Student senate debated funding Uncensored America's event featuring Milo Yiannopoulos and Gavin McInnes, who are scheduled to be featured in a roast of Vice President Kamala Harris, at a lengthy senate meeting this Wednesday.
This week, the student senate had its first finance requests with the new finance codes and newly increased financial budget.
Uncensored America is a student organization hosting the roast on Sept. 18 in the Russell House Ballroom. The organization requested $3,576.99 from the finance committee.
Speaker of the Senate Maura Hamilton said any vote on funding allocation requests must be completely viewpoint neutral, as required by both university policy and Senate codes. She pointed out that the Senate Finance Committee had already reviewed and approved the funding request, confirming it complied with the codes.
Hamilton referenced specific university policies and laws that prohibit discrimination or preferential treatment based on a group’s viewpoint and encouraged senators to focus on this when considering funding decisions.
"Any vote done on allocation requests should be completely viewpoint neutral ... This is stated very clearly in university policy, specifically staff 3.10 f2 and in our codes and section 3 510 C," Hamilton said. "The direct quote is, 'Student organizations shall neither be discriminated against nor given preferential treatment based on their viewpoint, in compliance with university policy and federal, local and state law.'"
SBL 116 10 started off as a bill that permitted the finance committee to give funds to specific student organizations. This past Friday, the finance committee reviewed $7,781.88 and approved $4,986.59. Carolina Dance requested $855.00, Chinese Cultures Association requested $216.82, Carolina Investment Foundation requested $97.78, Gamecock Bhangra requested $240.00 and Uncensored America requested $3,576.99.
Chairwoman Mia LaPinta motioned to divide the bill into two individual pieces of legislation. Bill "a" would consist of Uncensored America's finance allocation and bill "b" would consist of all other organization allocations. After a voice vote, the legislation was split for consideration.
During the second reading contested calendar, Senator Camden Kaye moved to adopt bill (b) by unanimous consent.
The legislation was passed by unanimous consent.
Chairman William Wenzel spoke on behalf of the other part of the bill (a).
"This recommendation is to permit the finance committee to allocate funds to the Uncensored America comedy event, totaling $3,576.99," Wenzel said. "We had a dialogue with them this past Friday to confirm that they had no violation to our codes."
During a period of debate, Kaye spoke on the matter.
"The university has an obligation to fund student organizations through student government," Kaye said. "The event that they are being funded through, Uncensored America, has broken no rules, nor violated any law. So as for a purely legalistic viewpoint, we have ... almost no reason (not) to fund them. Yes, we may or may not agree with what they have to say, but ultimately that is not what we are here to do. What we're here to do is uphold our rules. The First Amendment supersedes any kind of political viewpoint that we have, with some very few exceptions. And I can disagree with someone and then still defend their right to be able to say something."
Kaye said he doesn't like the idea of the Senate choosing. But he said the university adopted the Chicago principals for a reason: to allow any individual to come and speak. He said the university does not have to endorse or condone — but it does have to allow all to speak.
Senator Isabell Miller spoke on the matter and countered Kaye's claim about the organization not breaking any rules. She said Uncensored America was not even allowed to advertise the event on campus due to a lack of compliance with university policy. With the event's sexual connotations, its advertisement is unlawful on university property. It also violated state law for advertising the event on a public Instagram page, which could expose the content to minors.
Hamilton said the promotional submitted to the finance committee did not contain any explicit content.
LaPinta spoke on the bill to make the body more aware of the ramifications of funding an event such as the Kamala Harris roast.
"The Supreme Court of the United States decided in 2010, in the landmark case of Citizens United v. FEC, that money going toward political campaigns is speech and free protected speech at that," LaPinta said. "If you support any candidate through monetary means, you are taking a stance for utilizing your free speech as protected in our country. Due to this definitive decision, if Student Government provides funding for this event, we are inherently taking a political stance. As representatives of the student body, we have a duty to ensure that our constituents' voices are being heard and protected, not to further our own political agendas. Being apolitical is essential to the functionality of student government, and according to Citizens United, money equals support."
LaPinta said, according to Citizens United, withholding funds from an organization does not imply opposition to its beliefs. She then clarified that she was not saying it was a campaign, but a politically centered event. She explained that choosing not to give money is neutral, and taking the opposite stance would involve actively removing funds. The decision reflects a neutral position, where neither the student body nor the Senate is endorsing or opposing the organization's beliefs or events, she said.
After a vote of 27-10, the bill failed.
Some people, like fourth-year visual communications student Zamiya Johnson came to see if the bill would pass or fail.
"I feel like the manner in which (the Kamala Harris roast) is being presented is not healthy, and it's not educational," Johnson said. "If anything, this event should have been a little bit just more serious, especially, we're talking about our economy, we're talking about our government, we're talking about our nation and we're joking on political candidates. It's not really helping anything."
In addition to this bill, the senate also debated SBL 116 (11) which intends to increase safety measures on the day of Uncensored America's event. Miller spoke on the bill.
"The event has been posted on Twitter, and there have been response comments to that, insinuating that people are ready to have a riot, and we are opening the floor to outside guests for this event. So it is a concern with us bringing those outside guests, and those guests, having said that they are willing to incite violence," Miller said.
Miller said followers of McGinnis, Yiannopoulos and Uncensored America are planning to fly in for the event, potentially classifying them as "distinguished guests" under USC policy. The policy allows for extraordinary security measures to ensure safety during special events, even if it requires temporary disruption of regular activities. This bill seeks to enforce those security measures to keep everyone safe while respecting the right to free speech.
The legislation was passed by unanimous consent.
Another bill that failed was a request for reconsideration of sanctions placed on the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, which has been suspended until at least 2026 due to inappropriate activities.
"Senate's job is to stay impartial ... and I think that they did a great job," Hamilton said. "We had so many pieces of legislation pass and fail tonight, and I was really impressed that they all followed procedures to a T, they followed Roberts rules and that was amazing."