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UT’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion “Wins” 2015 Lump of Coal in a Landslide

December 21, 2015 10:20AM

Today, the Beacon Center awarded the 2015 Lump of Coal to The University of Tennessee’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion for wasting taxpayer money on a program that emphasizes political correctness run amok. With an astounding 52.1% of the vote, The Office of Diversity and Inclusion ran away with the Lump of Coal award. Rutherford County School Board Chair Wayne Blair was the runner up with 19.2%, while the Hospital Lobby and Memphis EDGE came in 3rd and 4th with 18% and 11.7% respectively.

The Lump of Coal is an annual “award” given by the Beacon Center to the government or private entity that has most abused taxpayer money. Hundreds of votes were cast by Tennesseans all across the state. 

While there were many deserving candidates for this year’s Lump of Coal, the voters chose the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The office encourages a level of political correctness that goes way too far for everyday Tennesseans, while being funded at the expense of the taxpayers. When  encouraging students not to celebrate the holidays by throwing a “Christmas party in disguise,” Tennesseans of all political stripes see how out of touch this department really is. 

The full post is below.

The University of Tennessee’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion

The Office first made national news in August when it “encouraged” (get used to this word) other students to use “gender neutral” pronouns like “ze” or” xe” lest one commit the grave offense of using “he” to refer to a man. Now the Office is “encouraging” (there’s the word again) students to take a few simple steps when celebrating the holidays so as to, and this is an exact quote, “[e]nsure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise.” When UT uses your money for something that manifestly does not further higher learning, it lacks a legitimate basis for taking it in the first place. That makes it theft. It is unconstitutional and immoral.