The House’s move aligns it with the Senate, where Republican leadership last week indicated they would not compromise on their goal of ousting the entire board. Now, the bill will head to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk and he will be tasked with appointing new members when the new law takes effect.
More: TN Senate votes to vacate Tennessee State University board despite House compromise
Republicans argued a full leadership turnover is required after a scathing state audit last year and financial issues at TSU over the years, though House Democrats on Thursday suggested wiping the board clean is retribution after the board previously refused to oust outgoing TSU President Brenda Glover.
A $2-million external forensic audit, commissioned by legislators and released on Thursday, 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.
“Tennessee State University was denied those resources, and because they were denied the resources there were problems that occurred,” said Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis. “But instead of us rectifying the problems that we created through racist policies by underfunding Tennessee state university, we’re now advocating to vacate their board.”
Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, said TSU “miserably failed” its audit report from the comptroller, though he didn’t appear to reference the external report released Thursday that found no malfeasance. The new audit did find some questionable spending and a series of “significant procedural deficiencies.”
“The committee I chair gave them multiple opportunities and an extended period of time, which I personally carried bills for, to settle those discrepancies. They did not make satisfactory progress. That is the source of this bill,” Ragan said. “If in fact those corrective actions had been taken in a timely fashion, this bill would not be before us. I encourage you to make the effort to look up at that audit report.”
The minority party’s pleas to maintain at least a few current board members for continuity and institutional knowledge as the university undergoes a presidential search fell on deaf ears, however. One Democrat warned Republicans the “optics” of a majority white legislature ousting the entire board of an HBCU were “horrendous,” particularly amid a turbulent year at the General Assembly after the House supermajority expelled its youngest two, Black members.
“You’re driving off the cliff right now,” Rep. Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, said. “I worked in Gov Ops many years as a staffer. I’ve seen many audits of many universities that look horrendous. Have we ever, ever vacated an entire board of a university before? Have we ever done that? But an HBCU that we owe $2 billion to? Oh yea, we’re going to take their board.”
Mitchell said the threat to vacate the board amounted to telling TSU to “sit down and shut up and accept the crumbs we send you.” Mitchell implored more centrist Republicans to break with their party on the vote.
Glover, who has led TSU for a decade, announced in August that she would step down at the end of the year. This week, the TSU board named the three finalists to replace Glover.
Rep, Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, argued its not the first time in Tennessee history college boards have been “reconstituted” in the state. Williams said money the legislature allocated to begin to make up the TSU funding difference was “completely blown through” when TSU accepted and gave scholarships to too many students.
“The challenges are dire,” Williams said. “The key here is we want to give the other $198 million but we have to have assurances that future investment, or that remedy to this problem, is going to be well taken care of.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Republican lawmakers vacate full Tennessee State University board