KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — UT's iconic Rock was covered in an anti-Semitic piece of hate speech Thursday morning. It was quickly painted over with a message of "Love Thy Brother," but images of the hate speech on the Rock had already spread across Twitter.
Many of those sharing the images were calling on UT to respond strongly and substantially to the incident.
The UT chapter of AEPi, a traditionally Jewish fraternity, released a statement on its Facebook page, saying it "is sick and tired of University of Tennessee constantly doing nothing to address this."
"This happens time and time again and all the university has said is 'this is unacceptable'. AEPi at UTK asks the Greek community to share this on their stories and to tag the University. It’s time something is done about this. Our chapter stands against hate of all forms, and simply want action to be taken. We ask that alumni, friends, and family share this and make no way for the University to avoid this topic this time," the chapter's statement continued.
UT's Office of the Chancellor released a statement later Thursday morning.
"We condemn that hate aimed toward members of our Jewish community, and we understand that words are not enough," part of the statement said.
Chancellor Donde Plowman followed up her statement Thursday afternoon with another message stating that she met with Interim Vice Chancellor Tyvi Small, Vice Chancellor Vince Carilli, and Dean Shea Kidd-Houze and a group of student leaders and faculty advisors from Hillel after the vandalism Thursday morning.
"Our first concern is one of care for people who are hurting in our campus community. We also discussed what specific actions we can take as a community to hold ourselves and each other accountable. To that end, the Division of Student Life will convene a work group of student representatives and volunteers in the next week. The outcome of the work group will be specific actions related to community accountability at the Rock and other areas of campus," the statement said.
She also said Provost David Manderscheid sent resources to faculty to "support them in shaping difficult dialogue around issues of racism and anti-Semitism should they need that in their classrooms."
"Vol is a verb. We will respond to hate with actions that show who we are as Volunteers as we work to create a place where everyone matters and belongs."
The statement released Thursday morning also focused on how within a week a message of kindness and anti-bullying that had previously been on the Rock turned into a message of hate.
"In one week, the Rock has brought out the best and the worst," the statement said. "We celebrated the outpouring of love for the young Volunteer who made his own T-shirt, and someone beautifully depicted the shirt on the Rock. Last night, someone covered that message of love with an anti-Semitic hate message."
