The University of South Carolina (USC) is a public research university based in Columbia, South Carolina.  ¹

The University of South Carolina has implemented extensive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across its campus. The university requires first year students, graduate students, and teaching assistants to undergo DEI modules covering topics related to implicit bias, LGBT education, anti-Semitism, and socioeconomic mobility. ²

Background

The University of South Carolina (USC) is a public research university system based in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded on December 19, 1801 as South Carolina College, it is one of the oldest state universities in the United States and was the country’s first such institution to be entirely supported by annual public funding.  ^{3 4}

The college opened on January 10, 1805, with an initial enrollment of nine students and commenced classes with a traditional classical curriculum.. ^{5 6}

During Reconstruction, the university became one of the few Southern institutions to admit African American students. The Reconstruction-era state legislature elected USC’s first Black trustees in 1869. On October 7, 1873, Henry E. Hayne, the Secretary of State of South Carolina, became the first Black student when he registered for the fall session in the medical college. By 1875, 90 percent of the student body was Black. The University of South Carolina was the only state university in the South to admit and grant degrees to black students during Reconstruction. When Democrats regained control of the state legislature in 1876 at the conclusion of Reconstruction, the state legislature closed the university in 1877 and reopened it in 1880 as an all-white agricultural college. ⁷

In 1893, the state legislature mandated that women be allowed to enroll, making the university coeducational. USC’s first female student was admitted on September 24, 1895. Black students did not return to the university until 1963, when Henrie Monteith, Robert Anderson, and James Solomon enrolled, making the university one of the last large public universities to desegregate. ⁸

Today, the University of South Carolina system includes multiple campuses across the state. The flagship Columbia campus enrolls approximately 38,000 students and offers more than 350 degree programs in 15 degree-granting colleges and schools. The university is categorized as having very high research activity and was awarded $323 million in sponsored awards during the 2025 fiscal year, a $14 million increase in research funding from the previous year. ^{9 10 11 12 13}

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Background

The University of South Carolina has implemented extensive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across its campus. In May 2020, then-president Robert Caslen announced that all first-year students would be required to complete a new diversity module as part of their orientation process. This requirement was later expanded to include comprehensive diversity and inclusion modules covering topics related to implicit bias, LGBT education, antisemitism, and socioeconomic mobility. ²

The 2020 revision to USC’s action plan called for diversity-education requirements to extend to graduate student teaching assistants and university faculty and staff. The plan also required that university departments complete an annual report outlining their plans to promote diversity and inclusivity within their sector. The mandatory training module for freshman and transfer students was titled “Brave and Bold Dialogues: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” with training modules also made available to all upperclassmen and graduate students. ²

Individual colleges within the university have established their own DEI initiatives. The College of Information and Communications requires a diversity, equity and inclusion statement from all applicants for faculty and senior administrative positions and as part of the faculty review process, a policy implemented in 2023. The college has provided sample DEI-related interview questions for search committee use since 2021. ^{14 15 16}

The college’s strategic plan also calls for establishing a new leadership initiative for underrepresented women and people of color to promote gender equality and provide career development as a leadership pipeline program for the academy and industry. ¹⁷

Mandatory Diversity and Pro-Transgender Student Testing Controversy

In 2024, the University of South Carolina required students to affirm the value of diversity and inclusion as part of mandatory training. The training included a module on Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging with ten multiple choice questions. Students who said that diversity and inclusion did not create a healthy, positive campus environment, or that they give unfair advantages to people from marginalized identity groups, were told their answers were incorrect. ¹⁸

According to screenshots reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, the correct answer was that diversity and inclusion exposes students to people from different backgrounds, thus enriching the overall campus experience. Though students could complete the module without answering every question correctly, they needed at least 80 percent on the ten-question quiz to pass the training and register for classes. ¹⁸

The multiple-choice quiz penalized students who said that refusing to use a roommate’s preferred pronouns did not constitute bigotry. Students were also marked incorrect for saying that it would be best to let a Jewish roommate stand up for himself if a mutual friend were making fun of his religious headwear. The training instead directed students to pull them aside later to educate them on why their comments may have been offensive. ¹⁸

Administrative Restructuring

Under pressure from state lawmakers, the University of South Carolina in August 2023 removed the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion from the title of its head diversity official. Julian R. Williams, formerly vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion, became vice president for access, civil rights, and community engagement. The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was renamed the Division of Access, Civil Rights, and Community Engagement. According to a campus email, the new division would align ongoing efforts to ensure access and opportunity to members of the campus community, compliance with federal civil rights and Title IX requirements, and foster partnerships with public and private sector entities. ¹⁹

Pro-Palestinian Protests

Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, the University of South Carolina experienced several pro-Palestinian protests and demonstrations. ²⁰

After the October 7 attack, a revived USC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine distributed posters and leaflets on campus. Palestinian nationalists stood silently with protest signs at a vigil for Columbia’s Jewish community held at the Anne Frank Center on campus. A late-afternoon demonstration was held between the university’s main library and student center on the last day of classes, which coincided with the start of final exams. ²¹

On April 23, 2024, at the university’s midnight breakfast event signaling the start of exams, about a dozen protesters carrying Palestinian flags and chanting stood for approximately 30 minutes at the entrance of the dining area of the school’s student center as students and staff passed through to the event. When staff asked them to leave, the group stayed. When the group did move, police followed them outside and the students ran away in different directions. Police saw two of the students walking on Sumter Street and arrested them for breach of peace, a misdemeanor. ^{21 21}

 

The two arrested students, both 19 years old, were charged with breaching the peace by USC police and were later released from Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. The arrests prompted concern from the University of South Carolina chapter of the American Association of University Professors, whose president noted the organization was monitoring the situation. ²²

Of South Carolina’s largest college campuses, only the University of South Carolina reported protest activity related to the Israel-Hamas war. Unlike many other universities across the country, USC did not experience large tent encampments, building occupations, or reports of insults, harassment, or threats of violence aimed at Jewish students during the spring 2024 semester. ²¹

Leadership

As of 2026, Michael Amiridis was president of the University of South Carolina. He assumed the role on July 1, 2022. Previously, he was chancellor of the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) from 2015 to 2022. Prior to leading UIC, Amiridis spent more than two decades at the USC Columbia campus as a faculty member and administrator, working from 2009 to 2015 as the university’s executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. ²³

Amiridis first joined the University of South Carolina faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor of chemical engineering. He was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, and was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2015. ²³

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3. ….“Timeline – University History.” University of South Carolina. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://www.sc.edu/about/our_history/university_history/timeline/index.php.
4. “University of South Carolina.” Encyclopedia Brittanica. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-South-Carolina.
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9. ….”Enrollment surpasses 38.000 students for first time.” University of South Carolina. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2024/08/usc-enrollment-announcement-fall-2024.php.
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14. “Diversity and Inclusiveness.” College of Information and Communications. University of South Carolina. accessed March 16, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20220106223301/https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/cic/about/diversity_and_inclusion/index.php.
15. “”Diversity and Inclusion Interview Questions.” University of South Carolina. Accessed March 18, 2026. /https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/human_resources/docs/diversity_interview_questions.pdf.
16. “Blueprint for Academic Excellence-College of Information and Communications AY 2022-2023.” University of South Carolina. Accessed March 18, 2026. /https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/provost/docs/blueprints/2023_cic.pdf.
17. …. “Blueprint for Academic Excellence-College of Information and Communications AY 2022-2023.” University of South Carolina. Accessed March 18, 2026. /https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/provost/docs/blueprints/2023_cic.pdf.
18. Aaron Sibarium. “University of South Carolina Requires Students To Affirm Value of ‘Diversity And Inclusion.'” Washington Free Beacon. September 5, 2024. https://freebeacon.com/campus/university-of-south-carolina-requires-students-to-affirm-value-of-diversity-and-inclusion/.
19. “University of South Carolina Removes ‘DEI’ From Top Diversity Official’s Title.” Insight Into Academia. August 23, 2023. https://insightintoacademia.com/university-of-south-carolina-removes-dei-from-top-diversity-officials-title/.
20. …. Ian Grenier. “As Gaza war protests rock US campuses. demonstrations emerge at USC after months of quiet.” The Post and Courier Columbia. April 24, 2024. https://www.postandcourier.com/columbia/education/columbia-usc-gaza-israel-palestine-protest-university/article_39a279d6-00dd-11ef-b93f-b7d223111b19.html.
21. Jamie Lovegrove. “SC legislators approve antisemitism bill amid national wave of Israel-Hamas war protests.” SC Daily Gazette. May 6, 2024. https://scdailygazette.com/2024/05/03/sc-legislators-approve-antisemitism-bill-amid-national-wave-of-israel-hamas-war-protests/.
22. Ian Grenier. “USC professors organization ‘concerned’ about student arrests following Palestine protest.” The Post and Courier. April 25, 2024. https://www.postandcourier.com/columbia/education/usc-protest-gaza-palestine-university-south-carolina/article_af069120-026e-11ef-a4d9-5fc713333da4.html.
23. “University President.” University of South Carolina. accessed March 16, 2026. https://sc.edu/about/our_leadership/president/.