State Rep. Garry Smith: 'If you want to make a point, you have to make it hurt.'
Because
freedom, that's why!
A proposed South Carolina state budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes nearly $70,000 in funding cuts for two public colleges that assigned books addressing gay and lesbian themes. State Representative Garry Smith (R) originally advocated the measure that would take away $52,000 from the College of Charleston and $17,142 from the University of South Carolina Upstate. The House passed its full $24 billion budget with a 115-2 preliminary vote Tuesday and approved it for the Senate on Wednesday. [...]
Smith told the The State newspaper that the books imposed a perspective on students rather than promoting dialogue: “One of the things I learned over the years is that if you want to make a point, you have to make it hurt,” he said. “I understand academic freedom, but this is not academic freedom … This was about promoting one side with no academic debate involved.”
Yeah, teach the controversy! They should have "
balanced" those two books with two books about decent patriots barring gay people from their offices and retail establishments.
On the plus side, these Republicans do seem to have finally acquiesced to the concept of book-learnin'. As long as they're the right books, of course.