University of Florida students who were trying to dance across the stage— to celebrate their educational achievements—were pulled off stage by a white usher, who presumably saw this as a mockery of the oh so prestigious University of Florida standards. The official in question was unidentified—until now. According to Alabama, the chemistry lecturer responsible for ruining everyone’s day has now been placed on administrative leave.
University of Florida president W. Kent Fuchs stated he’s personally apologetic for the incident last week, and that the practice of rushing—or in this case, pushing—students off stage has been put to an end.
Students who were either directly or indirectly affected by the event said the employee’s hyper-aggressive actions were “embarrassing and degrading.” The College of Nursing and College of Liberal Arts and Science students pushed off were attempting to exuberantly celebrate themselves, when an unnecessarily violent chemistry teacher robbed them of that passion. In case you missed it, here's the unfortunate behavior in question.
“We failed,” said Fuchs. “The university and I failed to provide an appropriate event for all of our students so they could be celebrated and they could celebrate their graduations.” Meanwhile, the schools Association of Black Alumni has demanded mandatory training on racial bias for all marshals, as well as an investigation into why nobody attempted to stop the chemistry teacher’s actions.
"The Black Student Union wants the community to know we plan to hold our administration accountable to create positive tangible change in response to recent events of this past weekend's graduation ceremony," said the Union in a statement. "While we appreciate President Fuchs' assurances that the practice has been halted for all future ceremonies, it is not enough."
