Tupac reference in class leads Tennessee university to apologize for racist acronym

An acronym scrawled on a whiteboard during an Africana studies class has University of Tennessee officials apologizing to both students and the community.

The U.T. College of Arts & Sciences in Knoxville apologized in a series of tweets Thursday, explaining a “faculty member wrote a racially charged acronym” during the class, while discussing the late rap artist Tupac Shakur.

Information on the incident is “still being gathered, which may precipitate additional actions,” officials said.

“College and department leadership is actively talking with our students and faculty member about an Africana Studies class in which the faculty member wrote a racially charged acronym on the whiteboard,” the Arts & Sciences Department said in a tweet.

“We’re sorry for the hurt this has caused many members of our community. We value diversity, inclusion and respect, and are working hard to create a campus where everyone matters and belongs.”

The Africana Studies Program issued a statement saying it also “sincerely apologize(s) for the pain that this lecture about the acronym and its meaning for the (slur) has caused.”

“We do not take it lightly that members of the UT community and friends and others elsewhere feel the pain of seeing the image that captured this acronym.,” the program said.

The Africana Studies Program was in the midst of celebrating Black History Month when the incident came to light. The program is described as one “committed to producing and disseminating interdisciplinary knowledge about Africa, African Americans, and the African Diaspora around the world.”

Program officials said the controversy centers around the use of an “n-word acronym” that is the name of a Tupac song. The class was discussing “the power of wordplay in reclamation and empowerment” ,officials said, and more than one Tupac song was discussed.

The investigation includes the context in which the acronym was written and presented, officials said. The faculty member, who has not been identified, “has expertise and focuses research on Hip Hop and Africana Studies,” officials said.

“Without context and the acronym alone, this word presents a very painful and derogatory one that is not only uncomfortable, but also hurtful and troubling. But, it is the context of this discussion and this word that begs knowledge-building,” the Africana Studies Chair Shayla C. Nunnally said in the release.

“The context of this professor’s course (and other courses in Africana Studies) is one of the foremost spaces in which students should be learning about this pejorative, hurtful, and vengeful word. ... People will be unsettled and uncomfortable with the hard truths of our discussions, but we also want to be cognizant and tone-hearing of (re-)traumatization to communities that have faced trauma, over time,” she said.

This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 7:34 AM with the headline "Tupac reference in class leads Tennessee university to apologize for racist acronym."