From Hollywood to Home: Black Voices in Entertainment
- University President Alexander Conyers cited safety concerns, canceled Pamela Evette's commencement appearance, inviting dialogue but saying graduation was not the time.
- Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette refused to apologize, labeled students an woke mob, and doubled down as pro-Trump and anti-DEI.
- Nine state House members petitioned Chairman Bruce Bannister to exclude funding for SC State from the draft state budget.
- Students staged marches, sit-ins, and a petition surpassing 20,000 signatures demanding a speaker who celebrates SC State's achievements.
- Controversy threatens HBCU funding, faculty tenure rollbacks, and Black political power, including attempts to redraw Rep. Jim Clyburn's district.
South Carolina State University now faces defunding by state legislators to punish the HBCU for successfully protesting a commencement speech from anti-DEI Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette. The malicious MAGA is so determined to berate these students on their big day that her canceled appearance is now the pretense to destroy the school she claims to have supported more than anyone else. This is yet another instance where free speech has a steep price when they don’t want to hear it.
University President Alexander Conyers cited concerns for the safety of students, faculty, and guests as a reason to pivot from anything that takes focus away from the ceremony. He invited anyone in the nation to come to the campus for a productive conversation, regardless of their differences with the rest of the community, but agreed graduation isn’t the time for that.
Despite the open-minded concession, Evette went full Karen to make herself the victim rather than the one threatening the safe environment for students. WACH reports she refused to apologize for demeaning students as a “woke mob” and implying it takes a conspiracy for them to object to her speech, which she agreed to in December.
“I was pro-Trump in December. I was anti-DEI in December. Nothing has changed. So I think what you should be asking are the leaders on that college campus, what had changed?” she asked
“Since when is it okay for groups to come together and cite security concerns to have violence play a part in silencing voices? That is not what our country is about,” she said, ignoring centuries of U.S. history.
Read how Lt. Gov. Evette’s Karen commotion is now endangering the future of South Carolina State University after the jump!
SC State Threatened With Defunding Over Lt. Gov. Evette’s Disinvitation From Spring Commencement
Those weaponized tears worked like a charm!
State legislators spotted that all-too-familiar “feared for my life” justification to perpetuate the real violence by defunding South Carolina’s only HBCU. Nine members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Representative Bruce Bannister to request that SC State receives no funding in a new draft of the state budget.
“There is no reason why state tax dollars should continue to fund a state institution where not all South Carolinians are welcome. If the Lt. 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 letter stated, flipping the narrative to serve the same anti-Black agenda that made Evette unfit and unwanted as the school’s graduation in the first place.
Representatives Gil Gatch, Thomas Beach, Jackie Terribile, Sarita Edgerton, Josiah Magnuson, John McCravy, Melissa Oremus, and Cally Forrest Jr. endorsed the call to hold SC State’s funds hostage, WSPA reports.
SC State Students Demanded A Commencement Speaker Who Actually Celebrates Their Achievements, Lt. Gov. Evette’s Exploitation Proves Their Points
As BOSSIP previously reported, university leadership announced Evette’s Orangeburg ouster on Wednesday, April 29, after days of student protests and community backlash. Marches, sit-ins, and social media campaigns went viral as soon as the gubernatorial candidate’s keynote was announced. A petition against her speech racked up more than 20,000 signatures, citing her political stances and campaign affiliations that are essentially antithetical to celebrating HBCU excellence.
She doubled down by mysteriously claiming “President Trump, the governor and I have done more for Historically Black Colleges and Universities than anybody in the history of the state or the country” and in the next breath stating that those students “don’t know the facts” because professors are “indoctrinating” them. According to WSPA, she added, ” I must be doing something right because ‘woke mobs’ are coming after me like a champion of eliminating radical DEI scams on college campuses, so bring it on.”
They did, and now she can’t take it.
It’s hard to tell whether Evette wanted to use this momentous occasion for the students as a photo op to debunk allegations of racism on the campaign trail with a diverse photo op or if the plan all along was to incite a predictable protest to justify destroying the historic university as we know it. She has succeeded in overshadowing the very people she’s demanding to “honor” with her presence and will seemingly make them one of the last graduating classes as a consolation prize.
In addition to the state’s threat to defund, Evette’s calling for an end to tenure that could mean open season on all professors who don’t teach MAGA misinformation to their liking.
It’s fascinating that imposing diversity is a right when it comes to spewing talking points for Evette’s midterm race, but not when students demand better for a moment that should center and celebrate them. If that’s not a DEI scam, what is?
Mind you, Evette is a sore winner whose party dictated the last South Carolina congressional map, which is now claiming they need to “fix” it by eliminating the only Black representative and district, Rep. Jim Clyburn’s 6th district.
The SC State commencement controversy captured national attention, but clearly, South Carolina’s Black communities face much greater risks than a shameful speaker at the upcoming graduation. Everything from the HBCU’s future to fair representation for the Black voters who make up more than 25% of the state is now in danger.
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