Lt. Gov. Evette set to give SC State commencement speech, causing student protest

COLUMBIA — Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s scheduled speech at South Carolina State University’s commencement ceremony brought calls from students and some legislators for administrators to pick someone else.

Evette, a Republican who is running for governor in a crowded June primary, is set to speak to graduating seniors at the state’s only public historically Black university May 8.

“It’s a tone-deaf decision,” state Rep. Hamilton Grant, a Columbia Democrat, told reporters Tuesday.

University spokesman Sam Watson declined to comment beyond saying the college had not yet announced its commencement speaker, and the decision is up to university administration.

The governor’s office confirmed the event is on Evette’s calendar.

“The Lieutenant Governor looks forward to recognizing the hard work and achievements of the Class of 2026,” governor’s office spokeswoman Michelle LeClair said in a statement. “Their success will play an important role in strengthening South Carolina’s workforce and future, and she is proud to celebrate this milestone alongside them.”

SC State University flag to fly from Statehouse during King Day at the Dome

Gov. Henry McMaster delivered the university’s commencement speech in 2017, according to the governor’s office. Students at the time protested that decision as well, to no avail.

Evette’s planned speech nearly a decade later again drew concerns from students, who heard about the decision early. An online petition called for college administrators to choose a different speaker.

The university’s values are “rooted in advocacy, equity, and the power of our voices,” Student Government Association President Zaria Tucker wrote in a Facebook post.

“Commencement is one of the most important moments of our collegiate experience,” Tucker’s post continued. “It should reflect the voices, values, and lived experiences of the students it celebrates.”

Tucker did not respond to a message from the Daily Gazette requesting further comment.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with inviting a white person to speak at a historically Black college, said Grant, who graduated from South Carolina State in 2011.

But “commencement is sacred,” he said, adding that some of Evette’s stances went against what students stood for.

For example, Grant pointed to Evette’s dismissal of an artificial intelligence-generated video President Donald Trump posted depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, which received immediate backlash as racist. The White House called the since-deleted post an error, and Evette repeated that explanation on X by characterizing the responses as a “melt down over two seconds of an auto-generated clip that was clearly posted in error.”

She attributed the criticism to “another case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Grant also raised concerns over Evette’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which she has called to eliminate from every public college. Most state universities have already gotten rid of diversity statements and DEI division names.

Students should hear views that are different from their own, but a commencement speech is not the time or place, Grant said, saying those opinions “go against historical Black colleges and universities.”

New research status for SC State highlights its enrollment, fiscal turnaround

Evette’s speech is part of her official business as lieutenant governor.

But the timing, just over a month ahead of the seven-way June 9 primary to become the Republican nominee for governor, is hard to ignore, said Rep. Jermaine Johnson, a Democrat who is seeking the same job.

Evette hasn’t gone out of her way to support historically Black colleges and universities during her tenure as lieutenant governor, said Johnson, a member of the legislative HBCU caucus.

Evette took office with McMaster in January 2019. He chose her as his running mate more than a year earlier.

“We welcome anybody who wants to support these universities and HBCUs, but I mean, I just have not seen the track record,” Johnson, a Hopkins Democrat, said. “It makes you wonder: Is this for campaigns? Is this for trying to be the next governor of South Carolina?”

Evette pushed back against the idea that she hasn’t supported historically Black colleges.

Her campaign pointed to $2.4 million the governor allocated to HBCUs in 2020 from a portion of federal pandemic aid his office controlled. McMaster’s state budget proposals — which she refers to as their executive budgets — also repeatedly advocated for $80 million in need-based college grants. The Legislature has funded that amount since 2003.

In a video posted to X on Tuesday, Evette said the Trump administration, which she supports, has “done more for HBCUs than any administration in history.” She considered the protest by “woke mobs” as a sign she “must be doing something right,” and she doubled down on calls to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on college campuses.

“Bring it on,” Evette said in the video. “Just like President Trump, I’ll never back down or bend a knee to the woke radicals.”

The SC State address will be Evette’s sixth commencement speech as lieutenant governor.

She spoke to graduating students at Limestone College in May 2020, at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in October 2020, Spartanburg Community College in May 2022, at Lander University in May 2023 and at Francis Marion University in December 2024, according to the governor’s office.