As a Southern school that prides itself on diversity, UT carefully walks the line between school tradition and its history of racism. 

While the University has made efforts to reconcile this history and make students of color, particularly Black students, feel comfortable on campus, there is still room to improve. For example, the Moody family shares its name with UT’s communication school and basketball arena, yet the family’s connection to slavery remains unrecognized on campus. 

UT must acknowledge the Moody family’s connection to slavery and privilege out of respect for their Black students.

The University could begin with the Moody College of Communications’ website. The site details that the Moodys started their family business in the 1850s with cotton trading, excluding that the business involved enslaved people. 

The Moody family history is deeply intertwined with enslavement, making it crucial that UT acknowledges this history. 

Public relations sophomore Simi Sodipe shared that she was not aware of the Moody family’s connection to slavery. As an African American student, Sodipe feels strongly about the University not including the Moody family’s connection to slavery on the website.

“We’re UT students. We can figure out that he built his business on slavery,” Sodipe said. “But I don’t think they’re ever going to address it.”

When contextualizing the Moody family’s history, it is clear they built their legacy on the backs of Black slaves who unwillingly supported the family’s economic endeavors and did not have the right to an education. Today, the University still fails to acknowledge this family’s privilege. 

“I think they just need to be more transparent and forthcoming with how they’re going to take care of this issue. We (the UT Black community) are honestly just tired of them telling us that they’re committed to creating a space for students,” Sodipe said. “It’s just all so superficial …  They’ll be willing to put in a pretty campaign and pretty pictures but when it comes to creating structural change, it’s just not there.”

A university spokesperson declined to comment. 

UT must make an effort to acknowledge the history and privilege of the Moody family. The college should change its description of the Moody family to accurately reflect and address their history of owning slaves.

“We can’t help our ancestral positions and how they were but we can acknowledge what they did, make up for it and improve and acknowledge the privilege or the disadvantage that it gives us,” Radio-television-film freshman Tori McClung said. 

Acknowledgement of the Moody family history is important because it’ll help students of color feel more comfortable and fully welcome on the UT campus. 

“I still love Moody and I’m proud that I got here and I think just me earning entry shows how hard African Americans have worked to overcome racial barriers,” McClung said. “Even though the history is unsettling, I still love the school because of how the students, professors and the faculty work to make it a welcoming and accepting environment.”

The University has made an effort to diversify the student body and promote acceptance and inclusion. Acknowledging the Moody family’s history would be yet another step in the right direction. 

However, efforts to acknowledge racist history should not stop there. The University’s lack of reflection calls for more transparency and a more forthcoming attitude when addressing future issues of the school’s racially charged history. 

Muthukrishnan is a government freshman from Los Gatos, California.