Tennessee State University President Dwayne Tucker provided the Senate Education Committee with a positive update on TSU’s recovery on Thursday. (Photo by Tennessee State University)¶
Tennessee State University has faced a multitude of financial and administrative issues over the past few years, but new President Dwayne Tucker says the future is looking up for the HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities).¶
The Tennessee General Assembly voted to clean house at the university by vacating its entire Board of Trustees in 2024 following complaints of financial mismanagement. The university’s prior interim president then resigned in December 2024, and its marching band director was ousted just a month later following an internal audit.¶
Tucker provided lawmakers on the Senate Education Committee with a positive update on TSU’s recovery on Thursday.¶
“I would like to say and acknowledge the fact that I had a chance to meet with many of you individually, and I was very moved by the feedback that we received (on) the progress that Tennessee State is making,” Tucker said. “And I want to thank each of you for your assistance with that.”¶
TSU’s Budget Update and Campus Upgrades¶
Jim Grady, who is the managing director for Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector Services and is serving as a financial advisor for TSU, presented an overview of the school’s cost increases for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, which included $3,347,500 in state costs associated with salary pool and institutional outcomes, the 1890 Land Grant Institution match, and group health insurance.¶
TSU additionally announced various campus improvements that will take place or have already been undergone for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, including:¶
· Upgrades to campus lighting¶
· Renovations to Gentry Center Aquatics¶
· Two agricultural building groundbreakings¶
· Three new marquees on campus¶
· Lighting and sound system upgrades to the Gentry Center¶
· Breaking ground on the new Engineering building this April¶
· Continuing upgrades and renovations to various other campus buildings¶
Other developments announced for the 2026-2027 fiscal year also included:¶
· A new engineering building¶
· Agricultural development, including¶
o An Organic Research Lab¶
o Head House¶
o Broiler House¶
o Equipment & Hay Shed¶
o Mobile offices¶
· Phase 1 of 5 of its roofing replacement project, which includes replacing the roofing at the Farrell Westbrook Building and the Central Utility Plant¶
Questions From the Committee¶
Senator Bill Powers, R-Clarksville, asked Tucker about TSU’s enrollment goals and the impact of seniors on future enrollment and revenue. He noted the changes that have begun taking place to correct enrollment numbers moving forward.¶
“I just remember in the fall of (2022), TSU enrolled like 9,200 students, and of that, I think about 4,200 of them were freshmen,” Powers said. “(It was) a little bit out of whack.”¶
“(Our) target for August is 1,200 freshmen,” Tucker said. “To go back to last fall, it was a little under 500 freshmen…We feel comfortable with that target.¶
Tucker said TSU will have about 1,900 seniors this year, of whom about 700 have already graduated in the fall, with the rest graduating in the spring.¶
“That’s a gap that we have to fill,” Tucker said.¶
Tucker also noted it will take time for TSU to continue building the capacity to take on more students.¶
“If you look back historically, without the inflated enrollment, 1,200 freshmen is something we really did on a consistent basis, and somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 (freshmen) is something reasonable for us as a goal.”¶
Senator Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro, asked if any safeguards had been added to prevent incidents such as the school’s band director being removed from happening again.¶
Robinson took the opportunity to answer, stating one of the things she has spent her first 30 days as CFO doing is “taking a full assessment” of the school’s “control environment.” She said there are more aspects to get under control besides just the ones identified in the findings.¶
“We still have about another 30 days of making the changes, and then I will feel very good about the place that our overall control environment is in to make sure that that doesn't happen again,” Robinson said.¶
Change Breeds Optimism¶
Last November, Tucker told TSU’s new Board of Trustees the school exceeded its deficit goals by $13.2 million in 2025 and is expected to do so again in 2026. The school continued efforts to turn over a new leaf by “purging” students who had not paid any fees and charges for the first time in more than six years, as well as pausing staff tenure promotion decisions and deferring salary increases for the rest of the school year.¶
“I would like to say and acknowledge the fact that I had a chance to meet with many of you individually, and I was very moved by the feedback that we received (on) the progress that Tennessee State is making,” Tucker said. “And I want to thank each of you for your assistance with that.”¶
Senator Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, expressed his gratitude for Tucker’s work and praised TSU’s turnaround efforts.¶
“I guess you might say I was one of the people instrumental in the decision to vacate and replace the board of TSU, and I just want to tell you, members, this is exactly what we wanted to happen, and we're thrilled with the board that we have, with President Tucker being there, his credentials, his background, the effectiveness that he's having on campus and and beyond,” Roberts said.¶
TSU’s budget now heads to the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee for further review.¶
