Founding American Documents Ignored By S.C. Colleges, Universities?

by Kelli Weston
Jan. 21, 2013

Taylor Smith is getting an education at the University of South Carolina, though not necessarily the one he signed up for.

The 21-year-old junior from McBee, who is majoring in religious studies at USC’s Columbia campus, says he was going through the S.C. Code of Laws one day when he stumbled across a law that surprised him.

According to Section 59-29-120, all high schools, colleges and universities that are “sustained or in any manner supported by public funds shall give instruction in the essentials of the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers, including the study of and devotion to American institutions and ideals …”

The law goes on to say that “no student in any such school, college, or university may receive a certificate of graduation without previously passing a satisfactory examination upon the provisions and principles of the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers, and, if a citizen of the United States, satisfying the examining power of his loyalty thereto.”

In a recent interview with The Nerve, Smith said what surprised him about the law was that when he checked into USC’s core teaching requirements, he realized that the “two sets of requirements weren’t matching up.”

“The new one (curriculum) for 2012-13 is a very obvious violation of that particular part of the legal code,” he said.

Another state law, Section 59-29-130, says that instruction on the U.S. Constitution “shall be given for at least one year of the high school, college and university grades, respectively.”

It’s unknown whether Palmetto State colleges and universities as a group are complying with the law. The Nerve over the past week contacted a number of institutions, including USC and Clemson University, but received an answer from only one – Coastal Carolina University.

Smith said he initially debated whether the law left room for interpretation, allowing, for example, colleges and universities to not teach about America’s founding documents but to accept students who fulfilled the law’s requirements while in high school.

A Jan. 4 email to Smith from the state Department of Education – a copy of which was provided to The Nerve – seemed to confirm Smith’s interpretation of the law.

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