A proposal that would vacate Tennessee State University’s board of trustees is heading to a vote on the Senate floor. But on Monday the House Government Operations Committee approved a compromise that would leave half of the current board intact.
It’s unclear which version of the bill will win out.
Republican lawmakers have said the university needs a change in leadership, citing issues with financial management and a lack of housing for students. But current trustees say they’ve worked to implement all the changes suggested in an unflattering audit last year. They also say they’ve complied with an additional $2 million forensic audit that the state ordered.
Both TSU trustees and Democratic lawmakers representing the school acknowledge there are issues, and say they want to work with the legislature to resolve them. If the Senate version becomes law, TSU leaders say it would jeopardize the search for a new university president and destabilize the school, which is Tennessee’s only public historically Black university.
Democratic Rep. Harold Love Jr., who represents TSU’s district in the House, has similar concerns. In a press conference last week, Love criticized the Senate plan, which would vacate the full 10-member board.
“You certainly don’t want to have all the institutional knowledge, institutional memory of a board, go away in one fell swoop,” Love said.
Love said the Senate bill also cuts out the voices of board members who aren’t usually within the governor’s purview. Eight of the board’s positions are usually appointed by the governor. One trustee is elected from the university’s faculty senate. And the board appoints one student to serve as a non-voting member.
“I can’t say enough about again how surprised I am that the faculty and student representation has been caught up in this,” Love said.
Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, filed an amendment that would only vacate a portion of board members. Under this proposal, those whose terms expire in June 2025 would be removed from the board early and replaced by new appointees from the governor.
The House Government Operations Committee approved the amendment Monday afternoon.
Reactions to compromise
The Save TSU Community Coalition shared reactions following the vote. Speakers generally preferred the House compromise, but many said vacating any board members is unnecessary.
“TSU is at the best economically, fiscally that it has been ever,” said pastor Chris Jackson, who helps lead the coalition. He cited the school’s increased endowment and research dollars. Another coalition leader, Barry Barlow, mentioned TSU’s attempt to become an R1 institution, the highest tier among research universities.
Chrishonda O’Quinn, executive vice president of the Student Government Association, raised concerns that lawmakers have not consulted with them about the impacts of the legislation.
“Something that’s missing in this equation is the student perspective,” O’Quinn said. “That is an issue. We are the main stakeholders, and our opinion, our voices matter.“
O’Quinn also called the House amendment “the lesser of two evils.”
“We are grateful that the whole board will hopefully not be vacated. However … we would prefer for the whole board to stay in place,” O’Quinn said.
The university released a statement Monday evening sharing similar sentiments. The school said it plans to continue working with lawmakers in both chambers for a solution that “eliminates or minimizes any disruption to the Board and TSU students.”
What comes next?
Both versions of the bill have been sent to their respective calendar committees, the last step before going to a vote before the full chambers. As of Tuesday, neither bill has been scheduled on the House or Senate floor.
Senate Education Chairman Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, said he would prefer to see the full board vacated, but he’s open to discussing the House version.
“Are we interested in the compromise? Absolutely,” Lundberg said. But it may take some more time. “There’s been so much discussion up until this point. It seems like waiting until we get closer to both bills getting to our respective floors, that’s when folks get serious.”
Decades of underfunding
Alexis Marshall WPLN NewsStudents hold signs at a TSU rally in October 2023, shortly after a federal report found Tennessee had underfunded the university by more than $2 billion.
At the same time the school resists the replacement of its board, recent reports have laid bare Tennessee’s staggering and historic underfunding of the institution.
“It’s like $2.1 billion has been left out of the conversation, and now we’re sitting here and [there are] threats of our leadership being taken from us,” student trustee Shaun Wimberly Jr. said.
Last fall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Education revealed the state had shorted the school $2.1 billion between 1987 and 2020.
Law states that 1890 land grant institutions, like TSU, must be funded equitably to their 1862 land grant peers, like the University of Tennessee Knoxville. The federal reports calculated how much more TSU would have received if both schools had been allocated the same amount per student.
In 2023, TSU received $250 million from the state in attempt to begin making up for as much as $544 million in underfunding that a state analysis identified. And student leaders say they met with Gov. Bill Lee about the new, much larger federal estimate.
“He seems very optimistic about assisting and the success of Tennessee State University,” SGA President Derrell Taylor said. But Taylor noted it would take time and work to get legislators on the same page about how much money is owed.
Last fall, Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, who chairs the Senate Finance Ways and Means committee, questioned the veracity of the federal figure.
“I’m not sure that their numbers are always as factual as they would like for you to believe,” Watson said in September.
Taylor said he’s hopeful that next legislative session the school can work with lawmakers on a plan to restore the lost funds.
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