UT president: Pronoun controversy 'like nothing I've seen'

Joe DiPietro said the controversy surrounding gender-neutral pronouns at the University of Tennessee is the biggest one he’s faced since taking the reins as system president in 2011.

He said phones in his office “were ringing almost off the hook” last week, when news outlets across the country were bringing attention to a Web post that encouraged students and professors on the Knoxville campus to use gender-neutral pronouns such as ze and xyr. The post, which was written by the director of the UTK Pride Center, outraged the state's Republican lawmakers, who promised to investigate the matter and scheduled two special meetings to review "higher education governance" in October.

Top lawmakers promise action over UT pronouns post

Several issues have drawn controversy during DiPietro’s tenure, including the Knoxville campus’s Sex Week, changes to the Lady Vols nickname and allegations that student athletes were involved in sexual assaults. But in an interview Wednesday with The Tennessean, he said the outcry over gender-neutral pronouns was louder than all the rest.

“The concern across the state from a really wide group of people, not just policymakers, was like nothing I’ve seen in my time having the privilege to serve the university,” DiPietro said between board meetings in Nashville. “I felt the only way to move forward was to pull the website."

DiPietro announced that decision, which was made with UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, on Friday in an email to the UT Board of Trustees. In the future, DiPietro said, similar Web posts must be reviewed by the chancellor and his Cabinet.

Although UT released several statements last week saying the post was meant only as a resource, DiPietro said he understood why people thought it was mandatory policy. “It was on an administrative website, and it was written in a way that seemed relatively prescriptive," he said.

UT removes Web post on gender-neutral pronouns

While lawmakers reacted to the decision to remove the post with relief and praise, some students took to social media to accuse the university of censorship. Despite the outcry, DiPietro said he wants students of all gender identities to feel comfortable enrolling at UT.

“I take no satisfaction in the decision I made. None at all," DiPietro said. "We want to be inclusive, and we want to be campuses that make everybody feel welcome. And we’ll continue to do that.

“We need to train our students so that they’re competent in these areas."

In an email after the interview, he said the university system will work to do that "in a more educational tone than in a prescriptive tone," although he did not mention how that would be done.

UT is one of many colleges across the country grappling with issues of gender identity. Vanderbilt University last month began including variations of they as a singular gender-neutral pronoun alongside he and she in its student handbook, while Harvard University and the University of California are allowing students to specify their gender identities on official documents.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and on Twitter @tamburintweets.