The University of South Carolina Upstate (USCU) plans to close down its Center for Women’s and Gender Studies (CWGS) this summer following a controversial performance. The university will use some of the funds freed up by the center’s cancelation to provide courses covering the principles of the founding documents of the United States.

USCU’s decision to close CWGS, which was the university’s only interdisciplinary minor with its own dedicated center, comes as part of the university’s budget cuts of $450,000. The July 1 closure will save the Spartanburg school $45,000 annually.

The center is located in the College of Arts and Sciences. A university spokeswoman said no professors will be laid off as a result of the cut, and activities and classes related to the center’s functions will continue.

But some students are already planning a protest for later this week, arguing that the decision has more to do with outside pressure than budgetary concerns.

The closing of the center comes after controversy surrounding the college, the center, and other state schools’ requirements of LGBTQ material for students. Earlier this year, members of the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to cut funds to USCU, as well as to the College of Charleston, after learning of a required freshmen reading assignment titled Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio.

Additionally, USCU and CWGS came under fire this spring for using university funds toward a performance seminar titled “How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less” featuring an actress playing a character named Butchy McDyke. The performance, which was slated to be included in USCU’s annual Bodies of Knowledge Symposium and Conference, was eventually canceled, although the symposium took place.

But the South Carolina Senate did not back the cuts, citing concerns that the move might be seen as academic censorship. Instead, the legislature reached a compromise that included putting the schools in compliance with a near-century-old state law, reports Campus Reform.

As a result, USCU and the College of Charleston will adhere to a previously ignored 90-year-old law that requires colleges to teach students a year’s worth of classes on the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, and other founding documents. The Senate approved $17,000 for the course, which was the same amount spent annually on Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio.

Additionally, universities will also have to accommodate students by offering alternative materials or out-of-classroom events for credit if a student objects to the topic for religious or cultural reasons, according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Even with these compromised provisions, CWGS supporters remain skeptical of the reasons for the center’s closure. USCU chancellor Tom Moore denies that the decision has to do with the recent controversies and refers to the decision’s “unfortunate timing.”

“Not only is this decision not punitive or a response to external pressure, it is part of an effort to be consistent and systematic across academic affairs in how we administer and support various programs,” Moore told The State.

USCU will continue to offer a women’s and gender-studies minor. In addition to closing the center, the university will make several other administrative cuts, including eliminating two administrative positions at its Greenville campus.

— Andrew Johnson is an editorial associate at National Review Online.