KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Saying they feel “under threat” some faculty, staff, and students at the University of Tennessee Knoxville are pushing back against efforts by Tennessee lawmakers to defund the school’s Office of Equity and Diversity.
About 300 people turned out for a rally on the UT campus Friday to protest what some are calling "outside interference" in university affairs. State lawmakers have proposed four measures this legislative session that would end or curtail state funding for the university’s diversity office.
Conservative legislators offered the legislation in reaction to two incidents late last year involving the office. In a September web post students were urged to use gender neutral pronouns such as “ze”. In a December post the office suggested faith based references be avoided during campus holiday parties.
Dr. Bruce MacLennan is the president of UT’s Faculty Senate this year.
“If anyone inside the university community had problems with these recommendations we could have solved by deliberation, the way we do things in universities, and reached some reasonable compromise. Instead these things were escalated into a national controversy, which is just not helpful in our educational mission.”
MacLennan went on to say Tennessee students need to be prepared for a more diverse future.
“Different religions, different cultures, different races, different sexual orientations and so forth. That’s the world of the future and that’s the world that employers want students able to work effectively in.”
WMOT News wrote to state Senator Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga, one of the legislators seeking to defund the UT Office of Equity, to ask about his opposition to the office. He has not yet replied.
Dr. MacLennan says the UT Faculty Senate has also expressed concerns about other issues, including efforts by Gov. Bill Haslam to outsource university maintenance and plans to reorganize the state’s institutions of higher education.