What’s New
State lawmakers may replace most members of the Board of Trustees at Tennessee State University over concerns about how the institution is spending its money. The proposal has exacerbated longstanding tensions between elected officials and leaders of the historically Black land-grant institution — at the same time that it’s searching for a new president.
A Senate committee advanced legislation last week that would immediately remove all eight governor-appointed board members. A House committee approved an amended version of the bill on Monday that would effectively remove five of the eight.
Some lawmakers argue the current board is not providing sufficient oversight to the university, which experienced a surge in enrollment in the fall of 2022 and faced questions over how officials managed a student-housing shortage and an increase in scholarship offerings.
State Sen. Kerry Roberts, a Republican and chair of the Government Oversight Committee, told The Chronicle that the changes are meant to improve the leadership at Tennessee State. Roberts said he doesn’t believe the current board “is the group of people that can get them to improve.”
But William E. Johnson, a professor and assistant dean in the department of human performance and sport science at Tennessee State, said lawmakers are creating a false narrative about the university and seeking to curtail its growth and ambitions. Johnson serves as the faculty representative on the university’s board, and was appointed by his faculty colleagues, not the governor.
The Details
The legislature regularly reviews the operations of nearly 300 governing boards in the state, Roberts said, and typically renews their authority for terms of up to four years. In February 2023, the state comptroller issued an audit that criticized Tennessee State for a “lack of planning and sound decision-making” and a history of “systemic failures” in managing institutional finances — and suggested that the legislature could replace the university’s leaders.
Then state legislators passed a measure that would “sunset” the university’s current board by June 30, 2024.
But now some lawmakers want to disband Tennessee State’s board immediately. Roberts said one goal is to make sure that the university’s new president is hired by a new slate of board members, not those who are up for removal.
If that effort fails, another bill would temporarily give governance authority over the university to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission — assuming the Tennessee State board is forced to disband under the current “sunset” measure. That oversight would start June 30 and end whenever a new board is appointed, said Steven Gentile, executive director of the commission.
Lou Hanemann, chief of staff at the commission, said the Tennessee legislature has occasionally reconstituted governing boards of other state entities. But Hanemann said he couldn’t recall another board being allowed to sunset, as could happen to Tennessee State’s.
The Backdrop
As a historically Black university, Tennessee State has faced decades of underfunding by as much as $2.1 billion, according to a 2023 analysis from the U.S. Department of Education.
The state has given the university more than $250 million for new infrastructure. But the money cannot be used on new student housing, Johnson said, preventing the university from providing enough residential space for a growing student body.
When enrollment increased by more than 14 percent, adding 1,141 new students, in the fall of 2022, the university scrambled to rent hotel rooms for them. That led to numerous complaints from students about the safety and adequacy of housing, according the state comptroller, as well as questions from state officials about whether scholarships the university used to attract new students were distributed appropriately.
The university responded that the comptroller’s report had painted an inaccurate and unfair portrait of the institution: “The report’s policy considerations are based on problems that have since been corrected and assumptions that are not supported by facts.”
Glenda Baskin Glover, Tennessee State’s president, told the board recently that the university is on solid financial footing, with an endowment of more than $100 million and more than $100 million in research grants, and a financial score from the U.S. Education Department that is well above the industry standard. Last August, several months after the comptroller released its scathing report and suggested replacing the administration, Glover announced she would resign at the end of the spring of 2024 semester.
What’s Next
Two competing versions of the legislation are now being considered by the General Assembly, and it’s not clear if either will pass. Despite the uncertainty about its future, the board is continuing its search for a new president.
Johnson is concerned that in overhauling the governing board, Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, will appoint members who have a political agenda and little knowledge of how a research university works.
The bill to dismantle the board immediately, Johnson said, would put the appointment of a new president in that group’s hands.
Roberts said questions about the university’s financial practices go back many years and need to be dealt with before lawmakers can consider providing more money to Tennessee State. Lawmakers don’t have confidence that the current board will hire someone they trust, he said.
“Legislators want to properly fund the university,” he said, “but they have to have complete confidence that the money will be well spent.”