In response to South Carolina State University for “caving in” to students who protested the selection of Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette as commencement speaker, a group of Republican lawmakers are urging their colleagues to block $5 million for a convocation center at the HBCU, WIS 10 reports.
“It is a horrible example and precedent when a publicly funded university caves in to the wishes of a few students to cancel a speaker and limits the right of an entire student body to hear the words of someone just because they don’t like the politics of that person,” states a letter that WIS 10 says the lawmakers sent.
“This cannot be tolerated,” the lawmakers continue in their letter. Adding that it doesn’t matter if the school in question was Clemson, University of South Carolina, College of Charleston, Winthrop or any other public school, they continued “If we want to prevent this from happening, there must be a punishment that comes along with denying free speech at our public schools.”
The Republican-led effort to block funding for the convocation center at South Carolina State is but one move from a much larger playbook for for how to handle issues between the government, higher education and its institutions. The Trump administration has repeatedly used the power of purse strings to induce institutions to distance themselves from DEI or otherwise comport with its policy agenda.
The effort also comes at a time when issues of free speech on campus are being hotly debated – largely along partisan lines – at both the state and national level. While Republicans are pushing for “viewpoint diversity,” Democrats accuse Republicans of being hypocritical for at the same time seeking to restrict what can be taught on campus – particularly when it comes to matters of race and gender.
Student protesters complained that Evette is a “Trump conservative,” “doesn’t support DEI” and is “anti-abortion.” Evette responded by saying she was “guilty as charged” and dismissed the student protesters as a “woke mob.” The university says it disinvited Evette out of “an abundance of caution for safety.”
The Republican state representatives who want to punish SCSU are calling on Gov. Henry McMaster to veto the $5 million line for the convocation center if their colleagues on a state budget conference committee are “not willing to take the stand on free speech.”
