Brianna Rader and Jacob Clark, juniors in College Scholars, founded SEAT (Sexual Empowerment and Awareness at Tennessee) to host Sex Week in 2012. Rider researched Harvard and Yale’s Sex Weeks, and SEAT designed a week of activities to emphasize the importance of transparency and communication when dealing with sexual assault, to provide a platform needed to discuss the “rape culture,” and to promote a safe environment for dialogue. The ultimate goal of Sex Week was to bring some health to UT’s sex culture. The week was planned to have a festival atmosphere and included a “Virginity Conference,” “Golden Condom Scavenger Hunt,” and “Faith and Sexuality” panel.
Following a Fox News broadcast about the week and postings by websites such as TownHall.com, State Senator Stacey Campfield strongly objected to the week. He sent a letter to colleagues suggesting that UT’s funding be held up and reviewed and demanded that no State money be used for the event. On March 20, 2013, Chancellor Cheek announced that the institution would pull all State funding from Sex Week, since some of the week’s activities represented an inappropriate allocation of State tax dollars. The loss of $11,145 represented nearly two-thirds of the week’s budget. Private funds were raised, and the week was held.
In 2014 State Representative Richard Floyd (R-Chattanooga) filed a nonbinding resolution in February condemning the organizers of the event. The resolution attracted 28 sponsors and passed 69-17. Bills were introduced that would have required student fees to be distributed proportionally to organizations’ memberships and would also have prohibited the use of institutional revenue to pay for any guest speakers. State Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) introduced the bill in the Senate. Representatives Jimmy Matlock (R-Lenoir City) and Susan Lynn (R-Mount Juliet) introduced the bills in both houses. Student government responded with a petition drive. Two petitions, one from the UT community with over three thousand signatures and one from individuals not connected with UT with over five hundred signatures asked that the bills be withdrawn.
The bills were buried following a compromise resolution (SJR 626) worked out with President DiPietro. That resolution required UT to develop and implement a procedure through which students specifically opted-in to expenditure of Student Programs and Services Fee money for events or speakers that might be controversial; to provide a list of programs funded by the portion of the University Program and Services Fee (UPSF) that went to organizations for programming so that students could make an informed choice about the opt-in; to increase the accountability and transparency of the process by which funds are allocated to student organizations for programming; to restructure the UPSF Board at UT Knoxville to ensure a majority representation by nonstudent members; and to report on progress of implementation of the requirements by January 1, 2015.
The opt-in requirement was implemented for fall 2014, with an initial 81 percent opting-in.