Image Credit: University of Tennessee Knoxville / Facebook
By Ellie Cameron – Texas Tech University / The College Fix –
Administrators at the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, and Belmont University admitted that diversity, equity and inclusion programming has continued on their campuses, saying they rebranded DEI efforts under new language to bypass a presidential directive and other pressures to end such practices.
The edited videos were provided in recent weeks to Fox News and Townhall by unnamed sources who appeared to use undercover techniques and secret recordings to film campus administrators admitting to the tactics.
The videos have prompted demands from Tennessee lawmakers for more information on how and why campuses are circumventing a Trump administration executive order against DEI, and both the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Belmont agreed this month to DEI compliance audits.
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote three similar letters to each institution in the wake of the videos.
“I urge you to end all DEI programs and fully comply with the President’s executive action,” she stated in her late July memos. “… Renaming woke DEI programs to circumvent compliance and public scrutiny degrades the educational experience of your students and the trust placed in institutions of higher education.”
The videos each have a timestamp of June 2025. A Fox News media representative did not respond to a request from The College Fix asking how it obtained the videos or who filmed and edited them. The University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt did not respond to requests for comment.
Fox News posted one joint video taken at both UT and Vanderbilt while Townhall published a video from Belmont.
In the edited videos, officials from each campus discuss how they and others have worked to appear to be in compliance with anti-DEI efforts and directives publicly by renaming offices and programs, but in reality are simply rebranding and revamping their efforts under new language and terms.
One official called it a “chess game.” Another said: “If you’re navigating in the shadows, nobody’s paying attention.”
“We always try to just adapt to what’s happening around us. But that doesn’t mean, like, what we’re focusing on completely stops. We just changed the terminology and the language that we keep moving forward,” a staffer from Belmont said. “We’re always going to keep doing what we’re doing. The work never stops. We just change on how we talk about it.”
Belmont has since decided to launch an audit to ensure its compliance with President Trump’s DEI orders.
“While we make every effort to ensure compliance and continue to maintain our belief that Belmont complies with all applicable laws, we take these concerns seriously. With this in mind, we are bringing in an external partner to initiate an independent compliance review,” Belmont University President Greg Jones said in a memo obtained by Fox News.
Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles has led the charge against Belmont, Fox News reported, adding he has received whistleblower documents which show professors must explain how they will support “historically underrepresented populations” to revise a course, that Belmont intends to keep its faculty DEI committee, and that it still uses DEI metrics in hiring decisions.
As for UT-Knoxville, Chancellor Donde Plowman replied to Blackburn that “we can assure you that the statements made by these individuals strongly misrepresent the policies and practices of the university,” Knox News reported.
“UT System President Randy Boyd addressed the situation in an internal email obtained by Knox News, sharing that UT will conduct an independent review of access and engagement on every campus to ensure compliance. The UT System also will require every employee to undergo mandatory compliance training ‘regarding applicable laws and regulations,’” the newspaper reported.
“Let me be clear: access and engagement is not DEI in disguise,” Boyd stated in his email. “All our work must and will remain fully compliant with state and federal law.”
And a Vanderbilt spokesperson told Fox News: “We are aware of recent covert recordings by external groups on university campuses nationwide. At Vanderbilt, we are fully compliant with all applicable federal and state laws. Any comments by individual employees that suggest otherwise do not reflect university policy and are being reviewed through appropriate channels.”
*Note: Article Republished on The Tennessee Conservative by express permission from The College Fix.
One Response
Our “education” industry is terminally infested with lucifer’s accursed dimmercraps. Their DEI is worse than nepotism. Nothing works right or at all with either.