Chancellor Beverly Davenport speaks out against hate at the United at the Rock Against Racism event at the University of Tennessee on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. Knoxville News Sentinel.
It is an incredible time to be a member of the Volunteer family at the University of Tennessee. On Friday afternoon, I walked with a co-worker from my office in Ferris Hall over to the Rock to participate in the “United at the Rock Against Racism” gathering sponsored by the Campus Ministers Council, Faculty Senate and the Student Government Association. A crowd gradually assembled on the corner, composed of students, faculty, staff and members of the Knoxville community to re-affirm by their presence a common commitment to the values of equal treatment for all people regardless of race, gender, creed or orientation.
These values are explicitly stated in the VolVision2020. “The Volunteer community encompasses faculty, staff, students, and alumni of different cultures and backgrounds. Respecting the contributions and strengths of each individual is integral to teamwork and to fostering a culture of inclusive excellence.”
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It was reassuring to see UT leadership, including the chancellor, the provost, the athletic director and many others participating in this event. Local families, including my own, also joined us at the Rock. Each of us took the opportunity to leave our hand print on the Rock, a physical, individual testament to our support of the bedrock principle of equality, which is an essential element of the university, Knoxville and the United States of America.
We listened to Chancellor Davenport challenge the university community to make the narrative of this time reflect the positive efforts of the many, who cherish the university and who want the world to know that UT is a shining beacon in the state of Tennessee, where the contributions of all members of the faculty, staff and students are valued.
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On the next day, we heard that overnight someone had scrawled messages and symbols of white supremacy over the hand prints on the Rock. My family expressed their disappointment, but I reminded them that we hadn’t attended the “United at the Rock Against Racism” gathering to create a work of art to withstand the ages. There had never been any intention of airlifting the Rock to the Knoxville Museum of Art, where our hand prints could be preserved for posterity. On the contrary, the merit in the gathering lay in the shared process of creation of the artwork and not in the end product.
Everyone who attended the gathering retains the memory and will continue to be influenced by the experience of hearing the exhortations of our chancellor to put into practice the best aspects of ourselves and our university. In fact, by the time we learned of the defacement of the Rock, a second wave of dedicated UT community members had already overwritten the message of hate with new words of their own, “VOL MEANS ALL,” which has fast become a rallying cry for equality and inclusion at UT.
I conclude with the same sentiment with which I began. It is an incredible time to be a member of the Volunteer family at the University of Tennessee. It is a privilege to witness the indomitable support by the UT community for the foundational principle of equality for all.
It may so happen in the future that other opportunities arise where members of the UT community are called again to demonstrate their beliefs. I look forward to seeing the students, faculty and staff unfailingly rise to the occasion.
David Keffer is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He currently serves as a UT-Knoxville faculty senator.