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Jacksonville Faith Leaders Respond to Betsy DeVos’ Commencement Address at Bethune-Cookman University

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 10, 2017

CONTACT

Michelle Nealy, (202) 735-7123, mnealy@faithinpubliclife.org

Jacksonville Faith Leaders Respond to Betsy DeVos’ Commencement Address at Bethune-Cookman University  

Jacksonville, Fla. —  Jacksonville clergy expressed dismay at the selection of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as commencement speaker and recipient of a honorary degree at Bethune-Cookman University.

According to recent reports, the Trump Administration is developing a student loan program that will make it more difficult for HBCU students to pay off their student loans.  

Rev. Dr. Juan Gray, Board Chair, Jacksonville Chapter, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Jacksonville:

“To have Betsy Devos speaking and receiving an honorary degree at Bethune-Cookman [while the administration challenges HBCUs] is absolutely outrageous given the history of the Methodist Episcopal church.”

Rev. Denise Hunt, Global Justice & Empowerment Action Ministries, Jacksonville:

“It is a disgrace in 2017 to have leaders at Bethune-Cookman accommodating Betsy DeVos while she advocates education policies at the expense of the black community that take us back from the advances we have made in the Civil Rights Movement and the 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education.”

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