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Advocacy group had filed complaint with university

The president of Evergreen State College, the university in Washington made famous by its chaotic student protests last year, apologized recently after it came to light that several professors at the school used taxpayer-supported school resources to transport students to a protest of a farm over 175 miles away from the school.

President George Bridges said that six faculty members at the university “have been strongly reprimanded” for their behavior, according to KGMI. The apology comes after an advocacy group, Save Family Farming, “filed a complaint with the college in April after they say photos and videos showed college vehicles at the farm during protests over the death of a seasonal farm worker.” Save Family Farming bills itself as a group of “farmers, farm supporters, environmentalists and concerned citizens who want to save family farming.”

The professors were protesting the death of a worker on that farm, though as KGMI reports, officials “found his death was due to natural causes unrelated to his work and cleared the farm of any wrongdoing.”

The names of the disciplined faculty members were not immediately available. Gerald Baron, the executive director at Save Family Farming, said that though there are “some remaining questions,” the group “really appreciate[s] President Bridges’ apology for this abusive use of taxpayer-funded resources and are encouraged that he has promised to work from keeping this from happening again.”

According to Google Maps, the farm that the professors protested—Sarbanand Farms in Sumas, Washington—is over three hours north, almost immediately south of the border between Washington and Canada, nearly 180 miles away from Evergreen State College.

Evergreen made national headlines last year after the campus was rocked by mob-like student protests, including the targeting of one professor who wouldn’t leave the school for an anti-white “day of absence.”

In spite of the international attention the school received for the controversy, the “day of absence” tradition has continued there. Many events during this year’s observance were marked as “[people of color] only.”

MORE: Evergreen official asks student vigilantes to stop patrolling campus armed with bats, batons

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