Education

Florida Atlantic issues new groveling apology over Jesus-stomping [VIDEO]

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The Florida Atlantic University student who allegedly ran afoul of school administrators when he expressed discomfort with a professor’s assignment to stomp on a piece of paper bearing the word “Jesus,” has won in an absolute rout.

As late as Monday, Fox News Radio was reporting that the student, devout Mormon Ryan Rotela, faced a litany of academic charges involving “acts of verbal, written or physical abuse” and could no longer attend class.

These charges were perplexing because they appeared to come after FAU first attempted to apologize. (RELATED: UPDATE: Florida Atlantic University apologizes for Jesus Stomping 101)

Before that apology, as UPI reports, school officials had sided with the professor, insisting that a university “is a venue for such dialogue and debate.”

It’s unclear if the school was actually planning to punish Rotela before the incident became a national story.

Whatever the case, the Sun Sentinel reports that Florida Gov. Rick Scott has now blasted FAU as “intolerant to Christians.” He called Rotela personally to praise his courage. He also asked Frank Brogan, chancellor of Florida’s public university system, to ensure that “this type of ‘lesson’ will not occur again.”

FAU has come out with a second apology. This time, it’s in the form of this nearly-touching humble pie-eating video.

WATCH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB7vD_NHFic

“On behalf of all of us here at FAU, we are deeply sorry for any hurt that this incident might have caused our students, people in the community and beyond,” says Charles Brown, senior vice president for student affairs, in the recording. “As an institution of higher education, we embrace academic freedom. But with that comes a level of responsibility which we did not uphold.”

Brown went on to promise and swear that FAU faculty will never use the exercise again. He then swore that the school would take no disciplinary action against any student concerning the incident.

In an email to The Daily Caller, Lisa Metcalf, an FAU spokeswoman, reiterated Brown’s promise.

“Out of respect for student privacy laws, I cannot comment on the specifics related to the student,” Metcalf wrote. “I can, however, tell you that no disciplinary action was taken against any students regarding this matter.”

On his Facebook page, Rotela sounded very triumphant

“FAU gave me everything I want,” he wrote. “Victory!”

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Eric Owens