Benedictine president responds to Butker speech in first TV interview
ATCHISON Kan. — In his first TV interview, Benedictine College president Steve Minnis responded to the commencement speech delivered by Harrison Butker on his campus in May. FOX4 asked Minis if he regretted Butker’s speech.
“No, I don’t regret having Harrison Butker. He’s a he’s a fantastic man, a really fantastic Catholic man,” Minnis responded.
The address was seen by millions across the world, outraged many, and drew applause from others. Butker spoke about his beliefs, particularly through the lens of his faith. On Wednesday, Butker stood by his comments.
Minnis has seen a lot in his 20-year career as president. However, in those two decades has he never experienced anything like the past three months after the speech.
“We’re not going to comment on all the ins and outs of the speech, whether we agree with the speech or we don’t agree,” he said.
“We invited Harrison to be our commencement speaker, and he gave a speech that he wanted to give.”
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We went through several parts of the speech, and time and time again Minnis declined to say if the university stands by things like Butker’s stance on abortion, IVF, surrogacy or his feelings on COVID restrictions. Benedictine implemented many of the same restrictions that Butker criticized.
“What we view is, is that God gives everyone talents,” said Minnis.
“We want them to live up to the talents that they receive. We want them to lean into their vocation that God has in store for them and if that is being a successful lawyer or doctor or engineer or businessperson or teacher, that is fantastic.”
Since the speech, the college has faced a lot of scrutiny. Benedictine received more than 500 voicemails, which Minnis claims were mostly negative. Additionally, in one week he received 1200 emails some attacking and some showing support.
The situation was intense enough that the college was forced to bring in extra security.
Aside from the negative impacts, there’s also been some good, including record donations a record amount of new donors.
“We’re going to have record enrollment this fall. We have record inquiries even for next year. So great things are happening for Benedictine College” he said.
The president says the school did not read the speech beforehand and going forward they will stick to that policy.
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