University of Tennessee Campus Workers and Students Rally to Protect Higher Education

Knoxville, TN - On Tuesday April 8th, over 80 campus workers and students gathered outside of McClung Tower at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to rally against the political attacks on higher education as part of the Higher Ed Fights Back/Kill the Cuts National Day of Action. The day of action aimed to raise awareness about the impacts of funding cuts and put pressure on elected representatives to fight back against Trump’s attacks on research, health, and higher education. The Trump administration and state governments have begun unprecedented attacks on campuses across the nation, including UTK. These efforts to gut federal funding, erode DEI, and undermine the basic freedoms to teach, learn, and assemble on campus, are ongoing. Olive Fairweather, a UCW member and staff employee in the Social Work Office of Research and Public Service (SWORPS), shared concerns about job security: “My job at the university is fully funded by a federal grant. Every day I check the news to see if my grant is under investigation, so every day I’m worried that I will lose my job.” 

UCW faculty and graduate student members also spoke about how the current political climate impacts their teaching and the worries they have for their students and coworkers with international status. Meghan Conley, a faculty member in the Sociology department, addressed her concerns for international students, saying “‘It would be an understatement to say that I am worried about the present and future of immigrants in our country, in our communities, and on our campus…Let me be clear: absolutely none of this is about protecting the United States and its people. These are attacks on democracy.”

President Trump has issued Executive Orders attacking the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF). Jessica Budke, a faculty member in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department spoke about the impacts of these federal funding cuts on scientific research and said “the dismantling of the National Park Service, the Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health threatens both students’ career prospects and our country's future.”  

Once the planned speakers finished, UCW members opened up the floor for attendees to share their own experiences and concerns regarding these political attacks. Rally participants expressed fears about the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion jobs and language from the university. They called on the UTK administration to do everything in their power to prevent job loss as a result of federal funding cuts and protect international students and workers. Members stressed that this is the time for action and encouraged anyone who is worried about attacks from both the federal government and Tennessee’s state legislature to join UCW and fight bac