Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is set to deliver the commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University on Wednesday, despite vocal opposition from students at the school, civil rights organizations, and Florida education groups.
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Students, civil rights, and education groups want to block Betsy DeVos' graduation speech at a historically black college today
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is set to deliver the commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University on Wednesday, despite vocal opposition.
Betsy DeVos.
Both current and former students from Bethune-Cookman have voiced their opposition to DeVos addressing the graduation class.
"Do not use Bethune-Cookman as a photo op," Dominik Whitehead, who graduated from the school in 2010 and who started the petition, told the Washington Post. "Come to the table with something that is going to actually do something, in terms of policy, funding," he continued.
Other education and civil rights organizations have taken a similar position. The Florida chapter of the NAACP asked Bethune-Cookman University to disinvite and withhold an honorary degree for DeVos, and the Florida Education Association also started a petition calling for a disinvitation, Inside Higher Ed reported.
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But their efforts have been marked with gaffes and uncertainty about the administration's plans to help better serve their institutions.
She later issued a series of tweets clarifying the racist history that necessitated the emergence of HBCUs.
And in a statement last week, President Trump seemed to indicate that key funding for HBCUs might be unconstitutional and therefore scrapped. Experts saw his comments as a signal that certain funding for HBCUs was at risk. He later pledged his
DeVos is set to give her remarks at
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