Stage set for Obama’s speech at Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Graduation festivities got under way at the University of Notre Dame on Saturday — as well as another day of demonstrations over President Barack Obama’s appearance Sunday.

University spokesman Dennis Brown said there were no reports of protests on campus at any of the ceremonies held by various schools, centers and institutes. For the most part, the only difference on campus was the heightened security for Obama’s visit, he said.

Students with their gowns on walked along happily Saturday afternoon with their parents apparently oblivious to the protest just a few hundred feet away.

But at the school’s front gate at intersection of Angela and Notre Dame Avenue, more than 100 people gathered to protest the decision to invite Obama to speak at commencement and receive an honorary degree. They said he shouldn’t be allowed to speak at the Roman Catholic university because of his support of abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research.

Shortly after noon, 23 protesters marched on to campus. Nineteen were arrested on trespassing charges and four also faced a charge of resisting law enforcement, said Sgt. Bill Redman, St. Joseph County Police Department spokesman. They were being held on $250 bond.

Among those arrested was the Rev. Norman Weslin, a Catholic priest and founder of the Lambs of Christ abortion protest group. He also was among 21 people arrested during a similar protest Friday.

None of those arrested Saturday were students, Brown said.

Former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes and five others were arrested Friday and held overnight with no bond — a change in procedure for their second arrests. They had their bonds set Saturday at $1,000 by St. Joseph Superior Judge Jerome Frese.

Also protesting Saturday was Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff identified as “Roe” in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. She now opposes abortion.

She said she had planned to be arrested on Saturday, but changed her mind when a security officer ushered her to the side and gave her a chance to walk away.

“I didn’t know why he just kind of gently moved me away. So I’m like, maybe this isn’t the right time,” McCorvey said.

Some driving past the protesters on Saturday waved in support. Others yelled at them. One man honked his horn in protest and held up a handful of hangers, a symbol of the gruesome procedures some pregnant women resorted to before Roe v. Wade.

Later, about 10 pro-Obama demonstrators assembled across the street holding up placards with slogans such as “Honk if you support Obama” and “Pro-Jenkins/Notre Dame.” The Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, has been criticized by many, including dozens of bishops, for the school’s decision to invite Obama.

On campus, though, there were no signs of protest. Students generally favored Obama giving the graduation speech. The graduating class voted to name Jenkins their Senior Class Fellow.

A full page advertisement in the South Bend Tribune on Saturday had the headline: “Catholic Leaders and Theologians Welcome President Obama to Notre Dame.” The ad, signed by university professors around the country, many of them at Catholic schools, said that as Catholics committed to civil dialogue, they were proud Obama was giving the commencement address.

There were some students, though, who opposed Obama giving the speech. ND Response, a coalition of university groups, has received permission from Notre Dame to hold a protest on the west end of the South Quad on Sunday. Spokesman John Daly said he expected 20 to 30 graduating seniors to skip commencement and attend the prayer vigil.

Some students who planned to attend the commencement said they would show their displeasure at the Obama invitation by putting a yellow cross with yellow baby’s feet atop their mortarboards.