NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — While in Washington D.C. this week, Glenda Glover said she will keep searching for answers as to how the federal government reached the figure that Tennessee State University has been underfunded $2.1 billion during the last three decades.
President Glover and the school received a letter Monday from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture about a study that showed the large discrepancy. Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee are land-grant colleges. As outlined in the Second Morrill Act of 1890, all land-grant colleges should receive the same funding. A land-grant college is a research-based school within the state. Both schools have extensions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and both have agriculture programs.
TSU was the only public university available to Black students for decades, though some universities in Tennessee started integration long before the state official desegregated its higher institutions of learning.
Glover said she wanted to ask where all the numbers came from to reach that calculation, and she said she wanted to talk solutions as TSU has still had to function as a land grant college without the same funding.
"TSU is gratified that the USDE and USDA are acknowledging the historic underfunding and specifically the $2.1 billion over the last 30 years," Glover said in an interview with NewsChannel 5." To find out they were even doing such a study was heartwarming and to hear the results of the study was much needed and especially during this time when students are returning. Students need more resources, housing, and scholarships. It couldn’t have come at a better time."
A state bipartisan legislative committee came up with a figure of just state-matched funds since the 1950s. That total was $544,000,000. In response, the legislature provided $250 million in funds for the infrastructure of the university this year.
Rep. Harold Love, D-Nashville, said in spite of the lack of funding, TSU has found success. He helped lead the committee to understand the funding differences at TSU. Love is an alumnus of the university, getting his bachelor's degree first before ending with at Ph.D. from the school in public policy and administration.
"Many of us have known for too many decades our 1890 land grants have been underfunded compared to their counterparts," Love said. "I am glad they have known released this data that shows the disparity in funding. Despite this 30-year funding gap, TSU has done great things."
Glover said TSU will take that figure into account when presenting its budget for the next legislative session. She also said she hoped she could be a liaison between the federal government and Tennessee's government to reach a resolution.
Gov. Bill Lee's office — who received the letter — has yet to comment on this issue.
