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Whom Should A Catholic University Honor?: "Speaking" With Integrity, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

It has been more than two years since the announcement that our then-recently-elected President, Barack Obama, would be the featured speaker—and would receive an honorary degree—at the University of Notre Dame's graduation ceremony. No footnotes or citations are necessary for the report that the University's decision was controversial or the observation that the choice was both criticized and celebrated by students, faculty, alumni, political commentators, lay Catholics, and Church leaders.

In a USA Today opinion piece published a few days before the graduation ceremony, I suggested that the "angst at Notre Dame" was "not about what should be said at …