The student-run club Students Promoting Environmental Actions in Knoxville was founded in 1992 by Mary Anne Peine and Michelle Case as an environmental activist group. The organization emerged from a previous environmental group known as Students for a Better Environment. Mother Jones magazine rated SPEAK among the top 20 student environmental groups in the nation. SPEAK was largely responsible for the student recycling stations on campus and has pushed for more vegetarian meals in dining areas.
On April 29, 1995, SPEAK cohosted a protest rally at the unfinished Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, and its members have worked closely with the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition (TVERC), Save our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM), and another campus organization, ROAR (Rallying on Animal Rights).