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University of Tennessee at Knoxville Creating Diversity Plans for Every College at the School

University of Tennessee at Knoxville Creating Diversity Plans for Every College at the School

“Each academic college has added a diversity officer and will create a diversity plan for each college, to address what students, faculty and staff need.”

Diversity is the hot new industry within higher education. It is already more important than academics at some schools.

Knox News reports:

‘A place here’: University of Tennessee crafts diversity plans for each college

In an effort to recruit and retain diverse faculty, staff and students, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville is taking a concerted, personalized approach for each college at the university.

The goal? Not just increasing the number of students and staff of color, but to truly transform the university so everyone is welcomed and comfortable.

“It’s really about creating environments and spaces where people can be their authentic self, whether they’re first-generation students, or students of color, or underrepresented background, a LGBTQ-plus student, whatever that might be,” said Tyvi Small, UT’s vice chancellor for diversity and engagement. “We just want to make sure that folks felt like they matter and belong and have a place here in their state’s flagship, land-grant institution.”

Each academic college has added a diversity officer and will create a diversity plan for each college, to address what students, faculty and staff need. While the UT System has started establishing goals for the entire university system, plans for each college will be designed around what those students and faculty need to thrive at UT, said Chancellor Donde Plowman.

“We’re engaging with the community in Knoxville, the community around the state and being willing and committed to setting some very specific goals about movement and progress,” Plowman said.

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Comments

The Friendly Grizzly | November 29, 2020 at 3:50 pm

I will be writing my state rep about this nonsense.

They must be enjoying a surplus of funding if they can afford to hire a new Diversity Compliance Officer in each college. If I were a Tennessee resident, I would also write to my state rep asking why there is a surplus of funding for UT, and suggesting that those funds could be better used somewhere else.

Who decides that they all “need” to “thrive”? What about someone who would not thrive in diversity training?

So discrimination based on race and ethnicity is back. So much for the civil rights movement.