2016: Glenn Reynolds

On Sept. 21, 2016, UT law professor Glenn Reynolds tweeted “Run them down” in response to media coverage of North Carolina protestors gathering on a highway after a police officer shot African American man Keith Lamont Scott.

After deletion of the tweet and suspension of Reynold’s Twitter account, Reynolds took to social media, claiming he faced censorship of free speech.

Melanie Wilson, former dean of the UT College of Law, responded to the situation, stating that she and the university did not align with Reynolds’s beliefs.

“The tweet was an exercise of his First Amendment rights. Nevertheless, the tweet offended many members of our community and beyond, and I understand the hurt and frustration they feel,” Wilson said.

Reynolds also emailed an apology to the College of Law Community.

“I try to be careful and precise in my language,” Reynolds said. “I didn’t do that this time, and I unfortunately made a lot of people in the law school community sad or angry, something I certainly didn’t mean to do, and feel bad about.”

The law school took no disciplinary action against Reynolds, and he continues to teach law at the university.

2017: Judy Morelock

In the 2017 spring semester, sociology lecturer Judy Morelock assigned a quiz to her sociology of the family class, and a question on the quiz brought criticism from one of her students, Kayla Renee Parker.

According to Parker, the question asked what historical research on African American families during slavery showed, and Parker selected “black family bonds were destroyed by the abuses of slave owners, who regularly sold off family members to other slave owners.” Morelock marked Parker’s answer wrong. The correct answer was “most slave families were headed by two parents.”

Parker disputed the question, claiming that the answer was framed in white supremacy.

“My concern is how my history is being portrayed in class,” Parker said.

Morelock gave Parker and the rest of the class four extra points, but the disagreement sparked a longer clash between the two through online posts and conversations. UT consequently moved Parker to a different class.

The university chose not to renew Morelock’s year-to-year contract for the upcoming fall semester, saying the Department of Sociology was undergoing curriculum changes, according to a WATE 6 article.

2021: Melissa Hargrove

UT Africana Studies professor Melissa Hargrove faced backlash after writing an racial slur — which was the acronymic title of a song by Tupac Shakur — on a white board during class. A tweet circulated on Feb. 3, 2021 of the white professor standing in front of the board.

The Student Government Association called on the university and Chancellor Donde Plowman to fire Hargrove.

“Students at this university do not feel included or supported, largely due to the ineffectiveness of the University in addressing even the most blatant of racist acts, as they so poorly handled incidents,” SGA said. “The time is past for ‘hearing’ students — real and sustained action is the demand.”

After students organized and executed a roundtable discussion, a sit-in protest and a car rally, the university did not terminate the non-tenured Hargrove, instead directing her to work with the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation (TLI) for two weeks to evaluate her teaching.

“The objective of the work with TLI is not to sanitize difficult content of your courses, but rather to ensure that difficult material is presented in a more inclusive and effective manner,” Africana Studies program chair Shayla C. Nunnally said in a letter to Hargrove.

While UT did not terminate Hargrove following the incident, she did not return to teach in the fall.

2025: Tamar Shirinian

After a Sept. 14 social media post about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, in which UT assistant anthropology professor Tamar Shirinian claimed “The world is better off without him in it,” UT faced pressure from government officials and conservative influencers to terminate the professor.

UT System President Randy Boyd commented on the incident hours after Shirinian made the post and said that the university was actively investigating the situation.

“Celebrating or advocating violence and murder is reprehensible and has no place at the University of Tennessee,” Boyd said.

The university announced the next afternoon that Shirinian had been placed on administrative leave with imminent plans for termination.

“The university has taken swift action against a faculty member who has failed to meet our expectations for civil engagement,” the update said. “Her actions endorsing violence and murder do not represent the university or our values.”

The university has since maintained their decision to terminate Shirinian amid faculty pushback and a letter of appeal from Shirinian.