Dr. Jimmy G. Cheek, Chancellor of UT-Knoxville, praised the agreement and said that he has approved and will announce a new round of initiatives for the campus. He described those initiatives as part of the institution’s ongoing review of its approach to improve its Title IX efforts, unrelated to the lawsuit. These initiatives will include additional support specifically in areas related to sexual assault, student conduct, educational programming and student well-being along with a significant budget increase in recurring funds for these areas.
“No university will be able to prevent every incident of students, faculty or staff making bad judgments,” Cheek said. “Like many institutions we are not perfect, but our goal is to continue to be the best we can be at creating awareness, educating, and preventing discrimination and abuse in any form, and to continue to be equally prepared when it does happen and to deal with it promptly, sensitively, fairly and effectively. We’ve come a long way in recent years, and we are working every day to be even better. Our first priority is the safety and well-being of every member of our University community.”
“No university will be able to prevent every incident of students, faculty or staff making bad judgments,” Cheek said. “Like many institutions we are not perfect, but our goal is to continue to be the best we can be at creating awareness, educating, and preventing discrimination and abuse in any form, and to continue to be equally prepared when it does happen and to deal with it promptly, sensitively, fairly and effectively. We’ve come a long way in recent years, and we are working every day to be even better. Our first priority is the safety and well-being of every member of our University community.”
