In February 1964 the Student Faculty Organizations Board approved Circle K’s request to mount a Miss UT Pageant, the winner of which would compete in the Miss America contest, requiring that the annual senior class vote for Miss Tennessee be halted. The permission was for the pageant to begin in 1965.
In 1965 the Circle K organization and the Volunteer, in cooperation with the Miss Tennessee and the Miss America contests, began sponsoring the Miss UT competition. The winner of the Miss UT title represented the university in the Miss Tennessee Pageant held annually at the time in Jackson, Tennessee. Participation was open to any enrolled female student, and the contestants were judged on the basis of beauty, talent, and poise. Judy Barton, head majorette, was chosen by the panel of out-of-town judges as the first winner of the pageant. The SGA became a cosponsor in 1968, opening pageant committee positions to the full student body. In 1969 a symbolic burning of a padded bra concluded a small demonstration by the Women’s Liberation Front of UT against the pageant, which its members considered a “degradation of American womanhood.” A dozen protesters handed out leaflets opposing the pageant to arrivals at the event. The pageant was discontinued but was revived in 2009, when head majorette Adria Farr was crowned Miss UT Knoxville.