NASHVILLE, TN — There are several unanswered questions following the legislation that vacated the Tennessee State University Board of Trustees. On March 28, the General Assembly voted 66-25 to remove and replace TSU’s entire Board. Gov. Bill Lee immediately signed the bill into law, and then installed a new board, all Black and TSU alumni.
A lawmaker told a local media outlet “they didn’t think it would happen.” If he was referring to the TSU community of students, faculty, staff and alumni, he was right. Many said they felt blindsided and betrayed. One of those individuals was Rev. Barry Barlow, a TSU alumnus and member of the grassroots group Save TSU Community Coalition.
“We have people in the Tennessee General Assembly who will take your bridge of promise and stick dynamite to it,” Rev. Barlow said.
The selection process for the new board has also come under scrutiny. In fact, it has become a national conversation. Sources revealed that the local alumni chapter submitted names of friends and individuals, which were shared with a handful of lawmakers who were intricately involved in the process. Alumni around the country are concerned that while the individuals selected are all TSU graduates, some with business acumen, others who are growing in their professions, but several simply are not yet at the level to sit on a governing board for an institution like TSU.
Described as “unprecedented” by NBC News, the abrupt decision vacating the board reneged on an agreement that TSU students, faculty, staff and the majority of alumni believed the legislature would pursue in good faith. It was a brokered deal to remove only three of the trustees, whose terms would expire in 2025. This was the status as of Wednesday evening, March 27, just one day before the House vote. However, early Thursday morning, the Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, changed the order of the agenda and the agenda itself. When pressed by a media outlet for not taking up the amendment, Speaker Sexton said he had met with top democrats behind the scene and the governor, and all parties agreed to vacate the entire board, making it even more egregious.
A lingering question many have asked is whether the amendment to vacate only three members was just a smoke screen. The new amendment, that would salvage a portion of the board, was agreed upon and scheduled to pass that morning. Skeptics point to the fact that the governor had eight members already chosen to replace the outgoing board members, and signed the bill within minutes of the amendment being stripped from the legislation. Some believe there was never any intention of only three members coming off the TSU Board. According to sources, it was a setup with a key trusted Democratic House member being a major part of the scheme.
Another question is how the governor could remove the student trustee and faculty trustee that he did not appoint. That is additional harm to TSU and shows a lack of care, concern, or respect for TSU students. The trusted democratic House member was well aware of this.
Additionally, a TSU Presidential search was in its final stages, with three finalists. All three, Dr. Michael Torrence, Dr. William E. Hudson Jr., and Dr. Charles J. Gibbs participated in open forums and spent time answering questions from students, faculty, staff, alumni and the community. A selection of a new TSU President was imminent, as President Glenda Glover had already announced her retirement at the end of this spring semester. Speculation was that the current Board of Trustees expedited the process. A review of the Board’s website shed a different light and indicated that the process was on target from the time it began in September of last year. The presidential search timeline showed a new president would have been named sometime in this month. Many have voiced that a part of the agenda was to stop or delay the search process, even if it meant dismantling TSU. They now believe this key democrat and the governor collaborated to ensure that they would have an overriding influence on the Board’s selection.
It is also important to note that TSU operations and possible fraud were a few of the reasons the Tennessee State legislature used for vacating the TSU Board of Trustees. A $2.1 million State-funded forensic audit was supposed to supply lawmakers the ammunition they needed. However, the overreaching forensic audit, covering four years, did precisely the opposite. The Tennessee General Assembly had ordered a forensic audit of TSU’s operations where the primary objective was to find fraud, malfeasance, or some criminal wrongdoing. However, the audit report stated, “Based upon the procedures performed, CLA did not identify evidence indicative of fraud or malfeasance by the executive leadership of the University or Foundation.” The report did recommend a list of procedural changes and “deficient processes.” This was not a procedural audit where recommendations for improvement are requested.
A forensic audit is different from a regular financial statement audit, as stated by the independent CPA firm CLA, the sole purpose of the forensic audit is to determine if fraud or malfeasance occurred. The report concluded that there was NO FRAUD. The forensic audit report is available on the state’s website. Though the forensic audit stated there was no evidence of fraud or malfeasance by the TSU’s executive leadership, the General Assembly in their quest to honor the request of the key democrat and the governor, totally ignored this fact. Instead, the focus shifted to procedural observations and recommendations.
TSU supporters believe the results would be the same for any university in the country subjected to an audit that covered a four-year period of almost every transaction that took place. They insist that the real results of the forensic audit must be told, and that is the fact that a national independent CPA firm was engaged to detect fraud at TSU and NO FRAUD WAS FOUND.
“If an employee of yours wasted two million by going down a rabbit hole that yielded no rabbits, how would you respond?” asked Dr. Chris Jackson, pastor of Pleasant Green Baptist Church. Jackson, also a member of the Save TSU Community Coalition, added it was time to turn the tables. “Maybe it is time for the Federal Government to conduct a forensic audit on the Office of the State Comptroller. Maybe it is time for Tennessee voters to vacate the offices of the legislators who wrongfully vacated the TSU Board.”
Underlining all of this is the historic underfunding of TSU by the State of Tennessee. Many see the foiled attempt with a forensic audit and the vacating of the board as a power move to control and eventually take over the state’s only 4-year public HBCU. Is it a coincidence that days before the 56th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the legislature took this bold step, and was aided by one of our own, or many. It only adds another layer of difficulty for the historic university.
TSU has succeeded despite the inequitable funding from the State of Tennessee. The State Joint Land Grant Funding Study Committee researched and found that it underfunded the university by $544 million in land-grant funds. In 2022, the Governor appropriated $250 million (of the $544 million) but it is yet to be released for projects though the university plans have been outlined for over a year. A recent federal report showed that the State of Tennessee underfunded TSU by $2,147,784,704, compared to the University of Tennessee. State lawmakers refuse to acknowledge the federal report.
The calculations were determined on a per student basis and covered 1987 – 2020, a 33-year period. The numbers revealed that the State of Tennessee funded the University of Tennessee students at $15,077 per student, while funding TSU students at only $8,304. The State funded UT students nearly $7,000 more than they funded TSU students. Does this funding disparity mean a UT student is valued at almost twice the value of a TSU student? UT and TSU are the State’s only public 4-year land grant institutions.
Lawmakers were able to distract the public with audits, terminating the TSU board, and stopping the TSU presidential search. Not one of the lawmakers leading the charge against TSU ever referenced the historic underfunding, but instead insisted they wanted what was best for a university, where many had not even bothered to visit, a sentiment echoed by TSU student leaders on several occasions.
TSU’s battle has made headlines throughout the nation. Responding to the recent news, the Atlanta Voice asked, “How can a public university reliant on public funding be expected to succeed when it is denied the dollars is deserves?”
The Tennesseean addressed the matter in an Oct 2023 editorial headline. “Pay TSU the $2.1 billion it’s owed and watch HBCU students flourish and benefit Tennessee.” It stated, “This is an investment that could have gone to scholarships, infrastructure and academic programs.”