University of Tennessee invests only private funds in LGBT pride center, hires coordinator

The University of Tennessee Knoxville is using private funds to invest in its LGBT pride center following last year's decision by state lawmakers to strip state dollars from the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, including the pride center.

UT announced this week it has hired Bonnie Johnson, a 2013 graduate, to lead the pride center as its first full-time coordinator.

Her salary of $41,000 will be paid for with private funds, said UT spokeswoman Karen Simsen.

Since 2016, the pride center has run strictly on private dollars after lawmakers approved a one-time diversion of $445,882 from the Office for Diversity and Inclusion to minority engineering scholarships.

Those funds were unspoken for in the 2017-2018 budget and a complete breakdown of how they will be spent was still unavailable Thursday, though a university spokeswoman said they will not be spent at the pride center.

In June, UT Knoxville Chancellor Beverly Davenport pledged a commitment to diversity and said she planned to hire a full-time pride center coordinator when asked how the diversity funds would be spent.

"I've looked at those monies and we will be investing that money in student life and student services," Davenport said at the time. "That will be everything from Title IX, the pride center and wellness. You can't thrive if you aren't well. You can't thrive if you are marginalized. So all those monies will go into those efforts."

Lawmakers reacted to Davenport's pledge to reinvest in the pride center by threatening to introduce new legislation prohibiting state dollars from being spent there.

"If state tax dollars are being used, then I can tell you that I look forward to bringing another piece of legislation," said Rep. Micah Van Huss, R - Jonesborough, on Thursday.

Van Huss was a sponsor of last year's legislation to defund UT's diversity office. "That is not what my constituents want," he said.

The university now says that the former diversity funds will not be spent at the pride center.

"I can confirm that none of those funds are being used for the pride center," spokeswoman Karen Simsen said in an email.

A complete budget for the pride center was not available Thursday, but Simsen said private funds will also be used for operating and programming.