--- title: Betsy DeVos at Bethune-Cookman: Read Transcript of Speech description: "I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak with you, and particularly with those who have disagreed with the invitation for me to be here" canonical: https://time.com/4774574/betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-university-commencement-2017-speech-read/ author: Catherine Trautwein article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-10T19:33:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:51:25.339Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Betsy DeVos's Commencement Speech at Bethune-Cookman University og:description: The crowd booed and turned their backs on DeVos og:url: https://time.com/4774574/betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-university-commencement-2017-speech-read/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9963d62417cd92e1/6988ccc797cdff43806b0a3b/betsy-devos-commencement.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Betsy DeVos Addresses Employees At Department Of Education og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Betsy DeVos's Commencement Speech at Bethune-Cookman University twitter:description: The crowd booed and turned their backs on DeVos twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9963d62417cd92e1/6988ccc797cdff43806b0a3b/betsy-devos-commencement.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Betsy DeVos's Commencement Speech at Bethune-Cookman University by [Catherine Trautwein](https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/) ## Catherine Trautwein May 10, 2017 7:33 PM UTC  Betsy DeVos, U.S. secretary of education, speaks to employees on her first day at the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8, 2017. Betsy DeVos, U.S. secretary of education, speaks to employees on her first day at the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8, 2017.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Catherine Trautwein](https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/) ## Catherine Trautwein May 10, 2017 7:33 PM UTC Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave the 2017 commencement address at [Bethune-Cookman University](http://time.com/4774450/betsy-devos-commencement-boo-bethune-cookman/), a historically-black institution, on Wednesday. The speech was marked by controversy as students booed and turned their backs on DeVos. At one point University President Edison Jackson intervened, saying that if the disruption kept up students would get their degrees in the mail. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak with you, and particularly with those who have disagreed with the invitation for me to be here,” DeVos said. “One of the hallmarks of higher education and of democracy is the ability to converse with and learn from those with whom we disagree.” Here is a full transcript of her prepared remarks, as provided by the [U.S. Department of Education](https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/prepared-remarks-us-secretary-education-betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-universitys-2017-spring-commencement): --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4774574/betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-university-commencement-2017-speech-read/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4774574/betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-university-commencement-2017-speech-read/"},"headline":"Read Betsy DeVos's Commencement Speech at Bethune-Cookman University","datePublished":"2017-05-10T19:33:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:51:25.339Z","description":"The commencement address was marked by controversy","url":"https://time.com/4774574/betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-university-commencement-2017-speech-read/","keywords":["Education","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9963d62417cd92e1/6988ccc797cdff43806b0a3b/betsy-devos-commencement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Catherine Trautwein","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9963d62417cd92e1/6988ccc797cdff43806b0a3b/betsy-devos-commencement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Betsy DeVos Addresses Employees At Department Of Education","caption":"Betsy DeVos Addresses Employees At Department Of Education","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4774574/betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-university-commencement-2017-speech-read/","name":"Read Betsy DeVos's Commencement Speech at Bethune-Cookman University"}}]}] ```