All ten members of the Tennessee State University (TSU) Board of Trustees may not continue serving the university in that capacity much longer.
House Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly led a vote Thursday to vacate the entire board, going back on a previous compromise to vacate just three members whose terms were set to expire in June.
The bill now on its way to Governor Bill Lee’s desk is the same as the Senate version, vacating the entire board and providing Lee with the power to appoint new members.
The legislation is a response to a scathing audit from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office last year. That report found university leadership responsible for a housing problem that forced some students to live in a motel.
Republican supporters argued the legislation is the first step to remedy these issues.
“This has nothing to do with who the institution is, whether or not it’s a historically black college or university, this has to do with diligence and financial oversight as it relates to how this institution is being run. And this bill will be the first step in a remedy towards that,” said Representative Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville.
Democrats argued the problems identified by the Comptroller are largely a result of historic underfunding at the university. Last year the Biden Administration sent Governor Lee a letter claiming Tennessee has underfunded TSU by $2.1 billion over the years.
“The historian said it wasn’t a secret that white schools would get more funding than black schools. And in fact, and I know a lot of people that in fact went to this school, the University of Tennessee, a predominately white institution, and the state’s other land-grant university did in fact get its full state funding each year,” said Representative Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis. “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 those resources, there were problems that occurred. But instead of rectifying the problems that we created through racist policies by underfunding Tennessee State University, we’re now advocating to vacate their board.”
Republican bill sponsor, John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, pushed back on that criticism. Ragan pointed out that underfunding would have also occurred when Democrats led the House.
“The idea that we owe them that money is something I will say that in 14 years, we couldn’t cure 140 years prior to that. So, I would submit that perhaps we can continue to give them money to operate on, but it must be handled in a proper fashion,” said Ragan. “So, the opportunity to give someone else the chance to fix the problem is what this bill is about.”
House Democrats tried to attach an amendment that would reinstate the compromise of only vacating three members but Republicans in the chamber voted it down.
Representative Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, warned the House that the optics of this bill do not look good.
“If you can’t look at this and see that the optics of what you’re doing today is awful, you need to take your blinders off. I mean you’re going down the same path you did last year and then you’re going to look at yourself and say ‘we didn’t mean to do that; we didn’t mean to look that way.’ Well, you’re doing it again. I’m stopping you before you drive off the cliff,” said Mitchell.
Thursday’s vote fell mostly along party lines, with Representative Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, and Representative Sam Whitson, R-Franklin, as the only Republicans voting against it.
Update: 5:29 P.M.
Governor Lee signed the legislation Thursday evening and appointed the following individuals to the board:
- 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
