U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) on Tuesday criticized the University of Tennessee (UT) – Knoxville after one of its employees compared former President Donald Trump’s administration to that of genocidal dictator Adolf Hitler, and the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws to the extermination of an estimated 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
According to school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis, UT Knoxville content strategy manager for Student Life, Beth Hall Davis, posted to social media, “Whatever you think you would have done during any human rights crisis in history, but notably and especially the Holocaust (because the events happening in the US are identical to what happened in 1930s Germany), you are doing it right now.”
The UT Knoxville employee then suggested that federal immigration officials are “sending people to a concentration camp in another country,” and questioned whether her social media audience was taking sufficient action to oppose the Trump administration.
Burchett wrote in response to the posts by Hall Davis in a post to X, “You should never compare anything to the Holocaust except the Holocaust,” while also naming the university.
You should never compare anything to the Holocaust except the Holocaust @UTKnoxville https://t.co/ohHvgiAa2t
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) June 11, 2025
The Tennessee Star contacted UT Knoxville communications staff to confirm that Hall Davis remains employed at the university and to ask whether the university condemned her for comparing the enforcement of federal immigration laws to the Holocaust, but did not receive a response prior to press time.
As Hall Davis writes for the Student Life section of the UT Knoxville website, The Star also asked the university whether she participates in on-campus events, but did not receive a response.
Although the university did not respond to The Star, State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) revealed in a post to X that President Randy Boyd had replied to his letter from Wednesday regarding Hall Davis’ remarks.
“After sending this letter to University of Tennessee President Randy Boyd about a radical activist on his staff who probably thinks the Germans also bombed Pearl Harbor, he immediately called me and said the university is handling it quickly,” said Taylor. “We don’t need our tax dollars funding crazy radicals in our state university, and I appreciate President Boyd’s attention to this matter!”
After sending this letter to University of Tennessee President Randy Boyd about a radical activist on his staff who probably thinks the Germans also bombed Pearl Harbor, he immediately called me and said the university is handling it quickly.
We don’t need our tax dollars… pic.twitter.com/Cvd325r1PC
— Senator Brent Taylor (@SenBrentTaylor) June 11, 2025
Notably, the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter announced in November 2023 that UT Knoxville would host a pro-Palestine protest, with the event unveiled only weeks after Hamas killed more than 1,000 people during an unprovoked attack on Israel.
Advertising the protest, the student group said it would feature, “a line of children’s clothing representing those massacred in Gaza and rallying against occupation of Palestine.”
Hamas is still reported to hold 54 hostages inside Gaza despite more than 20 months having passed since the attack.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “University of Tennessee Knoxville Campus” by University of Tennessee Knoxville.
Actually Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” , a Communist revolution, was far worse in numbers of people murdered, reportedly over 50 million. Communist Dictator, Joe Stalin, reportedly killed 20 million in Russia. It seems that or media actually dismisses or ignores that aspect of history as though Communism is not so bad.
As Karl Marx said, “Accuse others of what you do, while, you do it.”
“Bolshevism committed the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant and uncaring about this enormous crime is proof that the global media is in the hands of the perpetrators.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn
time for Beth Hall Davis to seek employment elsewhere ….
Columbia ?
Berkeley ?