Republican lawmakers vacate full Tennessee State University board over Democratic objections

Tennessee House Republicans voted to remove the entire Tennessee State University board despite objections from Democrats. This decision follows a previous agreement to retain three members, which was abandoned by the GOP supermajority. The House’s action aligns with the Senate’s stance, aiming to replace the entire board. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee will appoint new members once the bill becomes law. Republicans cited a state audit and financial concerns as reasons for the overhaul, while Democrats viewed it as retaliation for the board’s refusal to remove outgoing TSU President Glenda Glover.

A $2-million external forensic audit, commissioned by legislators found no instances of fraud or malfeasance at the historically Black university in Nashville, though it noted a 250% increase in scholarships at TSU between 2019 and 2023 was not sustainable. The scholarship and enrollment boom led to critical housing shortages on campus.

Democrats continually point to decades of historic underfunding of TSU, the only public HBCU in the state, arguing TSU has not been set up for success in stark contrast to other state, majority white public universities. Recent data from the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture calculated Tennessee underfunded TSU at a whopping $2.1 billion over the last 30 years, the largest amount of any state.