After several recent incidents attracting bad press to the University of Tennessee, including a lawsuit over its handling of sexual assault cases, the president of the UT system defended its track record in a speech Tuesday.
This was UT’s first “state of the university” address, and president Joe DiPietro said he didn’t plan it specifically to address the recent controversies. Rather, he said he wanted to highlight the university’s increasing graduation rate, new research projects and record fundraising of $303 million last year.
But he did use the speech to allude to some problems, including
state lawmakers blaming the university for rising tuition and
conservative activists taking issue with UTK’s diversity office. DiPietro called these “public distractions.”
“This place is on the right track when it comes to performance,” he said. “We’ve had controversy — a lot of universities have had controversy — but [with] the core value and the core mission, we’re hitting the numbers.”
DiPietro also said he plans to defend the university’s finances to state lawmakers as they consider a bill that would freeze tuition rates for incoming freshmen.
He would not, however, comment on the recent sexual assault lawsuit, citing pending litigation.
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