Tennessee House Reallocates UT Funds From “Inclusionary Speech” To Minority Scholarships, Protests Ensue
Students at the University of Tennessee broke into a protest on campus (see photo above) after the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill that cut funding from the university’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Now, that sounds real bad on the surface, but you have to look at what the office actually did with its funding.
Lawmakers were pissed that the office spending hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars was focused mainly on promoting gender neutral pronouns and “inclusive holiday celebrations.” So, they ruled that the money would go towards minority scholarships instead. Sounds like a sensible solution to me. Well, for the most part.
From The Tennessean:
“Lately, the actions of this office have been more about advancing a particular worldview than about creating an environment where everybody can feel welcome,” said Van Huss, R-Jonesborough. “This office in no way reflects the values of my constituents, at least, and I don’t think the vast majority of Tennesseans.”
Lawmakers amended the bill Monday to send about $100,000 of the Knoxville diversity office’s funding to a program that would print “In God We Trust” decals for law enforcement vehicles while sending the remaining funds, or about $336,000, to minority scholarships. The original House bill would have sent all of the funding to the decal program.
Okay, the $100 Gs on “In God We Trust” stickers for police cars is pretty fucking stupid, but I’m all for the way the remaining $336,000 is being spent. Making actual fiscal strides toward a tangible goal — more minorities in college — makes a hell of a lot more sense than spending public money on reminding people to call transgenders by the pronoun they want to be called.
I suppose it could be argued that the state is overstepping its bounds by interfering with how a university spends its money. But with the way universities have been handling their internal affairs as of late (hint: not well), I think institutions of higher learning have just become the only type of business in America that would benefit from more government involvement..
[via The Tennessean]
What the fuck is wrong with “In God we trust.” On police cars? Better they spend money on that than the girl with pink and blue hair meditating on the quad.
9 years ago at 10:16 amSpending $100,000 to print decals on cars. What kind of conservative would advocate such an egregious use of taxpayer dollars? At least putting money in minority scholarships have a butterfly effect that helps the economy.
9 years ago at 10:55 amIf I had to guess, a portion of that 100k is going to a politicians pocket. Print decals could not cost more than 2-3$ wholesale.
9 years ago at 4:22 pmProbably because most of us are fiscal conservatives and know it’s a waste of our tax dollars. In addition, those of us who took American History know that “In God We Trust” wasn’t added to our money until the McCarthy era of the 1950s and has no place in a society that believes in the Constitution and that includes Freedom of Religion (Separation Between Church and State).
9 years ago at 8:56 amUT has a Black Cultural Center and International House and apparently that’s not enough.
9 years ago at 10:28 amThere is no White Cultural Center which really is discrimination.
UT is also in the process of converting every bathroom on campus to neutral gender.
9 years ago at 10:34 amNext time I’m there I’m going to shit all over toilet seats.
9 years ago at 10:37 amI think this is a great move, how much more inclusionary can you get than giving out money towards tuition for minorities that are probably more hardworking and qualified than any of these “social justice warriors” and for them to protest this just shows how weak minded and selfish they really are.
9 years ago at 11:00 amThat doesn’t sound bad on its face. Who gives a shit about inclusion?
9 years ago at 11:14 amWhen I first read this article, I wondered why Tennessee was stealing from Texas
9 years ago at 11:44 amI sent that picture in! Fuck yeah!
9 years ago at 11:56 amYou proud of yourself?
9 years ago at 12:24 pmThe problems I see in this story:
1. Gender neutral pronoun promotion- Wtf even is that? Why would it cost money? Like printing informational flyers? Stupid waste of money. I don’t agree with the lifestyle of people on the ‘trans’ community but they should have the confidence to ask someone to use the proper pronoun when they refer to them.
2. 100k in tax money used for decals? That’s not fiscal responsibility in the least, and a true conservative would agree there are better ways to use the money.
The part about allocation of money to minority merit scholarships is actually a good move. There is always the stereotype that black and Hispanic kids come from poor/under-resourced places. For some of my friends here in AZ it’s more than true and they definitely need the piece of mind of some form financial stability more than a kid whose parents make 900k a year.
9 years ago at 12:23 pmI guess I never saw the merit in having “minority” scholarships either; if we truly want equality, have the basis for a scholarship be on need and scholastic ability. The people who are willing to take school seriously enough to get a scholarship are the ones our tax dollars are going to get the best return for.
9 years ago at 1:19 pmResources are not equal across the board. If we want true equality then education at early levels (k-12) should be equal then we can start to talk about strictly merit based awards
9 years ago at 2:55 pmI’m sorry that this is the real world and not rainbow land so things aren’t exactly fair. I’ll give a fuck about equal education when everybody pays the same tax rate I do.
9 years ago at 3:25 pmThere are people who pay more and those who pay less based on their income. But I’m going to assume you’re a student like the minority kids in question and don’t make that much money to begin with. So if you’re complaining that a poor kids parents and your parents pay different tax rates that’s a separate argument from ‘do poor kids need more help paying for college’. Btw in 2016 “diversity” is no longer just skin color but diversity of experience so poor white kids get more help than well of Hispanic and Black students
9 years ago at 3:48 pmGraduated two years ago. Landed a job way out of my league. I can assure you I pay a lot more in taxes than the average American.
9 years ago at 4:17 pmIn all seriousness that awesome congrats. I’m going a different route after graduation (MED school). But I assume both of us are gonna use the money we to live in good neighborhoods, and eventually send our kids to good schools where they will have good teachers etc. But that’s where the key is. If we could do like other countries and set national standards for education which actually work then there would no qualms about using strict metrics for scholarships because access to high quality early education should be standard in one of the best countries in the world.
9 years ago at 4:38 pmThere are a couple problems with your point. First, there are white kids in poor educational and financial situations too, so with those stipulations set, what makes a minority kid more deserving? Of course merit should be the driving factor, which brings me to the second point; if a kid excels in a shitty school and shows initiative through scholastic and extracurricular achievement, that is still a great measure of ability.
9 years ago at 1:03 pmI know this will come across as douchey but protests, legislature, and debate over a combined… what- 436k? What the fuck? That number seem a little low to anyone else to cause all this bullshit? If that was one persons yearly income I don’t even think it would be enough to make it into the top 1%. These plebs need to chill out
9 years ago at 10:13 pm