Supporters, protesters greet President Joe Biden in Orangeburg for SC State graduation

Protesters, supporters and people just happy to see the chief executive on campus greeted President Joe Biden as he arrived in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on Friday.

The responses ranged from S.C. State University Professor G.R. Viswanath, who called Biden a “great leader,” to Pamela Godwin, the director of S.C. Women for Trump in Columbia who said she was protesting the “tyranny” of mask and vaccine mandates.

“Even though he says he’s not raising taxes,” gas and housing costs are increasing, which is making life harder for everyday Americans, Godwin said.

Ahmad Moore, an S.C. State alum who was seated in the school’s engineering building to watch a live stream of graduation, was there to support his wife, whom he said is receiving her PhD in education.

Moore said he was “shocked” that the president would choose to come to the Palmetto State. He is more lukewarm on Biden, saying, “I’m fine with him; he’s doing his job.”

However, it was still exciting to see the president on campus, he said.

“Most people can’t say the president came to my graduation and spoke at it,” Moore said.

Others sought to use the president’s visit to raise attention for local issues.

John Graves of the Orangeburg Revitalization Coalition called for the approval of expanded voting rights, police reform, a solution to the housing crisis and the removal of confederate monuments.

“We need these racial restraints removed for economic growth,” Graves said. “This should be a shining college town, but because of racial restrains we can’t grow.”

Perhaps the largest group of demonstrators called on Biden to change his foreign policy stance in Ethiopia. A group of about 25 protesters called on Biden to stand against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, TPLF, amid political strife in the country.

“We need the American people to be aware of this,” said Mulugeta Belachew, who carried an American Flag outside S.C. State’s campus.

Wondesen Gebreamlak, a medical physicist who works at South Carolina Radiation Oncology, was at the protest and held a sign saying “Keep Ethiopia in AGOA.”

The African Growth and Opportunity Act, enacted in 2000, makes it easier for sub-Saharan countries to buy U.S. goods. However, because of human rights violations in the country, the Biden administration is planning to suspend Ethiopia from the act, according to media reports.

“If that happens millions of Ethiopians will lose their jobs,” Gebreamlak said.

Biden is the first sitting president to speak at S.C. State in the university’s history, university Interim President Alexander Conyers said earlier this week at a press conference. In 1998, however, former First Lady Barbara Bush gave the S.C. State commencement speech, Conyers said.

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., was originally scheduled to speak at fall graduation, but last Thursday, Clyburn organized Biden to give the graduation speech instead, Conyers said.

“This is indeed a gift, handed to us by a loyal son who loves this university and who continues to do whatever he can to elevate us and do whatever he can to transform the lives of our students,” Conyers said of Clyburn.

This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 12:02 PM.