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The removal of the speaker for South Carolina State University’s (SCSU) spring commencement has prompted lawmakers to threaten to cut the school’s funding.
On April 28, students at SCSU – a historically Black college — conducted a silent protest opposing the selection of South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette as the speaker for the school’s Spring Commencement Ceremony, according to Inside Higher Ed. The ceremony will be held on Friday (May 8).
Students peacefully protested Evette’s selection by sitting in the campus administration building. Evette’s invitation was formally rescinded on April 30, and at the time of writing, no new speaker has been announced.
Evette reacted to the protest on X on April 28, calling them “woke mobs” and claiming they were prompted by her and President Donald Trump’s promise to eliminate DEI programs at colleges and universities across the state.
“Let’s be clear: facts trump feelings in the real world. President Trump and conservatives have done more for HBCUs than any administration in history,” she said in the video. “I must be doing something right because woke mobs are coming after me for being a champion of eliminating radical DEI scams on college campuses. So bring it on. Just like President Trump, I’ll never back down or bend a knee to the woke radicals.”
In response, nine Republican state representatives authored a letter calling for the state to cut more than $35 million of the SCSU’s funding in the upcoming state budget on May 1, according to WLTX.
"It is shameful that a state institution, supported by taxpayer dollars, would capitulate and rescind an invitation to our sitting Lt. Governor - seemingly because some students do not agree with her political views,” the representatives wrote. “It is inexcusable that a commencement speech from the Lt. Governor of South Carolina had to be canceled because her safety could not be guaranteed on a state-funded campus."
Evette reposted a local news story about the letter to X on May 1, saying she applauds lawmakers “who, like me, firmly believe that not one dime of taxpayer money should ever go to a school that discriminates against conservative views.”
Rep. Cal Forrest, one of the lawmakers who wrote the letter, later told WACH on Monday that they were not actually going to cut SCSU’s funding, and that the letter was more of a “symbolic gesture” in response to Evette’s invitation being rescinded.
"We did sign a letter saying that, but everybody knows without a shred of doubt that we're not going to cut funding to a state-supported college or university," he said.
SCSU has historically been underfunded by the state. The state budget for fiscal year 2025-26 allocated about $34 million in recurring funds to the school. By comparison, Clemson University received more than $219 million, and the University of South Carolina received more than $325 million. Neither schools are HBCUs.
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