The Wyoming state Senate adopted an amendment to the state budget Friday that would remove state funding from the University of Wyoming’s Gender and Women’s Studies department.
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled state Senate, by a 16-14 vote, adopted the amendment to defund the department, decrying it as a politically motivated and biased program.
State Sen. Charles Scott, the chairman of the legislative body’s Education Committee, said he couldn’t see “any academic legitimacy” to the department, which he called “an extremely biased, ideologically driven program.”
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“I think we’ll hear complaints about how we’re interfering in the internals of the university, but I think what we’re really doing is sending them a message that they need to clean up their act in terms of the quality of the instruction that’s being given,” Scott said.
The amendment was proposed by state Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, who said in a floor speech that she submitted the amendment to defund the academic department because her “conscience” wouldn’t let her sleep “without addressing it here in this body today.”
Republicans in Wyoming have total control of the state government, meaning the amended budget is likely to be adopted, despite opposition from Democrats.
“I think it would really be disappointing if the university would go down that path where we started to decide what can and can’t be taught, which books we can and can’t read,” Democratic Sen. Chris Rothfuss said. “Those kinds of things — they’re just not consistent with the mission of a university.”
Gender studies departments have often been ridiculed by conservatives as offering a useless degree for building a career. The department at the University of Wyoming offers a major and a minor in gender and women’s studies, along with a minor in queer studies.
“As a stand-alone degree, or as a minor to enhance another area of study, a Gender and Women’s Studies Degree offers unique perspectives gender identities as they intersect with other social constructs,” the university’s website says.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to the University of Wyoming for comment but did not receive a response.
