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The College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina Upstate are being punished because the incoming freshman class were offered reading materials that dealt with gay themes.

A legislative effort by Republican State Rep. Garry Smith, is underway to reduce state money for the two colleges. The state House of Representatives is preparing to vote this week on a budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year that would strip the College of Charleston of $52,000 and the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg of $17,162. Interesting that the amounts are the exact costs of the two specific programs that offered the materials.

Last summer, the College of Charleston provided incoming freshmen with a memoir, “Fun Home,” in which the author deals with coming out as a lesbian. The University of South Carolina Upstate, meanwhile, assigned “Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio,” which features an account of South Carolina’s first gay and lesbian radio show. Neither were required reading.

Rep. Smith, who believes that offering these to students is the university’s way of shoving gayness down student’s throats, claimed, “It’s not academic freedom, it’s academic totalitarianism.” He says he wants to “hold the universities “accountable.”

Smith said he received many thank you letters and phone calls from South Carolinians.

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Carrie Stone