This University Had To Apologize For How They Shoved Students Of Color Off Stage

The end of the school year is a celebratory time, but a group of students at the University of Florida had their graduation ceremony turned into an ugly memory. Footage of a University of Florida faculty member forcibly shoving graduates off stage as they stopped for a brief celebratory dance have gone viral because of how shockingly rough he is.

Many attendees who captured the footage and students believe the faculty member was targeting people of color:

He was unnecessarily rough, in my opinion:

And he was seemingly just as rough with the women as the men:

Students were upset to be manhandled at their ceremony, which they had worked very hard to get to. 

There has been considerable outrage at the treatment of the graduates. Many of the dances were celebratory traditions from their fraternities and sororities. Some white students were also reportedly pushed off stage, but allegedly not as roughly. 

Oliver Telusma, who was one of the students pushed, told WCJB, "Looking back after the fact, it's like kind of embarrassing that this is my memory of my college commencement at UF."

The school's president has written an apology tweet, and also called some students personally to apologize for the faculty member's behavior—though the man in the video has not been named.

But others allege he was sitting right there and witnessing it:

There are people who say that the students pausing to celebrate were being inconsiderate:

Even if you think they should have known not to take extra time when their name was called, it's insanely inappropriate to grab someone's body and throw them around in a formal setting like a ceremony—or any setting outside of the ring!

And there are just as many people upset with the University of Florida:

Some of the students spoke with Good Morning America about the experience, and how degrading it felt to be touched that way:

What do you think?