Betsy DeVos Met by 30 Protesters at FIU

MIAMI, FL — Controversial Education Secretary and Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos was met by about 30 protesters when she toured Florida International University on Thursday but they did not disrupt her visit, according to school officials. This was her first appearance at a public university since she was tapped by President Trump to become the nation's chief educator.

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DeVos, who has made a series of controversial missteps in the months since joining the Trump Cabinet toured the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences’ Simulation Teaching and Research Center (STAR) during her visit to FIU.

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FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg met with DeVos and said he looked forward to working with the secretary in the future.

"We were able to speak with her about issues of importance to our community, including workforce preparation, research funding, STEM education, DACA, and Pell Grants for low-income students," Rosenberg said.

DeVos also met with Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho who said it was also the secretary's first visit with a superintendent.

Carvalho described his meeting as a "productive and constructive conversation" regarding "successes, challenges, and opportunities" facing one of the largest school systems in the country.

DeVos will visit students and staff at the Royal Palm Elementary School in Miami on Friday before heading over to Miami-Dade College's Wolfson Campus. She will tour the Idea Center and the Miami Animation & Gaming International Complex at Wolfson.

FIU's STAR Center is a state-of-the-art training facility for nurses and other health care professionals.

"The STAR Center resembles a hospital ward, where the patients, including a new mother and her baby, are all symptomatic mannequins," explained Maydel Santana of FIU.

During her visit DeVos also met with FIU professors and students at the main campus of the university, 11200 SW 8th Street.

A proposal to invite DeVos to San Diego to showcase public school successes there was yanked from a school board agenda in February because of the "polarizing nature" of her nomination and confirmation. And in Washington, D.C., she was physically blocked by protesters when she tried to visit Jefferson Middle School.

FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU.

Secretary DeVos meets with FIU students courtesy of FIU