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University of Tennessee-Knoxville administrators are still deciding how to discipline students who appeared in blackface in a Snapchat image that surfaced last week, according to Vice Chancellor for Student Life Vince Carilli.

The decision remains "outstanding," Carilli said during a campus discussion Monday afternoon, stirring up the audience when he linked blackface to First Amendment rights.

“We would be hard-pressed to expel a student for expressing their First Amendment rights,” Carilli said.

Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

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Close to 200 people, many of them students, sat face-to-face with administrators in the student union ballroom to discuss how to move forward following the incident of racism.

The image, of four people believed to be UT students, shows two wearing what appears to be a black skincare masks.

Twitter

"We for racial equality boys," the caption reads. "Bout to get this free college now that I'm black let's gooooo #blacklivesmatter."

Students demand action, not more words

The university originally condemned the Snapchat photo with a statement from its media relations department that said "the image is repulsive and the message abhorrent."

But many who added their voices to the campus conversation on Monday see that condemnation as one that holds empty words, with little action that follows.

Students lined up in the center of the ballroom to demand answers from administrators about what concrete changes they're going to make to ensure UT has a more inclusive atmosphere.

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University of Tennessee administrators hold dialogue with students about racism on campus

Along with Carilli, administrators responding to them included Interim Chancellor Wayne Davis, David Manderscheid, Vice Chancellor for Communications Tisha Benton, Interim Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Engagement Tyvi Small and Senior Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Chris Cimino.

Interim System President Randy Boyd, who on Friday tweeted that he appreciated UT Knoxville's "swift response to yesterday's Snapchat photo," did not attend the meeting.

Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

Emotions ran high throughout the dialogue – lasting more than three-and-a-half hours – as many students who spoke out faulted administrators for not doing enough to reinforce a campus culture of diversity and inclusion.

Among them was freshman Jerica Parks, who through tears emphasized to administrators how threatened she feels for her community by the recent incident of blackface.

She stressed to administrators that she couldn't tell them how hurt she is but said that she also isn't surprised because she's seen a pattern.

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“This hurts me down to my core and I want you to hear me," Park said. "I want you to see me. As a young black woman, I have been through so much oppression and this is another thing.”

Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

Parks also called administrators out for protecting the perpetrators with the insistence that they wouldn't be expelled.

“Don’t treat them like victims when they have done this to us," she said. "We are the victims. Protect us.”

Senior George Johnson was blunt in expressing his frustration with administrators.

“You failed if you believe that the First Amendment is the equivalent of protecting someone from blackfacing,” Johnson said in an interview outside the event.

Following comments from the panel, he is "very, very heartbroken."

“You’re always playing a race battle without even signing up to fight for your race,” he said.

Johnson added that it will be tough moving forward from this incident of racism and the university's response as he graduates in May from a school that he says he doesn't feel he can take pride in.

“I can’t take pride in the University of Tennessee because the University of Tennessee didn’t see pride in me,” he said.

Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

Sophomore Zamir Turner sounded the alarm on the state of the university as a whole, saying that it's in "critical condition."

He would grade the university with "a big fat F" in its rebuttal to the recent instance of blackface – not because the university isn't trying but because he doesn't see that effort as sincere.

“Like many people stated, this is decades and decades of disrespect and belittling and sweeping things under the rug and the defunding of minority groups,” Turner said.

He wants to see the university turn a corner and be transparent and authentic.

“It would be a cliché to say I want to see change," Turner said. "I want to see honesty. I want to see transparency. I want to see humanity, is the best way I could put it. At this present moment, the robotics and going through the motions has become expected. Now we have to shift the expectation.”

Brianna Paciorka, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

'An extraordinary amount of work to do'

UT administrators listened to students' concerns and largely agreed with them that more work needs to be done on campus to address diversity and inclusion.

Administrators appeared receptive to one idea thrown out multiple times of offering more diversity and inclusion training to the campus community, potentially through a required course for first-year students.

The first takeaway from the conversation for Benton is that “we have an extraordinary amount of work to do.”

There is a lot that has been accomplished that people don't know about, she said, and so the university must do a better job of pulling back the curtain on its work.

But there's still more to do, she added.

Moving forward, the university plans to organize a group of cabinet members and students who can communicate progress in the next two weeks after defining short-term goals, mid-term goals and long-term goals related to diversity and inclusion.

Being really committed to communicating is essential, Benton said, "because people need to be able to see where things stand tangibly."