Petition to not invite Trump to Notre Dame commencement gets over 2,600 signatures

Leaders with the College of Democrats and Diversity Council at Notre Dame began a petition at the university in opposition of having President-elect Donald Trump to deliver the 2017 commencement address there. So far, the petition has more than 2,000 signatures on it.

In part, the petition reads “The President-elect does not stand for the values we hold dear at Notre Dame, and he should not represent us on the world's stage”.

The petition has been shared on multiple Facebook pages, including We Stand For, which involves many student protesters at Notre Dame. These students held demonstrations and rallies at Notre Dame in reaction to the presidential election.

We spoke with a senior at Notre Dame who says she doesn’t want her day to be overshadowed.

“The fact that I’m a first generation college student and I am a senior and I am gonna graduate, you know, this is a really big day for me, you know, we’re breaking barriers. I don’t want that day ruined, to be overshadowed by the fact that were having such a divisive president-elect who has used such divisive and hateful language and I think that brings out the worst in people. He doesn’t hold the same values that I do- that Notre Dame does, so it just doesn’t make sense for Notre Dame to invite him. Hopefully we can stop this before it happens,” said Jessica Pedroza, a senior at Notre Dame.

We reached out to the University of Notre Dame who said they did not have comment.

Click here to view the current version of the petition.