Tennessee Senate OKs resolution intended to defund UT's Sex Week

Arkansas-Tennessee Live Blog
photo Ayres Hall, at the University of Tennessee, is pictured in a 2011 file photo. Photo by Michael Patrick

NASHVILLE - State senators today overwhelmingly approved a resolution directing University of Tennessee officials to create a policy requiring parents to opt in and approve student fees used to pay for events like the Knoxville campus' Sex Week.

The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, was approved on a 23-6 vote. It denounces the "radical agenda" of student organization that runs Sex Week at UT's Knoxville campus.

"I will tell you that it is my opinion and I believe the majority of the Senate Education Committee that there is a radical agenda and there are radical things going on," Bell told colleagues in response to questions about the resolution's wording.

Meanwhile, Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, said the non-binding resolution doesn't do enough and that he still intends to pursue legislation limiting funding for outside speakers at the campus.

Four Democrats and two Republicans voted against Bell's resolution.

The House recently approved a separate resolution, sponsored by Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, that denounces the organizers of Sex Week.

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