The University of Tennessee (UT) believes it will allow students who took a picture while wearing blackface to remain enrolled in the school.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports the university is weighing its options but wants to handle the fallout from the controversial photo without violating the rights of the blackface-wearing students.
“We would be hard-pressed to expel a student for expressing their First Amendment rights,” Vice Chancellor for Student Life Vince Carilli said.
The photo in question shows two white students posing while two other students in blackface stand beside them.
I thought long and hard about posting this but it hit an emotional spot for me for people to think that i did not EARN what was given to me because of my race. pic.twitter.com/5ulc1X3jUC
— jas (@jxxsie_) February 28, 2019
"We for racial equality boys," the photo's caption reads. "Bout to get this free college now that I'm Black let's gooooo #blacklivesmatter."
The school has released a statement condemning the photo and said it is investigating the incident, according to WBIR.
"The racism displayed in this image does not represent the behavior we expect of students or our Volunteer values,” the statement reads. “The university is determining how to handle this incident.”
On Monday, the school held a discussion about the incident with approximately 200 students.
Some students, such as freshman Jerica Parks, told the gathered crowd they feel the university is protecting the wrong set of scholars.
“Don’t treat them like victims when they have done this to us," she said. "We are the victims. Protect us.”
Others said they are sick of apologies and want to see administrators take concrete steps to ensure the campus is an inclusive space.
"Like many people stated, this is decades and decades of disrespect and belittling and sweeping things under the rug and the defunding of minority groups,” sophomore Zamir Turner said. "I want to see transparency. I want to see humanity, is the best way I could put it. At this present moment, the robotics and going through the motions has become expected. Now we have to shift the expectation.”
UT has had other recent issues with bigoted behavior. Last semester, a university landmark was defaced with swastikas and anti-Semitic messages twice, according to a separate Knoxville News Sentinel report. The vandalism occurred a few days after a mass shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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