Lawmakers vote to vacate the entire TSU board

Lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives voted on a bill Thursday that vacated the entire Tennessee State University board of trustees, and Gov. Bill Lee quickly signed it into law.

He then appointed eight new trustees to the board, all of whom are TSU alums.

They are:

• Trevia Chatman, President, Bank of America Memphis
• Jeffery Norfleet, Provost and Vice President for Administration, Shorter College
• Marquita Qualls, Founder and Principal, Entropia Consulting
• Terica Smith, Deputy Mayor and Director of Human Resources, Madison County
• Charles Traughber, General Counsel, Division of Real Estate, Retail, and Financial Services at Bridgestone Americas
• Dwayne Tucker, CEO of LEAD Public Schools
• Kevin Williams, President and CEO of GAA Manufacturing
• Dakasha Winton, Senior Vice President and Chief Government Relations Officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

Republican lawmakers cited financial mismanagement and other issues as the key reasons for the bill. Republicans in the Senate made clear that they wouldn’t compromise on vacating the board after a middle ground emerged in the House that would have only removed some members.

“If they can’t manage it, then we need to find people who can,” said Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, author on the House’s version.

TSU responds

TSU — which is the only public historically Black college in Tennessee — says that the decision is “unprecedented” and “unfortunate.”

“We believe this legislation will disrupt our students’ educational pursuits, harm the image of the University, and remove a Board that had achieved success in its enhanced governance of TSU,” the school said in a statement after the vote.

Unflattering financial audits of the school last year and this week have been cited as part of the reason to dissolve the board.

The new reports paint a picture of a school continuing to struggle with fiscal issues. One of the reports — an audit from an outside firm — didn’t find any evidence of fraud or malfeasance by the university. Another report found that the school isn’t in compliance with federal guidelines related to several programs — including the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, Pell Grants and Title IV, which governs financial aid for higher education.

TSU is challenging the findings in the state comptroller’s fiscal year 2022 audit.

“These findings in this report cover a period that began in 2021, and do not reflect the substantial improvements that TSU has made to its business operations over the past two years, and gives the impression that TSU is committing the same infractions in the present, which is not the case,” the school said in a statement about the audits.

“Moreover, the audits do not support any of the allegations that had been brought forward as the basis to dissolve the TSU Board of Trustees,” TSU added.

A serious lack of funding

TSU also pointed out that the reports fail to mention the school’s funding shortfall. Federal agencies showed last year that Tennessee had shorted the school $2.1 billion between 1987 and 2020.

TSU is a land grant university. In the 1860s, Congress signed off on a program to make colleges accessible across the country. These schools get federal funding, and state governments are required to match it. The federal analysis found that Tennessee had failed to chip in its fair share to TSU between 1987 and 2020, resulting in the $2.1 billion figure.

Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, said that didn’t happen at all of the state’s land grant schools.

“The University of Tennessee — a predominantly white institution and the state’s other land grant university — did, in fact, get its full state funding each year,” he said. “Some years, the University of Tennessee even got more than its required funding levels. But Tennessee State University was denied those resources, and because they were denied the resources, there were problems that occurred.”

He and other critics said TSU is struggling because of the historic underfunding, and that lawmakers were turning a blind eye to issues at UT.

Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville, represents the district where UT sits. He noted that several of the bill’s supporters criticized TSU for its housing shortage, and administrators’ decision to rely on hotels in lieu of dorm rooms.

But UT has done the same thing. “They (UT) oversubscribed dorms and they rented out hotels in the city of Knoxville,” McKenzie said. “But we paint the walls orange and call it ‘Volunteer Inn,’ and we’re celebrating this. But we’re castigating the Tennessee State University for the same thing.”

The search for a new president

TSU, this week, also moved ahead in the search for its next president.

The university named its top three candidates to fill the position when longtime administrator Glenda Glover retires at the end of the academic year. The finalists are:

• Charles Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer, National One Hundred Black Men of America, Inc.
• William Hudson, Vice President for Student Affairs, Florida A&M University
• Michael Torrence, President, Motlow State Community College in Smyrna

The TSU community is meeting with each of the candidates this week during a series of public forums. Torrence participated in open forums with the public, students and faculty and staff on Wednesday. Hudson spoke today and Gibbs will take part in forums on Friday. The events will be streamed live online and you can find out more via TSU here.

Update: This story was updated to reflect that Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill into law and appointed eight new board members.