In Praise of Edison Jackson Bethune-Cookman’s president stands up for Betsy DeVos.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-praise-of-edison-jackson-1494629992
As if we needed another example of civility gone off the rails at America’s institutions of higher learning, the treatment given Education Secretary Betsy DeVos this week at Bethune-Cookman University deserves special mention.
Edison O. Jackson, the president of Bethune-Cookman, a historically black institution of higher education, invited Mrs. DeVos to be the schools commencement speaker. As she began, many students screamed at her and turned their backs to the stage. So it went for nearly the whole speech.
President Jackson, let it be noted, defended the Secretary at her side, and the school’s faculty stood onstage in solidarity with him.
The irony here is that Mrs. DeVos has dedicated her adult life to improving educational opportunities for inner-city black children, specifically so they can qualify for a higher education and the lifetime of benefits that brings.
We are reaching the limits of political polarization when it turns this self-defeating.
Appeared in the May. 13, 2017, print edition.
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