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Betsy DeVos Booed During Commencement Address

Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos / AP
May 10, 2017

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was heavily booed while she was delivering a commencement address on Wednesday at Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black college in Florida.

Students jeered DeVos and turned their backs to her, BuzzFeed reports.

BuzzFeed reporter Molly Hensley-Clancy was present at the Bethune-Cookman commencement exercises, and tweeted updates throughout the event. She first documented the students' loud booing of Omarosa Manigault, the White House Office of Public Liaison's director of communications and a close confidante of President Donald Trump from his time on "The Apprentice."

https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/862344163412643845

https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/862344493428813825

Further protests were heard when DeVos took the stage to give her commencement address and receive an honorary degree.

https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/862350357271367682

An increasing number of students turned their backs to DeVos as she spoke.

https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/862351668880519171

One student was escorted out to cheers after giving a "black power symbol."

https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/862352484030959616

Students persisted in cursing and turning their backs on the secretary of education through the entire speech. Their protests continued through the speech of BCU President Edison O. Jackson.

https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/862355150052175872

https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/862357576285126658

https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/862357796330905600