(CNN) Students at Seattle Pacific University handed their interim president rainbow pride flags during a commencement ceremony Sunday instead of shaking his hand in protest of a school policy that bars the hiring of LGBTQ+ people. About 50 students were given pride flags before arriving at the ceremony, Seattle Pacific University student and organizer Chloe Guillot told CNN. "It started just as a conversation among students that we didn't really want to shake the president's hand at graduation," Guillot said. Guillot, who said she will return to Seattle Pacific as a graduate student, said after giving interim President Pete Menjares a pride flag Sunday, she told him, "We're not going to stop until the policy changes." Seattle Pacific University is a religious educational institution affiliated with the Free Methodist Church USA that "reserves the right to prefer employees or prospective employees on the basis of religion," the university says on its website.

Source: CNN June 15, 2022 17:15 UTC