NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Is the state planning a takeover of Tennessee State University or are they planning a merger between TSU and UT? The right-wing war on TSU has elevated to full force, and students, faculty, staff, and alumni cannot go to sleep while they are scheming.
The plan to force TSU to spend its reserve funds started last fall when the state conducted a financial aid and academic audit on TSU that resulted in certain findings and several recommendations. Then, in an unprecedented move, the state decided to withhold millions of dollars owed to TSU until those recommendations were implemented.
This historic and unprecedented act of withholding funds until all audit findings had been cleared was devastating to the operations of the university. TSU was forced to use its reserve funds to meet normal operating needs.
This article does not address the $2.1 billion that was stolen from TSU, but these are scholarship funds for 2023-2024 that TSU advanced to students on behalf of the state. This is a right-wing assault on one of the most important universities in the state for Black, disadvantaged, and many Pell-eligible students who are often the first in their family to go to college.
The arch-conservative state leaders also executed a coup to overturn the TSU board and implanted a rubber stamp committee to do Republican-bidding instead of a community-focused, civic-minded group that has historically led the board.
Did the state select the new interim president to carry out their devastating plan to disrupt operations, undermine, and roll back the tremendous success of TSU? The university is also experiencing significant enrollment declines.
The school has gone from a record high enrollment in 2022, and another high enrollment in 2023, to the lowest enrollment in 30 years. Enrollment declined from 8,200 students last fall to 6,300 this fall, a loss of 1,900 students, equaling roughly $28 million in revenue loss.
After the state’s malicious attacks, TSU was forced to use its reserves, which were typically held for emergencies, to meet basic financial needs. This fall, the two reasons the university finds itself with depleted reserves and operating dollars are TSU was forced to use reserves for operating dollars, and the university had a loss of $28 million from low student enrollment this fall.
To make matters worse, it appears that TSU is no longer fighting for the $2.1 billion that the federal government determined it owes to TSU. This is the amount of the underfunding of TSU by the state when compared to UT over a 30-year period.
Another matter of extreme significance is TSU was moving towards achieving the R1 highest research classification status. This would put TSU in the same exceptional research category as UT and Vanderbilt. This progression is also now on hold with no explanation given.
Activists and alumni are pushing back against what they see as an anti-Black right-wing agenda that threatens the future of all HBCUs, not just TSU. For its alumni network and the many others invested in the mission of HBCUs, TSU is not just a university, but an opportunity for countless proud Black families.
This crisis is part of a national conversation happening around issues of racial equity and educational access. Despite these challenging times, Tennessee State University still has one of the highest endowments among HBCUs of more than $100 million, a highlight for the university.
As TSU navigates this dangerous situation, the community must watch closely, hoping for a course correction and an end to the state meddling and any plans to present TSU in a negative light that creates the false narrative that only a state takeover or a merger with UT will fix it.
Alumni cannot sit back and let this happen. Alumni cannot listen to the voices of those who pretend to be TSU supporters but will get in back rooms and sell TSU out for a personal deal for themselves.
Alumni, TSU needs you to stay involved so that your university will remain the formidable institution of excellence for which it is internationally known.
