Ousted UT chancellor Beverly Davenport issues first statement since dismissal

Erica Breunlin | Knoxville

Beverly Davenport closed her 16-month chapter at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a tone of gratitude as she released her first public statement since being fired on the same day university officials passed a settlement agreement with the former chancellor.

Davenport took to Twitter Tuesday evening to thank "all of the people I had the opportunity to stand alongside in doing this noble work" and attached a one-and-a-half-page letter of "departing thoughts."

Outgoing University of Tennessee board stands by DiPietro after he fired Beverly Davenport The UT board's support could be fleeting, because the full board will be replaced by a new, smaller group in less than two months.

Her message marks the first time she has issued any kind of public statement since UT System President Joe DiPietro dismissed her at the beginning of May with a scathing letter that criticized her communication and organizational skills, among other leadership shortcomings. She has been on administrative leave ever since.

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In a mid-day meeting on Tuesday held at UT Knoxville's campus, the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees' Audit and Compliance Committee unanimously approved a settlement agreement for Davenport for a sum of $1.33 million – and a promise that Davenport won't say a negative word about the institution.

"Dr. Davenport agrees that she will not discuss, provide information, make or issue statements or take any action that disparages or portrays the University or Any Released Party in a negative light or that would otherwise reflect unfavorably on the University or Released Party," the agreement states.

It also bars any university employee from speaking a negative word about Davenport.

I want to thank all of the people I had the opportunity to stand alongside in doing this noble work. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to serve as the 8th Chancellor of the state’s flagship campus. pic.twitter.com/ysReBqMawj — Beverly Davenport (@bev_dav) June 5, 2018

Along those lines, Davenport framed her statement as a thank to faculty, staff, alumni, donors, the city of Knoxville and students.

More: Read Beverly Davenport's scathing termination letter from the UT president

"I owe a special debt of gratitude to them," Davenport wrote of UT students. "They have inspired and challenged me. They are smart, and they are tenacious. They want a better and more just world, and they expect our better angels to prevail. That is why they are often called our next greatest generation."

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She also nodded to campus efforts to create a more inclusive community and a more inclusive state, emphasizing "respect for others" and defining that respect in part as that which "makes a person whole and strong and able to take on what life hurls at them."

Davenport encouraged those she's leaving behind to "continue the challenge" of doing better, being better and living better.

"That is, after all, one of the central tenets of higher learning – to contemplate what is just, what is right and what is good."

She wrapped up her statement with a declaration that her role as the flagship university's eighth chancellor has been "one of the great privileges" of her life.

Davenport, who became the highest paid chancellor in the university's history, did not include any details about her future plans. Her separation agreement from the university precludes her from being employed by the institution or the state again.

Her appointment letter did allow her to stay on at the university as a tenured faculty member in the College of Communication and Information, for which she would have been compensated with about $2 million in salary and benefits over the first four years. Starting in the fifth year of her tenure, the university would have paid her an annual salary of $164,632.

It is not clear whether Davenport or university officials initiated the settlement agreement.

DiPietro has selected Wayne Davis, dean of the Tickle College of Engineering, to serve as interim chancellor for six months to one year. Davis took over leadership on May 7.