By Dillon Richards

Update | 5:15 p.m.

A representative for the Georgia Board of Regents told Grady Newsource that the Board gave student protesters a chance to speak, but they declined.

“We respect our students’ right to free speech,” he said.

He also said the students were allowed to continue their silent protest, but were thrown out when they obstructed the speaker.

Original Article

ATHENS, Ga. | A group of students is headed home after they interrupted a Georgia Board of Regents meeting early Tuesday morning during a silent protest against the Board’s policies banning undocumented students from certain schools.

Laura Emiko Soltis, a coordinator at Freedom University in Atlanta, told Grady Newsource that the students stood silently and with their fists raised. At first, they were ignored by Board members, but later they were escorted from the room by security, according to Soltis.

Undocumented students wore duct tape over their mouths and shirts that read “Freedom University,” while documented students wore t-shirts with their school’s logo on them.

Calls to the Board of Regents office were not immediately returned.

Stay tuned for more updates on this story.

Photo credit: Laura Emiko Soltis, Freedom University