Dancing college grads dragged off stage, school apologizes for being ‘inappropriately aggressive’

The University of Florida’s apology has fallen short for the graduates whom an usher yanked off the stage this weekend as they danced to celebrate their achievements during a spring commencement ceremony.

“In general, I don’t think I’ve ever been handled in that manner, not even by my parents,” Oliver Telusma, one of the students given the hook, told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” today. “It’s kind of embarrassing, kind of degrading.”

Another student, Nafeesah Attah, told “GMA” the dances were symbolic gestures of joy that had meaning rooted to their fraternities and sororities. She said the response of the white usher who grabbed her and the others and shoved them off stage “was not arbitrary.”

“It was definitely contingent on your race … other white students who were dancing were not perceived as a threat,” Attah said.

University of Florida President Kent Fuchs acknowledged that the school had been “inappropriately aggressive” when rushing graduates across the stage Saturday, a videotaped incident that has stirred controversy online amid suggestions that the white usher was motivated by race because the students were black.

The usher has not been identified.

Fuchs apologized at another commencement ceremony Sunday.

“I want to personally apologize for us doing that on behalf of myself and also the University of Florida,” Fuchs said.

During one of this weekend’s commencement ceremonies, we were inappropriately aggressive in rushing students across the stage. I personally apologize, and am reaching out to the students involved. (1/2)

— W. Kent Fuchs (@PresidentFuchs) May 6, 2018

Fuchs has also “personally called each of the students impacted to convey his apology and to let them know that the practice of physically interfering with students’ celebrations to rush them across the stage has been stopped,” a university spokeswoman said this afternoon.

But Attah and Telusma said he was on stage at the time of the incident and did nothing to stop the usher from ruining their milestone moment.

Attah, a part of the University of Florida’s nearly 10,000-member spring 2018 graduating class, told ABC News her whole family had come from South Florida and London, and it was particularly hard for her younger sister to see her yanked off the stage.

“I kind of planned what I wanted to do on stage to celebrate my story, all of my hard work I’d done at the University of Florida,” Attah said.

“I tried to do one of my stroll moves, but I was instantly like blocked by one of the officials on stage and they aggressively pushed me off the stage after that,” she added. “So I was definitely disappointed they took that moment from me because I can only get my bachelors once.”

@ChicoFreedom/Twitter

@ChicoFreedom/Twitter

Telusma, a member of the Beta Sigma chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, a predominantly black organization, said he had to shove the usher in order to break free of his grip.

Fuchs said the hands-on removal process would be banned from future ceremonies.

The University of Florida

“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,” Fuchs said.

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. (2/2)

— W. Kent Fuchs (@PresidentFuchs) May 6, 2018

University of Florida graduate Christopher Garcia-Wilde also said the usher appeared to shove only black students who wanted to celebrate on stage “by strolling, which is a cultural tradition in historically black fraternities and sororities.” Other students who took slightly more time on stage were rushed, but not in an aggressive manner, he said.

“It’s a tradition to stroll at graduation if you choose to, and people have been doing this for years,” Garcia-Wilde, 22, told The Gainesville Sun Sunday. “I was actually too afraid [to stroll] because I saw him shove other people.

“But my two friends who graduated with me really wanted to do it, so they tried. They both were pushed and one of them got an entire bear hug,” he added.

The university is investigating the matter.

ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.

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At McConnell’s Urging, Trump Asks West Virginians Not to Vote for Don Blankenship

That is partly because he has framed his conviction as a persecution by former President Obama’s Justice Department, a strategy aimed at tapping into the deep animus toward a former president who many in the state believe waged a “war on coal.”

And in recent weeks Mr. Blankenship dipped into his personal wealth to air a series of incendiary ads targeting the family of Mr. McConnell, the majority leader husband of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

“Swamp Captain Mitch McConnell has given millions of jobs to China People,” Mr. Blankenship said in one commercial, alluding to the shipping business of Mr. McConnell’s father-in-law, an American citizen. In another spot, Mr. Blankenship dubbed Mr. McConnell “Cocaine Mitch” for far-fetched claims that a ship connected to Ms. Chao’s father once smuggled drugs.

Mr. McConnell, who is deeply unpopular among Republican primary voters, has largely sidestepped the attacks, but his allies have continued to assail Mr. Blankenship on the state’s airwaves. Mr. Trump, though, had been silent until Monday.

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., last week made a statement about the importance of stopping Mr. Blankenship. But until Monday, the closest the president had come to weighing in on the race was when he brought Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Morrisey to a tax-themed event he held in West Virginia and sat with them on either side. (He even polled the audience during the event to gauge who had more support in the room).

Part of the challenge for the establishment wing of the party has been that Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Morrisey have largely targeted one another, most recently during a bitter Fox News debate last week, and neither has been able to emerge as the clear front-runner. And Republican leaders did not have a strong preference between the two and so have not taken sides.

Mr. Jenkins is a former Democrat who represents the coal-producing part of the state, having upset a veteran incumbent in 2014, while Mr. Morrisey is a New Jersey transplant who made a name for himself suing the Obama administration.

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