In early 1978 the Afro-American Student Liberation Force and the African Student Association charged that UT held investments of $4.5 million in corporations and companies that benefited from South Africa’s racist government and called upon UT to divest itself of those stocks. The Student Coordinating Council joined the AASLF in requesting that UT first ask … Continued

The issue of the most appropriate academic location for programs within the Crafts, Interior Design, and Housing Department was not a new one, but it became a student and general university issue in spring 1978, when some crafts and some interior design faculty of the department requested that the two programs be administratively moved from … Continued

Jane Fonda spoke on campus on November 2, 1977, under the aegis of the Women’s Coordinating Council. She had been asked to speak on women’s issues but told a group of WCC members just prior to the speech that she did not intend to speak on women’s issues. The WCC and others called for her … Continued

To meet the needs of students for a check-cashing operation, the UT Bookstore operated a check-cashing service, which by 1979 was cashing over $6 million annually—with the daily limit for cashing checks set at $40. Bookstore Director Wade Meadows indicated that the bookstore received 1,000 to 1,500 bad checks a week (the average amount of … Continued

The board of trustees voted on October 28, 1978, to name the new Agricultural Engineering Building for Governor Ray Blanton. Subsequently, Blanton was accused (and later found guilty) of granting pardons for money. In January 1979, following Victor Ashe’s introduction of a bill into the legislature to prevent the trustees from naming a building for … Continued

While many departments and faculty had devised evaluation processes for the evaluation of faculty by students, the system was not uniform, and not all encompassing. The Academic Council established “faculty evaluation booths” in Ayres Hall, the university center, and the Humanities and Social Sciences Building in January 1979. Students could evaluate any professor they had … Continued

In May 1979 the Student Senate voted unanimously to request the UT administration to leave the flame of the torch carried by the Volunteer Statue continuously lit. The flame had been extinguished to save money during the Arab oil embargo of 1973 following a student protest of the waste of energy used by the flame … Continued

In August 1980 George Ridgeway, director of rental properties, informed residents of Taliwa Court Apartments that the outside clotheslines would be removed and students would need to use the electric clothes dryers (coin-operated) provided in the complex. Ridgeway’s letter said that the clotheslines were unsightly, consumed energy in the production of wire, were costly in … Continued

Following fall quarter 1979, the McClung Tower Building Committee closed the 12th floor lounge (which included a UT Bakery outlet), to students, ending 10 years of student-faculty joint use of the lounge. The Student Government Association took action on complaints from students and petitioned the McClung Tower Building Committee to reopen the lounge. The building … Continued

Students joined with environmentalists and other community members in 1980 to protest TVA’s completion of the Tellico Dam project, designed to transform the Little River Valley into a large reservoir, extending 33 miles upstream to the foot of the Chilhowee, providing a 1,000-foot canal through which the waters of the “Little T” would be diverted … Continued