University of Florida President Ken Fuchs on Sunday issued an apology to students who were "aggressively" ushered off the stage during a commencement ceremony Saturday for performing a celebratory dance, CNN reports.
The students, who were mostly African-American, were forcibly rushed off the stage by a faculty member who has since been placed on paid administrative leave pending a review of the appropriate administrative steps, said Margot Winick, UF's director of communications.
Nafeesah Attah told HLN the faculty member "aggressively pushed me and put his hands on me, and really took that moment of me celebrating my graduation."
"It was directly targeted and contingent upon your race," she added. "There were other students prior to us going up there who were white who did back-flips and took selfies, who did a spin on stage, and they were not handled in the same regard."
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