An Update To Our Campus Community
![](https://chancellor.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/245568_20190502_ayres_hall_006_2.jpg)
Dear Volunteers,
I want to update our campus community about events on campus last night.
Free speech is the backbone of any university, where debate should lead to better solutions and a more durable democracy. We recognize and protect members of the campus community’s right to free speech. We apply laws and policies to everyone equally and without prejudice to preserve the use and enjoyment of university property and protect the safety of members of our community. A group of individuals does not have the right to monopolize university property for an indefinite period of time.
We have been working for days to engage some of our students, beginning with a registered student organization that held a planned civil event on campus on Wednesday followed by a productive meeting with administrators yesterday.
Following the vigil, an unplanned assembly gathered and made its way to the lawn of the College of Law, where final exams are underway. Several university leaders worked all afternoon Wednesday to communicate permissible and impermissible activities to the assembled group and their leaders.
The university’s approach in managing situations such as this one begins with warnings from administrators, and those warnings include notifying participants about the potential escalation to law enforcement if necessary. Participants are given a reasonable opportunity to conform their behavior to law and policies. Campus leaders worked into the night Wednesday following this approach. As we engaged Wednesday night into Thursday morning, the group of protestors decided to leave with no arrests necessary.
The group returned later Thursday, and again campus leaders worked throughout the day to make protesters aware that their event was violating the policy on the use of outdoor space and their plans for the evening would also violate state law. Campus leaders gave protestors time to speak within their group, then Vice Chancellor for Student Life Frank Cuevas delivered a message to the group personally warning them to disband or the UT Police Department would respond. Last night, UTPD arrested nine people—seven students and two people not affiliated with the university. All nine received citations and were released. The students will face sanctions under the Student Code of Conduct.
This was not the result any of us wanted. We will continue to engage with all our students to provide support, and we will also continue to enforce the law and university policy for the benefit and protection of everyone in our community. We ask that all Volunteers express themselves in ways that respect the rights of others.
Donde Plowman
Chancellor