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Title: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: Creek Walker on December 04, 2015, 02:55:24 EST Who in the hell is over this Office of Diversity & Inclusion anyway? It's like they sit around thinking up the most boneheaded stunts they can pull.
If it leads to Cheek's resignation, as some state lawmakers are now calling for, that'll be good...but I'll not hold my breath. Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: VOLveeta on December 04, 2015, 03:22:14 EST Could we please leave politics to the political board? Please?
Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: Tnphil on December 04, 2015, 03:23:18 EST http://www.knoxnews.com/news/local-news/duncan-slams-uts-holiday-party-advisory-as-extremist_17564772
I know of 2 huge UT donors that have given the university hell over this.... Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: BanditVol on December 04, 2015, 09:10:52 EST The diversity women is...outta control!
Im tellin ya Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: Clockwork Orange on December 04, 2015, 04:32:31 EST I was on board with criticizing that gender-neutral pronoun email from months ago. That was silly.
But there's not a thing wrong with this message and it's an important reminder that UT is a state entity and must act accordingly when it comes to the promotion and preference of religion. Legislators calling for Cheek's resignation are wasting the time and money of the state and the institution, which now has to spend actual man-hours responding to this stupidity. Hours that it could spend doing things like, you know, running a university. Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: BanditVol on December 04, 2015, 04:55:25 EST I was on board with criticizing that gender-neutral pronoun email from months ago. That was silly. But there's not a thing wrong with this message and it's an important reminder that UT is a state entity and must act accordingly when it comes to the promotion and preference of religion. Legislators calling for Cheek's resignation are wasting the time and money of the state and the institution, which now has to spend actual man-hours responding to this stupidity. Hours that it could spend doing things like, you know, running a university. It's over the top and silly and unecessary. IMO. Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: 10EC on December 04, 2015, 05:46:18 EST I was on board with criticizing that gender-neutral pronoun email from months ago. That was silly. But there's not a thing wrong with this message and it's an important reminder that UT is a state entity and must act accordingly when it comes to the promotion and preference of religion. Legislators calling for Cheek's resignation are wasting the time and money of the state and the institution, which now has to spend actual man-hours responding to this stupidity. Hours that it could spend doing things like, you know, running a university. The stupidity is in trying to push an agenda on something that has not caused anyone any harm since 1796.... What a freaking waste of time. Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: Coupe De VOL on December 04, 2015, 06:10:42 EST Is having a Christmas party on the state dime really equal to the "establishment of a religion" ??? really??? It is absurd. It would not surprise me if you could trace this whole thing back to hatred of religion/hatred of Christianity.
Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: PirateVOL on December 05, 2015, 07:08:49 EST Is having a Christmas party on the state dime really equal to the "establishment of a religion" ??? really??? It is absurd. It would not surprise me if you could trace this whole thing back to hatred of religion/hatred of Christianity. CorrectIt is freedom OF religion, not freedom from religion Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: Creek Walker on December 08, 2015, 02:57:56 EST I was on board with criticizing that gender-neutral pronoun email from months ago. That was silly. But there's not a thing wrong with this message and it's an important reminder that UT is a state entity and must act accordingly when it comes to the promotion and preference of religion. Legislators calling for Cheek's resignation are wasting the time and money of the state and the institution, which now has to spend actual man-hours responding to this stupidity. Hours that it could spend doing things like, you know, running a university. Complete and utter nonsense. Remember that some of the folks the Office Of Diversity is lecturing is STUDENTS. Don't lose sight of that fact. They're lecturing students not to have "Christmas" parties or allow cultural/religious symbolism to infiltrate their parties — never mind the fact that the VAST majority of these parties don't have a bit of religious symbolism or references to Christianity, and many if not most of those in attendance at the parties are not practicing Christians. Not one damn time has ANY judge or ANY court said that a Christmas party is violating the constitution. And don't even give me the junk about state legislators wasting the university's resources to defend itself. Are you aware of how many MILLIONS of dollars our university wastes on staff to sit around and think up this nonsense? As for running a university, five million a year for foolishness like this is really a sign of good stewardship of taxpayer dollars and student tuition fees? Not in the real world. Are legislators really wasting their time? This current General Assembly might just be dumb enough to actually cut UT's funding. And, frankly, part of me wishes it would. When it happened once, it could be chalked up to a bit of silliness that you roll your eyes at, admonish, and move on. When it happens twice, especially after the chancellor gave state lawmakers his assurance that it wouldn't happen again, it's time for talk to stop and action to start. Regardless of how much Christianity-hating atheists who make up a fringe in American politics applaud things like this, UT is the subject of scorn nationwide because of nonsensical stunts like this. Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: Creek Walker on December 08, 2015, 07:14:26 EST Maybe Cheek took Ron Ramsey seriously?
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/12/08/ut-removes-inclusive-holiday-post/76973454/?hootPostID=3ca8972a2e28b5abc8aa078627604e36&from=global&sessionKey=&autologin= Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: Clockwork Orange on December 09, 2015, 02:23:50 EST Complete and utter nonsense. Remember that some of the folks the Office Of Diversity is lecturing is STUDENTS. Don't lose sight of that fact. They're lecturing students not to have "Christmas" parties or allow cultural/religious symbolism to infiltrate their parties — never mind the fact that the VAST majority of these parties don't have a bit of religious symbolism or references to Christianity, and many if not most of those in attendance at the parties are not practicing Christians. Not one damn time has ANY judge or ANY court said that a Christmas party is violating the constitution. And don't even give me the junk about state legislators wasting the university's resources to defend itself. Are you aware of how many MILLIONS of dollars our university wastes on staff to sit around and think up this nonsense? As for running a university, five million a year for foolishness like this is really a sign of good stewardship of taxpayer dollars and student tuition fees? Not in the real world. Are legislators really wasting their time? This current General Assembly might just be dumb enough to actually cut UT's funding. And, frankly, part of me wishes it would. When it happened once, it could be chalked up to a bit of silliness that you roll your eyes at, admonish, and move on. When it happens twice, especially after the chancellor gave state lawmakers his assurance that it wouldn't happen again, it's time for talk to stop and action to start. Regardless of how much Christianity-hating atheists who make up a fringe in American politics applaud things like this, UT is the subject of scorn nationwide because of nonsensical stunts like this. I only want to respond to one bit of this because you and I will never agree on the rest. They're lecturing students not to have "Christmas" parties or allow cultural/religious symbolism to infiltrate their parties This message was targeted, to my knowledge, to university units and entities-- departments, offices, colleges, and sponsored student groups. I don't think it in any way intended to tell students how to run private parties. Most of the departments in my college put on a party in December and it is important that they are not "Christmas" parties. The message was worded awkwardly in places but I stand by a reminder that we are not promoting one religious celebration or another at this time of year. Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: BanditVol on June 16, 2016, 07:32:59 EDT Most of you have probably seen this. I actually got an email on it from the chancellor a month ago.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/20/university-tennessee-diversity-funding-bill-allowed-become-law/84650208/ So I guess it was a bit too much for the legislature. Not sure I like them closing the office, but it was being pretty silly. Title: Re: Our university has become a laughingstock Post by: BanditVol on June 16, 2016, 07:34:52 EDT Bans UT from spending state funds "to promote the use of gender-neutral pronouns, to promote or inhibit the celebration of religious holidays, or to fund or support Sex Week," most of which had already occurred
From the above...ah, what the heck. Given the reign of PC terror on most American campuses, I am going to go ahead and say this is funny. :naughty: |