May 19, 2014 01:42 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of South Carolina Upstate is closing the Center for Women's and Gender Studies on July 1 and will use its funding to teach the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Federalist Papers, Campus Reform reported.

The shutdown of the center will save the public university $45,000 yearly.  Additional cuts at the University of South Carolina will total $450,000 from the school's budget of $92 million-a year.

According to Campus Reform, the move puts the school back in compliance with the state's 90-year-old law which requires institution's to teach students a year's worth of courses on the nation's founding documents.

School officials said the closing of the Center for Women's and Gender Studies is not related to the controversial LGBTQ seminar held this spring that included the play "How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less." The play was canceled after an outcry, though the symposium continued as scheduled.

"Not only is this decision not punitive or a response to external pressure, it is part of an effort to be consistent and systematic across academic affairs in how we administer and support various programs," the school's Chancellor Tom Moore told The State.

The South Carolina House of Representatives wanted further cuts at both the University of South Carolina Upstate and the College of Charleston, "which had already seen budget cuts over mandated gay literature for freshmen students. However, the Senate was hesitant to cut funds for fear of academic censorship," Campus Reform reported.

Instead, they compromised by allotting the funds towards teaching the "provisions and principles" of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Federalist Papers, as well as "the study of and devotion to American institutions and ideals."

There have been grassroots lobbying for the shutdown of the Center for Women's and Gender Studies.

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