As soon as this week, Tennessee’s Senate could vote to vacate Tennessee State University’s governing body. The school’s board of trustees is set to expire this summer. But instead of letting it lapse, this bill would remove all current trustees, allow the governor to replace most of them and extend the body’s authority for two years.

TSU is the only public, historically Black university in the state. The proposal to vacate the board comes at a pivotal moment for the school, as it seeks to choose a new leader and heighten its research status. Critics of the proposal say it’s part of a pattern in Tennessee undermining the leadership of majority-Black public entities.

The potential removal of the current board stems from complaints about the school’s operations. Last year an audit from the state comptroller’s office found issues with the school’s housing, scholarships and fiscal management. Members of the board of trustees pledged to implement solutions to those problems. In a committee hearing last week, they shared their progress.

“We have done everything that the General Assembly has asked us to do,” board member Pamela Martin told the Senate Government Operations Committee. That includes hiring a chief operations officer and facility management firm, aligning enrollment to housing capacity and establishing a customer service unit. But Martin acknowledged there’s still room for improvement.

“We would appreciate you hearing us and allowing us more time to make these changes,” Martin said, asking lawmakers to extend the board’s expiration date without removing current members.

Still, the bill immediately vacating the board passed the committee along party lines.

A major decision looms for the board

Alexis Marshall WPLN News

Tennessee State University President Dr. Glenda Glover announces her retirement during a press conference Monday, August 14, 2023.

This latest controversy comes as the board is looking to replace TSU’s current president, Glenda Glover after she announced in the fall that she would be retiring at the end of the academic year.

Martin told the Senate committee that removing and replacing the board would “likely seriously disrupt” the search process.

“This legislation may dissuade some top candidates from applying or even seriously considering Tennessee State University,” Martin said.

But Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said the search for a new president is actually a motivating factor for replacing the board.

“We want to have a board in place there that can help in that selection process,” Watson told reporters. He called the potential vacation of the board a chance to “right the ship” at TSU.

Student trustee’s perspective

Additionally, trustees say vacating the board entirely could cause the loss of critical institutional knowledge. Shaun Wimberly Jr. serves as the board’s lone student trustee. He said familiarity with the university is necessary to meet the historically Black school’s unique needs.

“The board is focused and specialized for TSU,” Wimberly said. “And the thing about HBCU(s), we have challenges that other universities just don’t have, and so having a board of trustees that has that institutional knowledge for TSU I think is a great advantage.” 

Those who oppose vacating the board also say it’s important to take historic underfunding into account. Last fall, the federal government released a report showing Tennessee had shorted TSU by more than $2 billion in recent decades.

Alexis Marshall WPLN News

TSU students are advocating for the state to make up for $2.1 billion of underfunding. A recent federal analysis found that 16 states had underfunded their historically Black land grant universities.

“I just find it ironic” Wimberly said. “The fact that that has not even been taken into consideration is unfair. It’s not equal treatment.”

Wimberly said the university may not be facing issues with housing and facilities if it had been funded equitably.

Watson, who chairs the Senate Finance Ways and Means Committee, questioned the $2.1 billion figure when the federal report published. “I’m not sure that their numbers are always as factual as they would like for you to believe,” Watson said in September.

More: Tennessee shorted TSU by more than $2B according to analysis from the Biden administration

“I want to be in a position as a legislator where I feel like when I vote to give Tennessee State University more money, that I feel like we’re achieving the objectives that we have for that school,” said Sen. Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, who sponsored the bill.

Roberts added that he believes everybody wants the same end goal: for TSU to be one of the best universities in the country.

“We’re just disagreeing on how to get there,” Roberts said.

Oliver sees a pattern

One person who strongly disagrees with Roberts’ approach is Democratic Sen. Charlane Oliver of Nashville. She said in a press conference last week that this kind of action is “very familiar.”

“There is a pattern in this state to go after Black leadership,” Oliver said in a press conference last week. “If we are too prosperous, if we know too much, if we’re too educated, then there is a direct attack to feed the narrative that Black leaders are not capable of managing large sums of money.” 

Oliver drew a comparison to the state’s attempt to takeover the majority Black town of Mason in West Tennessee.

Good time to reintroduce my 2022 op-ed about the underbelly of Mason, TN's hostile takeover and how the state attacks Black leadership. The attack on @TSUedu is the same tired tactic from the white supremacist playbook ⤵️https://t.co/xfDZKi47nU @kkruesi @TNLookout @TNSenateDems https://t.co/NycI7BPFX4

— Senator Charlane Oliver (@CharlaneOliver) February 8, 2024