The War Department, Bureau of Insular Affairs, Office of the Philippine Government Board in the United States for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, placed six Filipino students at UT for the 1904–5 school year. The students, who had spent the previous year in southern California schools, were highly recommended. William A. Sutherland, superintendent of Filipino students in the United States, assured the university registrar that the students had “absolutely not one drop of Negro blood in them, nor any African features. While dark, they are Malays and are so like the Japanese in appearance as often to be mistaken for Japanese.”
Four of the students enrolled in law and two in agriculture. They roomed in private homes in the university area; and in addition to taking academic course work, they participated in university military classes. Sutherland visited the campus in February 1905. He reported to the Knoxville Journal that the students felt that they had not been favorably accepted and that they were somewhat ostracized because of their color. He bluntly announced that they would not return for another session. The students immediately wrote a card to the newspaper, indicating that the statements of Sutherland were an injustice to the majority of the students. Sutherland later wrote to President Ayres that he felt that some students had exaggerated the treatment.
Upon leaving the university, the Filipino students requested that their deposit balance of $26.80 be donated to the Athletic Association, but lacking proper authorization, university authorities returned the money to the War Department Office of Philippine Revenues.