New UT Diversity Adviser Will Act As Liaison With Disgruntled Lawmakers

The head of the University of Tennessee system has appointed an adviser to focus onincreasingdiversity across UT campuses.

This new appointment comes after a grueling legislative session, when state lawmakers grilled UT administrators at multiple hearings about how state money was being used. The Knoxville campus’s diversity office had issued statements about gender-neutral pronouns and inclusive holiday parties that sparked controversy, and the legislature ultimately voted to defund
the diversity office for this upcoming academic year.

Noma Anderson, most recently a dean at UT’s health sciences center, says her new position as special adviser wasn’t created because of this controversy — but she says she does want to meet with lawmakers soon before other conflicts erupt.

“One of my roles will be representing the system and the University of Tennessee to the state legislature, doing it in a more consistent way, not waiting for a general hearing.”

She’ll also be meeting with student groups to hear their concerns. This past year, some students accused UT of not doing enough to defend the diversity office before lawmakers removed its funding.

Meanwhile, at a board meeting Thursday, UT trustees approved the lowest tuition hike in 30 years — 2.2 percent — and a 5 percent raise for President Joe DiPietro. 

In
 his annual performance review, DiPietro was applauded for the way he responded to “some
 unfortunate and avoidable mistakes … 
creating a challenging situation for UT during the 2016 legislative session.” DiPietro “
ultimately minimized the 
potential harmful consequences that UT could have been facing,” the review writes.