A day after University of Tennessee leaders denounced a screengrab of a Snapchat photo that appears to show two UT students in blackface, the interim chancellor is inviting the campus community to come together to talk about racism on campus.
"Our community is reeling from another act of racism on our campus, and so many of us are feeling anger, grief, fear, sorrow, and exhaustion," according to a letter from Wayne T. Davis, Interim Chancellor, and Tyvi Small, Interim Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Engagement.
The letter again calls that image and its caption, which read "We for racial equality boys. Bout to get this free college now that I'm black let's gooooo #blacklivesmatter", repulsive and abhorrent.
In January, another UT student was suspended from her sorority for using the N-word in a video posted on social media. UT responded then by saying "the racism displayed in this video does not belong on Rocky Top and does not represent our community’s values of civility and inclusion."
Back in November, messages of hate including swastikas were painted on the Rock on campus for the second time in two weeks. In the following weeks, hundreds signed an open letter condemning hate speech on campus and asking for a stronger response from the university.
After this latest incident, the chancellor's cabinet has invited the campus community to join them on Monday at 2 p.m. in Student Union Ballrooms B/C. The letter says the cabinet seeks to "listen, learn, understand, and educate."
"We are at a crossroads. Instead of accepting hate, we must denounce it. Instead of ignoring racism, we must name it and confront it. We must continue a dialogue through this moment to make Rocky Top a better place to be," according to the letter.