The University of Memphis has changed its mind and will not be offering $3,000 to professors that infuse woke curriculum into their classes.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) confirmed the news over the weekend after outcry from the public and conservative students, one of which is not yet ready to celebrate.
“It’s great news, but it’s hard to get too excited about it right now,” Memphis student Peyton Thornburg told The Todd Starnes Show. “There is still a lot of work to be done because there’s still campuses across America that are still pushing that into their curriculum.”
While information involving the $3,000 offer was disclosed in a leaked email, Thornburg broke the news to many television viewers alongside fellow students Audra Luttrell and Anne-Elizabeth Matheny. All three are members of the Turning Point USA chapter at the University of Memphis.
“Not necessarily nice comments were made on social media, but we also received a lot of support from people,” said Thornburg. “That was nice to see.”
Thornburg, Luttrell, and Matheny felt there were more important areas in which to spend the money.
“We don’t agree that that’s where the taxpayer money should be allotted, especially with the condition of some of the dorms and other classroom buildings on campus,” said Thornburg.
Thornburg said the push for the “diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice” curriculum was definitely faculty-led.
“Nobody really speaks up about it much, but I would definitely say there is a silent majority of more conservative or moderate-leaning students,” said Thornburg.
Grace Baker, executive producer for The Todd Starnes Show and former head of the Young America’s Foundation (YAF) chapter at the University of Memphis, agreed.
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“There’s definitely a silent majority,” said Baker. “There are many liberal professors, but we received funding from the university to do events, so, the university was fairly supportive of us but there are individual very liberal professors that generally speaking I think are more liberal than the student body.”
With approximately three-dozen members at University of Memphis, Thornburg said TPUSA is doing everything it can to “be active on campus and making our voices heard.”
“Thanks to these young people, they were bold enough, courageous enough to take a stand and now the university is backing down and ultimately that is what it’s really all about here,” said Todd Starnes. “When you take a stand, you’re going to be able to facilitate change, but you have to be willing to get out there and take that chance.”