When Republican leaders in the Tennessee legislature passed a resolution in December declaring that the University of Tennessee at Knoxville had become a “national embarrassment” for its online posts promoting gender-neutral pronouns and inclusive holiday parties, university officials knew they would face a demanding legislative session this spring.
Conservative lawmakers saw the controversies as a sign that political correctness was running amok on the flagship campus. So Knoxville’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion has played a starring role in committee meetings and hearings since the session began, in January. Multiple Republican-backed bills, introduced over the past four months, have sought to strip the office of all or part of its funding….
Read more in The Chronicle of Higher Education.