University of Notre Dame commencement departs from presidential tradition

The University of Notre Dame. / Credit: Grindstone Media Group/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 27, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Neither U.S. President Donald Trump nor Vice President JD Vance will deliver the commencement address for the 2025 graduating class at the University of Notre Dame — signaling a departure from the tradition of the revered Catholic institution.

Since the 1970s, Notre Dame has routinely invited newly inaugurated presidents to deliver the university’s commencement address. However this year, rather than hosting a political figure, Joint Chiefs of Staff Acting Chairman Adm. Christopher Grady will deliver the address.

In total, six United States presidents have delivered commencement addresses at the university while in office: Eisenhower in 1960, Jimmy Carter in 1977, Ronald Reagan in 1981, George H. W. Bush in 1992, George W. Bush in 2001, and Barack Obama in 2009. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence delivered the 2017 commencement speech. Trump was traveling to Saudi Arabia at the time, although former Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins said that Trump had not been invited after his first inauguration because he did not meet “a certain bar in terms of just moral decency,” which prompted the Pence invitation instead.

Former President Joe Biden, the second Catholic president, was invited to deliver the 2021 address but did not do so because of a scheduling conflict. Former President Bill Clinton also did not deliver the commencement in 1993, but it’s unclear whether the university extended an invitation to him.

Prior to becoming president, former President John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president, delivered the 1950 winter commencement while serving as a member of Congress.

CNA reached out to Notre Dame and the White House to ask whether Trump or Vance were invited to deliver the commencement address this year but did not receive a response from either by the time of publication.

Vance, a convert to the faith, is the nation’s second Catholic vice president after Biden.

The National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, reported that the Notre Dame campus was divided on whether to invite either Trump or Vance, with College Republicans urging an invite and College Democrats discouraging one. The editorial board for the student newspaper, The Observer, suggested that Notre Dame should invite Trump. 

In a news release announcing Grady’s upcoming May 18 commencement speech, Notre Dame President Father Robert A. Dowd referred to the award-decorated Navy admiral as an American hero.

“A true American hero, Adm. Grady has demonstrated tremendous courage, visionary leadership, and outstanding dedication to public service over his distinguished career, which spans more than 40 years,” Dowd said. “It is a privilege to have him address our graduates who will, no doubt, be inspired both by his words and by his example.”