NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Were Tennessee state lawmakers only posturing on Wednesday when they approved an amendment that would strip state funding from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion?

The Senate’s Education Committee approved the amendment unanimously, in response to several controversial posts on the office website in recent months.

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“Only federal funds shall be expended to support the Office for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville,” the amendment says, according to Tennessean.com.

But after the vote, when it became clear that the office does not receive federal funds, Sen. Dolores Gresham, the sponsor of the amendment and chair of the committee, seemed to backpedal.

“That’s not my understanding,” Gresham was quoted as saying by Tennessean.com, when told about the lack of federal funding. “I would not completely defund the office. I think that would be extremely injurious. I would not do that, so I’ll have to double-check that because that’s not my understanding.”

The Office for Diversity and Inclusion has come under fire for recent months for several controversial posts on its website.

In one, the office encouraged campus employees and students to have inclusive holiday parties, rather than traditional Christmas parties.

“Holiday parties and celebrations should celebrate and build upon workplace relationships and team morale with no emphasis on religion or culture. Ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise,” the post said,” according to WATE.com.

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In another post, the diversity office encouraged employees and students to stop using terms like “he” or “she,” and substituting them with “ze” or “xe,” out of respect for transgender people or others who reject traditional gender roles, WATE.com reported.

The posts resulted in widespread anger on the Knoxville campus and calls for the university chancellor to resign.

“The Office of Diversity is not welcoming to all and hostile to none as they claim,” Gresham said in a statement, following the post about Christmas parties. “They are very hostile to students and other Tennesseans with Christian and conservative values.  By placing a virtual religious test regarding holiday events at this campus, every student who is a Christian is penalized.”

“We have paid people a lot of money to sit around and come up with this nonsense,” state Rep. Bill Dunn was quoted as saying. “It makes me kind of mad.”

But are these lawmakers mad enough to actually close the office by cutting off its sole source of funding? Stay tuned.