For the time being, everyone and every institution will have to deal with budget cuts. When institutions decide which expenses to cut, they must focus on what works and what doesn’t, what’s worth the money, what benefits the most people, and other considerations. The University of South Carolina Upstate (USCU) needed to cut $450,000 from its budget and decided the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies was expendable.
The state’s legislature also cut $17,000 from the budget after criticizing a requirement for freshman at USCU to read a book about homosexual radio shows. As WORLD reports, it’s “the same amount spent on the reading program.”
The legislature restored the funding–with a stipulation. The money must be used to teach students about the U.S. Constitution “and other founding documents, as well as give students the freedom to ‘opt out’ of other required reading they might find offensive due to moral or religious beliefs.”
That’s more like it. Naturally, feminists and other liberals don’t like it. But the school’s chancellor said USCU is “fully committed to women’s and gender studies.”
It turns out the women’s and gender studies program was getting special treatment. Sources report it was the “only interdisciplinary minor to have its own center on campus.” But feminists will get their way. Moore said the school will create a new center for women, black, and international studies minors.
Photo credit: Kim Davies (Creative Commons) “US Constitution” by Kim Davies – Some Rights Reserved