University of Tennessee at Martin’s student group “People for Black History” held a rally Tuesday to raise awareness for what they call “attacks from the Trump administration” on Black history and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
During the event, speakers from the student body and community called attention to how presidential rhetoric towards the teaching of Black history and DEI initiatives is having ramifications across the nation as well as at the northwest Tennessee college campus.
David Barber, the organization’s faculty advisor, said that legislation such as Tennessee’s Divisive Concepts Act prevents him from fully teaching his classroom curriculum.
“What I teach in my classroom, which is that there is systemic racism… state law says you're not allowed to teach that, and Donald Trump is saying you are not allowed to teach that,” Barber said.
Under state law in Tennessee colleges and universities can’t penalize or discriminate against students who don’t endorse some of the 16 designated “divisive concepts” in higher education, such as race-based privilege and systematic racism.
Part of the Divisive Concepts Act says it is not meant to infringe on freedom of speech rights under the first amendment or on faculty members’ rights to academic freedom. However, under the law, students can file complaints with colleges against professors who they think are teaching concepts that promote political or social agendas. .
Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated into his second term earlier this year, his administration has taken aim at DEI programs and practices across the country. In August, a federal judge ruled against attempts from the Department of Education to threaten federal funding for public schools and universities that continued with DEI initiatives.
Barber said executive orders signed earlier this year by President Donald Trump — such as one aimed at removing “divisive or partisan narratives” and “anti-woke ideology” from exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution – are examples of “direct erasure of Black history.”
Isabella Thomison is a freshman at UT Martin and the secretary for People for Black History. She said that anti-DEI legislation has forced some on-campus organizations centered around diversity to restructure or dissolve.
“Our BSA, which is Black Student Association… had an office that has been gutted. We had a multicultural lounge that has been renamed…and we had a women's center that had to be changed to the community center, because, for some reason, the words multicultural and woman are woke and offensive,” Thomison said.
By raising awareness of the direct impacts some of these laws and executive orders have on college campuses, Thomison said she hopes the rally would prompt her peers to stay informed about presidential policies and state legislation, which she thinks would lead to more informed voting decisions.
