A bill was introduced in the Student Senate on November 6, 2012, calling for UT Housing and the Division of Student Life to develop a plan to implement gender-neutral housing for fall 2014 with the help of the Student Government Association, the United Residence Halls Council, and other interested parties. Students pointed out that at … Continued

In 2012 the Graduate Student Senate, after hearing presentations from representatives of the Faculty Senate (Associate Professors Donna Braquet and Bharat Mehra) and the LGBT Commission (Jenny Moshak), decided to debate whether to include benefits for domestic partners in the graduate student insurance plan. The students based the possibility of including benefits for domestic partners … Continued

Beginning on February 1, 2012, the Central Program Council and the Office of Student Activities covered the walls of the concourse in the university center with Velcro “poetry sticks” (words and phrases that can be strung together to create poetry or expressions). It was the second incarnation of the event, designed to provide a fun, … Continued

The position of residence hall secretary was eliminated in July 2012, with Residence Hall Administration citing technology and efficiency as the reasons. Hall secretaries had been notified in September 2011 that the positions were eliminated. Students expressed concern because the secretaries staffed the front desk from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., leaving time for resident … Continued

In response to student requests, Student Government Association President Adam Roddy announced in October 2012 that he would propose to the Calendar Committee at its spring meeting that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving be added to the Thanksgiving Break, even if doing so meant starting a day earlier in August. Students who live at a distance … Continued

Students rallied in front of the Law School on March 27, 2012, from noon to 1:00 p.m., to bring awareness to the Trayvon Martin case, in which a black teen was shot and killed while visiting his family in a gated community in Florida by George Zimmerman, a resident of the community and part of … Continued

In 2013 student members of the band and members of the general student body signed the online petition (more than thirteen thousand signatures) asking for restoration of travel and per diem policies to previous levels and containment of prerecorded music during football games. Strong sentiment for Bands Director Gary Sousa and members of the Pride … Continued

In 2013 Sweat Free Tennessee, a coalition of student groups advocating that UT cut ties with companies that utilized sweatshop labor to produce items sold with the UT logo, campaigned for UT to cancel its contract with Adidas. The precipitating factor in the campaign was Adidas’s failure to pay workers at the PT Kizone factory … Continued

Aramark, UT’s Dining Services contractor, met with an unanticipated hailstorm of student outrage following its presentation to the Student Government Association in November 2013 of a proposal to impose a mandatory $300 Declining Balance Meal Plan on students living off campus. Aramark devised the proposal as a means of funding new dining facilities in the … Continued

The Coalition for Responsible Investment brought forth a referendum for students and a resolution for the Student Government Association asking that UT divest itself of holdings in either Duke Energy or American Electric Power by January 1, 2014, and that the board of trustees establish a Subcommittee on Responsible Investment that would periodically review UT’s … Continued