While a memo issued by the University of Tennessee at Knoxville regarding holiday parties may have been intended to make the spreading of cheer easier, many are now painting Chancellor Jimmy Cheek as the Grinch who stole Christmas.
A guidance memo issued this week by the UT’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion to university staff regarding holiday parties cautioned faculty and staff about using any “religious” or “cultural” themes or decorations for holiday parties.
The guidance, which could be found on the university’s website on Friday, offers advice such as “ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise,” “supervisors and managers should not endorse, or be perceived as endorsing, religion generally or a specific religion,” and “holiday parties and celebrations should not play games with religious and cultural themes — for example, ‘Dreidel’ or ‘Secret Santa.’”
As news of the new university guidance spread, some state leaders began to cry foul and some even called for Cheek’s resignation.
State Rep. John Holsclaw, who represents a portion of Carter County, said this is not the first time the university’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion has promoted a controversial policy. In August of this year, the office came under fire following a post on the university’s website asking students and faculty to toss out the gender-specific “he” and “she” and begin using the “gender-neutral” pronouns of “ze” and “zir”.
“They are getting real liberal down in Knoxville,” Holsclaw said. “That kind of stuff doesn’t fly around here as well as it does in say California.”
“As you know, they have made some strange decisions lately about stuff like bathrooms and gender names,” he added. “We don’t really go in for that transgender and some of that other garbage around here. This is a conservative area.”
While Holsclaw did not call for Cheek’s resignation directly, he said the situation does need to be addressed.
“I think there needs to be some discussion as to why he is going so liberal in some of his thinking, and I definitely think there needs to be some action taken,” he said.
State Rep. Timothy Hill, who represents a portion of Carter County, also referenced the August incident when he discussed the most recent issue.
“This is the second in a line of incidents from the Office of Diversity that have gone against who we are in Tennessee,” Hill said. “First it was the ‘gender-neutral pronouns’ and now it is about stopping people from celebrating their beliefs.”
“Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Period,” he added.
The policy is overreaching, Hill said, adding he feels whoever is responsible for it should resign.
“Taking state dollars and trying to step into the lives of people in their off time and trying to discourage them or intimidate them from practicing their beliefs is not just inappropriate, it’s deplorable,” he said.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, whose district includes portions of Carter and Sullivan Counties, also decried the policy published by the university.
“Political correctness has been a scourge on American academia for too long. If liberal arts universities in New York and Massachusetts wish to continue the practice that is up to them, but it has no place at institutions of higher learning in Tennessee,” Ramsey said. “The General Assembly was assured that no “practice or policy” would be published without Chancellor Cheek’s approval. If this post was approved by Chancellor Cheek, he should resign. If not, the entire staff of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion should be dismissed. The reputation of Tennessee is at stake here.”
Ramsey also offered a possible solution should the issues continue. “If the University of Tennessee cannot keep its house in order, the General Assembly must shift funding to the University of Memphis, ETSU or other institutions of higher learning that don’t embarrass us nationally on a regular basis,” he said.
On Thursday, Tennessee Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville) and Senate Government Operations Committee Chairman Mike Bell (R-Riceville) called for Cheek’s resignation, saying they have no confidence in his ability to lead the state’s flagship university.
“The Office of Diversity is not welcoming to all and hostile to none as they claim,” Gresham said. “They are very hostile to students and other Tennesseans with Christian and conservative values. By placing a virtual religious test regarding holiday events at this campus, every student who is a Christian is penalized.”
By Friday afternoon, news of the university’s guidance to staff had spread to Washington, D.C., where U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) responded tongue-in-cheek style to the incident.
“‘Merry Christmas, everybody,’ President Obama said yesterday as he and his family lit the National Christmas Tree at the White House. On Wednesday, House Speaker (Paul) Ryan lit the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree,” Alexander said. “Maybe next year the President and the Speaker should invite the UT Diversity Office to our annual national Christmas tree lightings so they can see how truly American it is to celebrate Christmas.”
The university and Cheek also responded to the controversy surrounding the guidance policy.
“As noted in the first line of the best practices web post, the university does not have an official policy regarding religious and cultural décor and celebrations in the workplace. We are fully committed to a diverse, welcoming, and inclusive environment. We recognize that our campus community and its members observe various religions and faiths,” an official statement from UT-Knoxville said. “Our campus has numerous holiday parties and celebrations and we do not monitor these activities. We honor Christmas as one of the celebrations of the season and the birth of Jesus, and the corresponding Christmas observance is one of the Christian holidays on our cultural and religious holidays calendar. The suggested practices are a resource for our faculty and staff to use in creating a more inclusive holiday environment within their campus departments and administrative units.”
Cheek attributed the uproar to a misunderstanding about what the Office of Diversity was attempting to accomplish.
“First let me say that we honor Christmas as one of the celebrations of the season. We are in no way trying to dismiss this very important Christian holiday,” he said. “As a diverse campus, we do promote ways to be inclusive of all cultures and religions. I am disappointed that our efforts to be inclusive have been totally misconstrued.”
While Cheek and the university have defended their position by saying they are not trying to stop Christmas from coming, the way the Grinch did, it remains to be seen if every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, will have any Christmas at all.