I had the opportunity last week to sit down with President Glenda Glover regarding the allegations concerning TSU finances under her administration. President Glover retired on June 30, 2024. She said it was too complex to have a simple conversation. But she promised me that she would provide a statement. Her statement in its entirety is published below.
Statement by Dr. Glenda Glover
I am compelled to release this statement to address recent accusations, misinformation, and misstatements that have been reported publicly. Mischaracterizations surrounding the unfounded references to Tennessee State University’s financial condition under “the prior administration” as well as inaccuracies regarding my retirement agreement can no longer go unanswered. These narratives are not only inaccurate but also are dismissive of the transformative progress made during my tenure as President of TSU.
First, I want to address the University’s current financial situation and what really got us here. The relationship between TSU and certain key state legislators and state officers began to deteriorate when the Joint Land Grant Institutions Funding Study Committee formed by state officials reported that TSU had been underfunded by $544 million. This committee was formed to study inequities of prior years’ federal and state funding for land grant institutions in Tennessee, and to study the effects and impacts of this funding on TSU. I reiterate that it was the state’s own internal committee that admitted that TSU had been underfunded by $544 million.
As President of TSU, it was my responsibility to approach the Governor and state legislators to determine how this money could be paid to TSU. During the several meetings held and the persistent requests, TSU reminded legislators and state officials that funding was needed for academic programs, deferred maintenance, university operations, and support for student success. The Governor provided $250 million in his budget for TSU but restricted it for infrastructure use only. This budget provision was met with swift and unexpected backlash from lawmakers, and that is when the attacks began. Although the money was made available, TSU was not allowed to draw down the funds because of the internal requirements and approvals from various agencies that were put in place. As a result, very few funds have been used due to the restrictions placed on the funds.
The lack of equitable funding, coupled with student enrollment declines this fall, were the major contributors to TSU’s current financial condition. The enrollment declines were caused by a number of reasons including the consistent negative public attacks on the university led by state officers and Senate leaders as well as the removal of TSU leadership by the General Assembly at the peak recruitment period. In follow-up conversations with applicants, many students and their parents reported that they chose not to attend TSU because of the negative publicity. Further, several students interpreted the state’s actions as being indicative that TSU would be taken over by the State of Tennessee.
TSU went from being in a solid financial position to where we are today. The enrollment declined more than 25% as the university went from nearly 8200 students in fall 2023 to just over 6300 students in fall 2024. This decline resulted in a corresponding decline of approximately $20 million in revenue. It is intentionally misleading for the state to present any other argument or to fail to take responsibility for their negative presentations of TSU as the major contributing factor to TSU’s enrollment declines, which brought about the revenue declines. TSU operates each semester primarily on the revenue collected through student tuition and fees along with the state appropriation which is less than 25% of total revenue.
Also, as it pertains to enrollment, I concur that there are some others things that could have been done on TSU’s part, such as more follow-up was needed with students to complete the enrollment process. But this does not negate the fact that certain Senate leaders and state officers went out of their way to present TSU is a negative light, thereby causing financial harm to the university.
It has also been reported that the revenue shortfall this fall semester resulted from TSU depleting its endowment and reserves. However, TSU has over $100 million in the endowment, and is among only a handful of HBCUs with this much in its endowment. Admittedly, TSU has a cash flow problem that must be addressed, but there is no way a university can be considered broke with over $100 million in endowment funds.
There is a lot of conversation about reserves (which readers sometimes confuse with or inaccurately use interchangeably with endowments). Reserves are just as the name implies – reserved for emergencies. A recent report indicated that all of TSU reserve funds had been spent. I want to make it clear that when I retired as President, TSU had close to $10 million in the reserve fund. At any rate, reserve funds are not an indication of the financial health of a university. And no university bases its entire operations on emergency savings or reserves, but primarily on revenue generated from tuition and fees which are collected from the students, and are in turn are used for operational purposes. It is also based to a lesser extent on the state appropriations. Since enrollment was down so drastically at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, this caused revenue also to be down, and operations were severely affected. I reiterate, the lower the student population, the lower the available revenues for operations. Revenues come primarily from student enrollment.
Another misstatement that is intentionally being made is that TSU used funds from the federal stimulus package in 2020 (commonly referred to as COVID or HEERF funds) to recruit students to come to TSU with no plan for the students when these funds ran out. That is not the truth. The majority of the stimulus funds were used to pay off student balances to allow them to return to college. Families were experiencing severe hardships and the funds were directed by the federal government to be used for factors related to COVID, such as parents losing their jobs, business shutting down that had previously awarded funding to students, students losing their jobs, etc. For those few students who did receive scholarships from the stimulus funds, their attrition had a limited effect on TSU finances.
In addition to discussing the decline in revenue, I now turn to the three primary reasons some of the emergency reserve funds were used last school year. First, it is plain and simple. Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) held back reimbursement funds owed to TSU. This is not the $2.1 billion or the $544 million that are regularly discussed in connection with the historic underfunding. Rather, this is the arrangement that THEC has with the state universities to advance the funds to the students up front for the state-funded HOPE scholarships and Lottery scholarships so students can register for the semester. Thereafter, THEC reimburses the funds to the state universities. TSU followed this well-established procedure and used our operating funds to advance money to students on behalf of THEC.
However, after the funds had been advanced to the students in good faith, THEC in an unprecedented move, informed TSU that they were going to withhold the reimbursement to TSU until all the audit findings from a newly revised comprehensive audit had been corrected. Had TSU known in advance that reimbursements would be contingent upon an unrelated condition and that THEC would not reimburse TSU as they did the other six universities, TSU would have had the option of not advancing the funds to the students up front. This purposeful refusal to reimburse TSU further exacerbated the cash flow problem, and TSU was forced to use some of its emergency reserve savings to meet operational needs.
The second serious contributor to the TSU cash flow problem is the fact that prior to the issue with THEC, the state forced TSU to enter into a contract with the JLL company to manage the facilities and maintenance work at TSU at an exorbitant cost of $1.2 million per month. This work was being done at a much lower rate by TSU staff. What was disturbing to me then and still disturbs me now is the fact that TSU was prohibited from seeking bids on the contract given to JLL, from engaging in an RFP process, and from doing due diligence for the selection of this company, but was mandated by the state to retain JLL, Inc. Given JLL’s close ties to key members in the State Senate leadership, TSU felt this selection should have been handled through a neutral and unbiased public process. This $1.2 million per month definitely had an impact on the TSU budget and cash reserves as it was not allowed to be deducted from the $250 million payment that had been provided to TSU. This forced us to again access emergency reserve funds.
A third contributing factor pertains to TSU’s effort to meet a prior state mandate to increase enrollment. Following COVID, TSU experienced record enrollment during the fall semester of 2022, as TSU and other HBCUs were experiencing national exposure and positive publicity. This included the TSU Aristocrat of Bands being nominated for two Grammys, participation in the coveted Rose Bowl Parade, and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered the Commencement Address at TSU. With so many students choosing to attend TSU, combined with unaffordable off campus housing in Nashville, TSU experienced an increase in on-campus housing demand. Due to the fact that it is incredibly expensive it is to live in Nashville, many students wanted to live on campus.
Unfortunately though, TSU underestimated the number of students who would attend the university based on past averages. In the fall of 2022, significantly more first-year students decided to attend TSU than in the prior five years. Because of this, TSU had to house students in hotels which was consistent with other universities in Tennessee as well as HBCUs around the country. TSU also increased the scholarship pool which was funded mostly from the increase in revenue from student tuition and fees, and there were funds expected to be received from the second allotment of the $544 million from the state. Recall, TSU had already received a $250 million from the state. TSU had depended on the state to release a second set of funds from the $544 million in underfunding. This did not happen. As a result, TSU had to use some of the emergency reserve funds.
As you can see, this financial situation did not develop because of lack of leadership by me as president or by the former TSU Board of Trustees. We underwent a forensic audit conducted by CPAs which was designed specifically to detect fraud; and it was concluded that there was no fraud or malfeasance. The forensic audit had several recommendations which we had begun to correct, but throughout the audit report and at the end of each section, the auditor concluded that there was no fraud or malfeasance.
TSU’s financial situation has been made worse by the state’s flat-out refusal to fund TSU. It is disingenuous for the state to say that they are acting in TSU’s best interest when the state has allocated $250 million in the budget for TSU already, but has restricted the entire amount for infrastructure use, rather than allowing a portion for current operations. Moreover, had TSU been given their proper funding allotment over the past 65 years, as was given to our peer land grant institution, we would not be having this discussion today. The $544 million cannot be overlooked nor can the $2.1 billion in underfunding of TSU. Nevertheless, the university operated despite this significant discrimination in funding. This current situation can easily be resolved if the state would remove the restriction of the $250 million and allow TSU to use some of those funds for current operations, rather than improperly referencing it as urgent aid when it is no more than a payment toward their mounting debt.
But, as distraught as I am over this current situation, I am even more troubled over the fact that trusted state leaders who have first-hand knowledge and understanding of the TSU funding problems, are now buying in to the misstatements and mischaracterizations. Further, these leaders have provided what they know to be false and misleading information to TSU alumni and others in the community.
The second subject matter pertains to the Retirement Agreement.
I want to make it clear that I am not a contract employee at TSU. Recent reports reference my Retirement Agreement with Tennessee State University, which represents the remainder of my five-year contract term at TSU. The early retirement discussions initiated by key legislative representatives resulted in an agreement that was approved by the TSU Board of Trustees.
This is simply a buyout agreement, which is not uncommon in academia, but I would continue to assist the university in several areas. These included growing the university endowment which already has more than doubled under my tenure from $46 million to well over $100 million; identifying and recruiting new donors; providing national access and exposure for TSU, as well as performing other duties as identified by the incoming president.
Finally, I stand firmly on the record of achievements amassed over these past eleven and a half years as TSU has excelled academically, enhanced its research standing, produced competitive students, employed highly competent faculty, enjoyed national visibility, and grown an endowment that is enviable by most HBCUs. The state of Tennessee should recognize that finger pointing, scapegoating, mischaracterizing the facts, engaging in retaliation, and taking occurrences out of context will not explain away the fact that the State owes TSU $544 million and $2.1 billion dollars. Any planning or discussions that do not address this fact are pretextual at best.