UNION — Dozens of Kean University students walked out of their classes this afternoon to protest the governing board’s decision to support the president despite finding mistakes on his resumes.

The 1:30 p.m. walk-out was organized by the Occupy Kean group, which students began last semester as an off-shoot of Occupy Wall Street. But the organization has “transformed into a movement to get the students here aware of what’s happening with our school’s administration,” said Katherine Arzig, 22, a junior psychology major, who described herself as the “reluctant leader” of the group.

She said they are “absolutely appalled” of the trustees’ announcement Wednesday night expressing confidence in president Dawood Farahi’s leadership, in spite of discovering instances — most decades old, they said — where Farahi showed “carelessness” with his resumes. The divided board voted voted 7-4, with one abstention, in favor of the statement. In response, Farahi issued a statement apologizing for the negative attention he brought on the university and took full responsibility for the errors.

The drizzly gathering in front of Kean’s University Center was just a prelude to a march planned for 3:30 p.m., the start of what’s known as “college hour,” the time when student clubs typically meet. Organizers wanted to accommodate students who could not skip class.

“We are marching to Sen. Lesniak’s office, which I understand is a few miles away, but we really want to make our statement, and we will do what we have to do in order to make people hear us,” said Arzig, who is from Old Bridge. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) is a major backer of Farahi.

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