[videowaywire video_id=”ZMDGX437Z2PLWQHB”]
*Welp, it happened again.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was met with boos and the back of students’ heads during her commencement address at the University of Baltimore on Monday (Dec. 18).
About 10 minutes into her remarks, nearly 50 people – mostly African Americans – stood up and silently faced the back of the theater, according to CBS Baltimore. The group included some of the approximately 375 graduating students and a handful of their relatives.
One of the students silently raised a fist as he turned his back, and another student had “#Not my commencement speaker” written on the back of her cap, according to the Baltimore Sun.
A faculty member on stage also protested DeVos, whose support for the use of vouchers and other methods to redirect public money into private schools have rubbed folks the wrong way.
Watch below:
Some #UBalt graduate now standing up and turning back on Education Secretary @BetsyDeVosED during her commencement speech. #WJZ @CBSBaltimore pic.twitter.com/ZScRUw9T9d
— Jonathan McCall (@JonathanMcCall) December 18, 2017
About 50 protestors, including a dozen or so faculty members wearing academic robes, gathered across the street from the graduation. Among them was Debbie Kohl, an associate professor in UB’s college of arts and sciences. She says many of her fellow professors believe DeVos “represents policies and standpoints that are antithetical to the job we do here for our students.”
I am at the University of Baltimore, where Betsy DeVos is set to give the commencement speech. Of course, there are protesters outside. pic.twitter.com/H3lmJfQ7af
— Molly Hensley-Clancy (@mollyhc) December 18, 2017
UB Students and faculty began protesting DeVos’ selection as commencement speaker when it was first announced in September. Over 3,000 people signed a petition calling for the university to rescind the invitation. “Ms. DeVos seems to go against the very core of so many of UB’s values and makes our mission statement look to be a mockery,” the petition read.
But University President Kurt Schmoke, a former mayor of Baltimore, refused to do so and said the invitation to DeVos is in keeping with the traditions of the college.
“The university stands for freedom of speech,” Schmoke said in a September interview with CBS Baltimore. “My bottom line conclusion is the university stands for debate on controversial issues. I do feel that having the U.S. Secretary of Education on our campus is something that’s very important for the university, and in the long run, I believe that students will recognize that whether they agree with her position on issues or not.”
It’s not the first time college graduates have booed and turned their backs on DeVos during a commencement speech. Graduates at Bethune Cookman College did both, and became so loud that at one point, school President Edison Jackson interrupted DeVos’ to tell the grads: “If this behavior continues, your degrees will be mailed to you. Choose which way you want to go.”
In February, protesters blocked her from entering a D.C. school.
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