I'm sure 1Lt Pence being there didn't hurt...but I believe that a majority of the flight instructors refusing to fly anymore had more to do with it than a high profile student. When your instructors refusing to fly due to safety concerns makes national news it kind of backs you into a corner and forces you to do something. Had there been another mishap after instructors refused to fly, the Navy would not have had a leg to stand on.
Another factor that more than likely had a greater impact was the need for pilots in the fleet. Once enough pilots refused to fly, pilot production numbers would start falling and create a choke point in the training pipeline. At a certain point it would be in the best interest of the Navy to stop flying so they can find and fix the problem than it would be to limp along with the few pilots willing to still fly from pilot production standpoint. With up to 100 pilots not flying, odds are they reached that point.
We are totally a society with classes, but I don't think Pence was the driving factor in this case....it didn't hurt that he was there though. I wish I could have been in on the conversations when the COs had to call and say they were cancelling the flight schedule because their instructors were not willing to fly...and it was going to make national news.