Videos posted to social media showed graduates on the arena’s Jumbotron taking roughly two to three seconds to either wave or celebrate after their names were called, only to be manhandled and roughly removed from the stage by a faculty member.
The videos have caused immediate uproar, since it appears that the unnamed faculty member was only being rough with black graduates.
The University is proud of the achievements of every single one of our graduates and regrets that any celebration of the day may have been diminished by those monitoring a graduation ceremony.
— FLORIDA (@UF) May 6, 2018
"The University is proud of the achievements of every single one of our graduates and regrets that any celebration of the day may have been diminished by those monitoring a graduation ceremony," the school said in a tweet Saturday evening.
And from another angle... pic.twitter.com/iR2ZirCR2Y
— hailey 🌺 (@yeliah_) May 6, 2018
UF Twitter 🗣🗣
— Chris (@ChicoFreedom) May 5, 2018
Somebody please find out this employee’s name!! Every time a Black student took more than TWO seconds, he aggressively pushed them. Watch it for yourself. #ItsGreatUF pic.twitter.com/zMee1nMbUZ
University President W. Kent Fuchs also released a statement Sunday, saying the accused faculty member was "inappropriately aggressive."Another one.... pic.twitter.com/imB8mwbICI
— Jordy (@_jordanaenae) May 5, 2018
"I personally apologize, and am reaching out to the students involved,” said Fuchs. "The practice has been halted for all future ceremonies, and we will work to make sure all graduating students know we are proud of their achievements and celebrate with them their graduation."
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