Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 5-12-17

White House And Political News
Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey
Bethune-Cookman Graduates Boo, Turn Backs On Dept. Of Education’s Betsy DeVos
Both Secretary of Educa- tion Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump’s adviser Omarosa Manigault were met with a chorus of boos by students at Bethune-Cookman Univer- sity at the 2017 Commence- ment ceremony on Wednesday.
DeVos — who has both been accused of racism and accused her critics of racism — was roundly booed when university president Edison Jackson introduced her to give her an honorary doctor- ate, according to a report by The New York Times.
Roughly half of the gradu- ates turned their backs on her and many shouted over DeVos while the cabinet member criticized their dis- sent by claiming they should try to learn from individuals with whom they disagree.
“Dr. Jackson, Board of Trustees, thank you so very, very much for this great honor and privilege,” DeVos said as boos and jeers started up almost immediately and grew louder and louder as she spoke. “I am honored to become a Wildcat,” she added, which prompted an even more outraged reaction.
“It’s a real honor and privi- lege to be with you as we cel- ebrate the Bethune-Cookman class of 2017,” she continued, speaking to students who were not sitting in their seats and would not face her, even after Jackson told the stu- dents that their degrees would be mailed to them if they continued to boo and jeer.
Students also booed when Jackson introduced Omarosa Manigault ear- lier in the ceremony, prompt- ing Jackson to scold the students by saying, “You
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos at the Commencement Cer- emony of BC-U.
Some of the graduates turned their backs as Devos spoke.
don’t know her. You don’t know her story.”
BCU’s president ignored a hand delivered petitions with more than 50,000 signatures asking officials to reconsider a day before the event.
BCU students, alumni and friends collected the signa- tures through Change.org, Color of Change and the Florida Education Associa- tion, according to a news re- lease.
The university's chief of campus safety, Gregory Elder, signed off on the pe- titions.
"We are in contact with the students and they're relaying to us that it's the sentiment that they want heard and I think that they're doing it the appropriate way," Elder
said.
“Having DeVos speak at
the commencement cere- mony is an insult to the BCU graduating class, students, alumni, family, friends and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s legacy,” read part of the petition. “We, the proud alumni of Bethune- Cookman University, do not want Betsy DeVos to have a seat at our table. Please re- scind her invitation to speak at the graduation ceremony.”
BCU’s president, Edison Jackson ignored the protest prior to the commencement, so the graduates took the protest to the next level, and would not allow her to speak.
The state NAACP is calling for the firing of BCU’s presi- dent.
President Donald Trump
abruptly fired FBI director James Comey over his ap- parent handling of the investi- gation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.
The White House made the announcement Tuesday (May 9), with Trump sighting Comey’s inability to “effec- tively lead” the bureau as rea- soning for the decision.
Comey was also leading the investigation of Russia’s in- volvement in potentially sway- ing the 2016 Election, and testified over the Clinton emails during a Senate Com- mittee Hearing last week.
He reportedly found out that he was fired through the media. At the time, Comey was in Los Angeles to speak at an FBI event.
Former FBI Director James Comey.
Donald Trump Says Financing HBCUs Is Unconstitutional
Donald Trump and Omarosa Manigault. Omarosa helped set up a meeting with HBCU presidents and Presi- dent Trump.
Last Friday, President Donald Trump suggested that a 25-year-old law that helps finance construction projects on the campuses of Historically Black Colleges and Universities might not be con- stitutional.
Trump released a signing statement on the new omnibus spending bill specifically sin- gling out the Historically Black College and University Capital Financing Program as an ex- ample of a program “that allo- cate benefits on the basis of race, ethnicity, and gender.”
Those programs, Trump said, would be treated by his administration “in a manner consistent with the require- ment to afford equal protection of the law under the Due Process Clause of the Constitu- tion’s Fifth Amendment.”’
Derek W. Black, a law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, characterized the statement as “rather odd.”
“If Congress is validly spend- ing money on these programs, and there’s no court finding or litigation suggesting discrimi- nation, the idea that the execu- tive would unilaterally not
allocate those funds would be a rather momentous position to take.,” Black said.
The former president of one of the country’s oldest histori- cally Black colleges (More- house) called a series of meetings with Trump Admin- istration officials in February “troubling” and said they ulti- mately failed to live up to ex- pectations.
The trip, he wrote, was sup- posed to be “historic" and a step in fulfilling President Trump’s pledge that he would “do more for HBCUs than any other president has done be- fore.” There was anticipation among the representatives that the president would set aside additional funding for HBCUs or potentially create new tax in- centives for private sector donors to the schools.”
“But, instead of the long- awaited executive order con- taining or signaling any of those outcomes, the key change was a symbolic shift of the White House HBCU Initiative from the Department of Educa- tion to the White House”.
Now we know why the shift was made.
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