Education
Education

Students boo U.S. Secretary of Education

Betsy DeVos at Bethune-Cookman
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was roundly booed by students at Bethune-Cookman University’s commencement.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was roundly booed by students at Bethune-Cookman University’s commencement.
By Christopher Quinn
May 10, 2017

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos got a raucous reception at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida.

DeVos made some comments earlier this year about historic black colleges and universities being great examples of school choice. The comments attracted much criticism about her being tone-deaf to racial issues.

DeVos, from a wealthy family, has been a school choice advocate and funder of school-choice political candidates for years.

She was invited to Bethune-Cookman to be the commencement speaker. She had the courage to show up even though there was rising resentment and an incipient movement among students to turn their backs during her speech..

In the video clip below, from Twitter, and broadcast of Fox 10 TV, students boo her loudly when she announces she wishes to visit the school founder’s grave.

About the Author

Christopher Quinn is a writer and editor who has worked for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1999. He writes stories on Veterans Affairs, business including high-tech growth in metro Atlanta, Georgia's $72 billion farm economy, and he oversees assigning and editing news obituaries.

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