ORANGEBURG, S.C. (WIS) – Student leaders at South Carolina State University received a standing ovation at the school’s board of trustees meeting on Thursday.

The meeting marked the first since SC State elected not to have Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette as its commencement speaker on Wednesday. The decision came after protests by students on the Orangeburg campus, as well as safety concerns for the May 8 commencement.

It was also the first time the board, including Chairman Douglas Gantt, addressed the public about the controversy. Gantt said he was the one who organized bringing Evette to commencement, adding that university president Alexander Conyers didn’t deserve backlash over the decision.

“All I’m trying to say is…for the president, and all he’s done for the university, did not deserve the ridicule because he’s only asked to do what the chairman is asking him to do,” Gantt said Thursday. “And that is walking into rooms to help us get funding. Not just for the kids now, but for the kids who are to come later. That’s the whole purpose of having this role.”

Evette, who is also running for governor as a Republican, said she received an invitation in December to speak at commencement. News of the decision broke Tuesday, sparking protests by students who claim the lieutenant governor’s political leanings do not align with the state’s only publicly funded historically Black university.

She also referred to student protestors multiple times as a “woke mob,” adding Thursday that she didn’t intend to apologize for the term.

Gantt, meanwhile, argued that there is a need to work across political, racial and gender lines for the betterment of SC State.

It’s unclear if SC State will name a replacement speaker for commencement.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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