A handful of Republican S.C. House members are calling on House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bruce Bannister to eliminate funding for S.C. State University after the school rescinded Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s invitation to speak at its May 8 graduation following student complaints.
“If the lieutenant governor of South Carolina is unwelcome due to different political ideologies and an inability to keep her safe, it is time to defund and reevaluate,” the members wrote in an April 30 letter.
The controversy began earlier in the week when some students at the university, negatively described later by Evette as a “woke mob,” said they were upset by stands she has taken in her 2026 gubernatorial campaign, such as opposition to diversity, equality and inclusion.
A student-led petition called for the university to disinvite Evette and select a different speaker. On Tuesday, students marched around campus, chanting, “Pamela Evette has got to go.” As a historical sidenote, student protest is ingrained in S.C. State’s tradition. In February 1968 during a protest near a bowling alley in Orangeburg, law enforcement officials shot and killed three students. Twenty-eight others were injured in what came to be known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
Earlier this week, student complaints, as heard in a video Evette reposted on X, included soundbites that she’s a “Trump conservative,” “doesn’t support DEI” and is “anti-abortion.”
In response, university officials disinvited Evette on April 29.
“Commencement should remain a moment of celebration focused on our graduates and their achievements, and we are committed to ensuring an environment that reflects that purpose,” University President Alexander Conyers said in a statement.
“Conservative voices will never be bullied or silenced anywhere in South Carolina,” Evette posted on X an hour before the university announced she would no longer be the speaker. “See you at commencement.”
After her disinvitation, Evette doubled down on the same conservative talking points that concerned students, saying this is “why we cannot give up the fight to end indoctrination and DEI” and blaming college professors for “feigned outrage.”
According to news reports, the GOP members calling for defunding included S.C. Reps. Gil Gatch, Thomas Beach, Jackie Terribile, Sarita Edgerton, Josiah Magnuson, John McCravy, Melissa Oremus and Cally Forrest Jr.
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