The University announced Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence will be the principal speaker at the 2017 Commencement ceremony.
Pence, who was governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017 and a U.S. congressman and conservative talk radio host before that, will receive an honorary degree.
The announcement comes after months of speculation over whether the University would invite or host President Donald Trump as Commencement speaker, as it has done with several U.S. presidents in the past. Earlier this week, students protested the possibility that President Trump would be invited.
University vice president for public affairs and communications Paul Browne said Thursday that he would not “speculate or disclose” who the University had considered or invited, including Trump.
“Certainly one of the things that figured prominently was the fact that he was governor in our home state who had just become vice president of the United States ... and Governor Pence is a native son of Indiana and coincidentally, we will be celebrating ND's founding 175 years ago in Indiana,” Browne said. “Those were elements of it.”
The Commencement ceremony will take place May 21 in Notre Dame Stadium.
This is a developing story. This post will be updated.
