation

The writer of the petition, Alex Hoekstra, who graduated in 2007, argued giving Pence a platform during graduation “makes our alumni, faculty, staff and current students complicit in the Trump-Pence administration’s policies, which we believe are not consistent with the Christian ethic of love we hold dear.”

Another graduate, Claire Hadley, wrote on Facebook she felt “so physically ill” after reading the vice president would be speaking at the Christian college’s graduation ceremony.

Dem Candidate Pete Buttigieg Latest in 2020 Field to Weaponize Faith

“I am physically shaking,” she wrote. “The fact that the school who claims to love and support me, and each of it’s students and alum, would invite such a vile individual to speak on the most important day of the year.”

“Taylor University, I feel personally attacked,” Hadley continued. “Please, I’m begging you. Don’t do this.”

Not everyone is very deeply offended by Pence’s coming presence at the university. A handful of students started a counter-petition, voicing their support for the vice president.

Political Pundit Erick Erickson Says He ‘Wouldn’t Mind Leaving It All Behind’ to Become a Preacher

Kevin Holtsberry, a 1994 graduate of Taylor University, told PJ Media that the vice president speaking at the college “is not an attack on students, faculty or alumni with differing political views or opinions about Mike Pence.”

All the hubbub over Pence’s graduation speech comes as he is in the middle of a tête-à-tête with Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who has been attacking the vice president over his Christian belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Tolerance Is Already an Endangered Species, And the Left Wants to Kill It

While Buttigieg went so far as to question the authenticity of Pence’s salvation, the vice president has largely stayed out of the one-sided battle, simply saying the South Bend, Indiana, mayor “knows better” than to say “things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally.”

“He knows me,” Pence said, “but I get it. You know, it’s look, again, 19 people running for president on that side in a party that’s sliding off to the left. And they’re all competing with one another for how much more liberal they are.”

Latest

  • Entertainment

    ‘You Simply Changed My Life’: Steve Harvey Pens Heartfelt Love Letter to Wife Citing ‘God’s Grace’ and His Journey Overcoming Homelessness

  • Faith

    URGENT PRAYER: Wife of Pastor Detained in China Has a Plea for the Global Church: ‘May the Lord Be Glorified…’

  • Culture

    ‘Honor Them For Their Great Sacrifice’: Chris Pratt Praises Men and Women in Uniform After WWII Veterans Surprise Him at Hollywood Premiere

  • News

    As Pro-Lifers Cheer End of Roe, Democrats Lament SCOTUS Overturning ‘Right’ to Kill the Unborn: ‘One of the Darkest Days Our Country Has Ever Seen’

  • News

    ROE NO MORE: Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade: States Can Ban Abortion


Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?