BILL#: SEN-22-18

TITLE: The Rock Reforms Bill

SPONSOR(S):

Owen Flomberg, East Area Senator, oflomber@vols.utk.edu

Austin Smith, College of Nursing Senator, asmit315@vols.utk.edu

Logan Craft, At- Large Senator, lcraft6@vols.utk.edu

Molly Vermillion, At-Large Senator, mvermill@vols.utk.edu

Sophia Rhoades, College of Arts and Sciences Senator, srhoade1@vols.utk.edu

Annelise Brueher, Haslam College of Business Senator, abruehe@vols.utk.edu

Joseph Staton, At-Large Senator, jstaton4@vols.utk.edu

Mateos Hayes, Arts and Sciences Senator, mhayes57@vols.utk.edu

Katie Gouge, Off-Campus Senator, kgouge3@vols.utk.edu

 

DATE:

 

Whereas, The Rock was recently defaced with neo-nazi and white supremacist symbols less than two days after a vigil was held in support of victims of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting,

 

Whereas, The Rock was defaced a second time on November 10 with neo-nazi and white supremacist iconography,

 

Whereas, on multiple occasions, The Rock, an important landmark of free speech at the University of Tennessee, was inscribed with hate speech by white supremacist groups in the past year,

 

Whereas, these incidents foster disunity and send a divisive message to the campus community, and threaten the safety of minorities on our campus,

 

Whereas, these incidents have typically occurred under the cover of darkness, when the rock is obscured,  

 

Whereas, there is no light which shines on The Rock at night, despite significant improvements to lighting infrastructure in the area,

 

Whereas, a spotlight on the rock would make it more visible and thus make it easier to observe at night,

 

Whereas, this would greatly increase security around the rock, deter defacement incidents in the future, and make other incidents quickly detectable,

 

Be it hereby resolved, that a spotlight be configured so that it shines on the face of The Rock.

 

Be it hereby resolved, that a camera be placed facing the Rock with footage accessible to UTK Students and Faculty. This stream will require an authenticating logon such as the UT Central Authentication Service (CAS), be protected by UT’s firewall capabilities, and be subject to the acceptable use policy.

 

Be it hereby resolved, that residence halls on campus have paint kits available for student to check out.

 

Be it hereby resolved, the Student Government Association of the University of Tennessee Knoxville in collaboration release a statement condemning the recent messages on The Rock.