UT diversity funding is coming back
The University of Tennessee Knoxville is deciding how to spend $445,882 representing a sum that in the past was used to fund an Office for Diversity and Inclusion but last year was diverted to minority engineering scholarships at the hand of the Tennessee legislature.
It’s been just more than a year since the passage of the bill allowing for the one-time move of the $445,882 in annual funding for the office, which supported racial and cultural diversity on campus.
The plan expires June 30, which means the university will see the diversity funding come back starting July 1 and officials will have to decide how to spend it.
It’s one of the first major decisions new UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport will have to make on campus and one that state lawmakers, many of whom have voiced opposition
to the diversity office in the past, will closely be watching.
The funding level will remain the same, but there are no plans yet for whether the Office for Diversity and Inclusion will be reinstated, said UT Knoxville Vice Chancellor for Communications Ryan Robinson. He said the funds “will be a line item and go right back into where it was before and be a part of the full budget.”
The university is still finalizing its 2017-2018 budget, which is scheduled to be approved by the University of Tennessee board of trustees next month.
“I know that Dr. Davenport plans to invest those funds in student success initiatives and programs that can support an environment where all students feel welcome and safe,” Robinson said in an email. “No decision has been made right now in terms of the administrative framework but discussions are taking place.”
The money for the engineering scholarships has been awarded to 30 students who will receive scholarships of $4,000 each year over the next four years, with the remaining funds being set aside for future scholarships, he said.
Earlier this year, lawmakers proposed starting an office of intellectual diversity at UT, in the place of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, to protect conservative viewpoints on campus. The proposal was never approved, but it did shed light on some lawmakers’ long-term intentions when it comes to diversity funds at UT.
“We really didn’t mean to just defund them for a year and then bring it back in a year,” said Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, while introducing the idea in a Senate Education Committee meeting in March.
Hensley and Rep. Micah Van Huss, R-Jonesborough, who was the primary sponsor of the House version of last year’s bill, did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, said he was disappointed the university has not chosen to continue to divert future funds to minority engineering scholarships.
“That office had become very political and polarizing, and (it was) giving a horrible reputation to the University of Tennessee and the state,” said Gardenhire, who cited the student-run Sex Week as an example of “meaningless” programming. “I thought this would be a way for the university to quietly just do away with that office and focus on what real diversity is.”
After speaking with university officials and administration, Gardenhire said it was his impression that UT wants to give the office a “chance to clean up their act” this year.
“If they do clean up their act, then I’ll focus my attention on something else,” he said. “But if that office continues to become very radical and polarizing, then I will of course focus my attention back on that to take that money away and apply it to something very useful instead of something very divisive.”
Davenport, who took office in February, said last month she was working on the issue and reiterated that message through Robinson this week.
“Her main priority is having a safe place for all our students,” he said. “We will be providing updates and initiatives to our campus community when we finalize our plans moving forward.”