University of Tennessee students raise funds for LGBT center

UT Diversity Matters coalition member Dana McLemore lays down on the Joe Johnson/John Ward University Mall on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, at the University of Tennessee. The protest comes as the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday sent to the Senate floor a bill to shift funding from salaries in the University of Tennessee's Office for Diversity and Inclusion on the Knoxville campus into scholarships for minority students in engineering programs.
UT Diversity Matters coalition member Dana McLemore lays down on the Joe Johnson/John Ward University Mall on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, at the University of Tennessee. The protest comes as the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday sent to the Senate floor a bill to shift funding from salaries in the University of Tennessee's Office for Diversity and Inclusion on the Knoxville campus into scholarships for minority students in engineering programs.

KNOXVILLE - University of Tennessee students have raised funds for the school's LGBT center after a state law led to the loss of its funding.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that students in the UT Pride Ambassadors have collected over $4,000 for the university's Pride Center.

A state law recently defunded the UT Office for Diversity and Inclusion for a year and directed the funds to minority engineering scholarships.

Because of the office's funding structure, the Pride Center also lost state funds as a result of the changes. It also lost its status as an administrative office within the diversity office.

University of Tennessee spokeswoman Margie Nichols says the center remains open and the school is doing what it can to support it under the law.

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