Tennessee governor signs into law a bill that vacates the TSU board

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill into law that vacates the Tennessee State University Board of Trustees.

This comes after brokering a compromise on the TSU Board of Trustees bill that would only remove three members. The House reversed and supported the Senate’s full removal of the board. The idea of dissolving the board arose from a recommendation from the Office of the Comptroller to remove the board because of the mishandling of the school's money.

The bill takes effect immediately, according to the bill's language.

Multiple audits throughout the years — including two released Thursday — show that TSU has struggled with keeping its finances in line. That has included a forensic audit, which said there was no fraud or malfeasance. However, it did note 56 observations and 60 recommendations for the school.

TSU officials said Thursday their situation would be different had the university been funded properly. The legislature agreed previously the university was underfunded at $544 million. A federal report said last fall the university was underfunded quadrupled that figure at $2.1 billion. That figure was based on the school's land grand status. There are only two schools in the state with that designation: TSU and the University of Tennessee.

Gov. Lee will reappoint new members to the board and the legislature will have to approve the appointees.

In February, lawmakers in the Tennessee Senate Government Operations Committee took the first step toward removing and replacing TSU's board.

The bill will now move to the governor's desk.

The call for the replacement of the board began in 2023 when a scathing audit was issued criticizing the university's management of scholarships, housing and finances.

Who are the new board members?

Swiftly after signing the bill into law, Gov. Bill Lee has already selected new appointees.

“Tennessee State University is a remarkable institution and my administration, in partnership with the General Assembly, is committed to ensuring students are being served,” Lee said. “I’m pleased to appoint these highly qualified individuals who will work alongside administrators and students to further secure TSU’s place as a leading institution.”

The following individuals have been appointed:

• Trevia Chatman, president, Bank of America Memphis
• Jeffery Norfleet, provost and vice president for administration, Shorter College
• Marquita Qualls, founder and principal, Entropia Consulting
• Terica Smith, deputy mayor and director of Human Resources, Madison County
• Charles Traughber, general counsel, division of Real Estate, Retail, and Financial Services at Bridgestone Americas
• Dwayne Tucker, CEO of LEAD Public Schools
• Kevin Williams, president and CEO of GAA Manufacturing
• Dakasha Winton, senior vice president and chief government relations officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

How legislators have responded to TSU vote

House Democrats were dismayed at thinking they had a compromise for TSU only for Republican lawmakers to switch the language to include the full board.

"Now at the 11th hour, we’re going to pull this," said Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville.

However, Rep. John Ragan that audits released on Thursday justified them going to the Senate bill language.

"The source of this amendment was because of a miserably failed audit report, both financial and performance report," Ragan said. "They did not make satisfactory progress. That is the source of this bill. If in fact those corrective actions had been taken in a timely fashion, this bill would not be before us. The opportunity to give someone else the chance to fix the problem is what this bill is about. They kept accepting students in for which they didn’t have housing. The buck stops at the top. The people who are in charge of managing the organization are responsible. If they can’t manage it, then we need to find people who can."

House Speaker Cameron Sexton backed up what Ragan was saying in a House presser after the floor session. He said what happened on the House floor is not an accurate portrayal of why the language changed.

"What you’ve had is an institution where the audits have not been good," Sexton said. "There has been a long drawn out process for the last six to eight weeks. The governor has been working very hard to come to a solution without legislation. I think multiple times we’ve left like we had a solution. At first there was no legislation, board members were going to resign. You’re left with the point of the process of you just need to vacate the whole thing."

Rep. Harold Love, D-Nashville and alumnus of TSU, said vacating the whole board leaves him with heaping concern for the school's overall functioning.

"We are deeply concerned about the effect it will have upon the administration, the students and the direction the school is trying to go into to rectify some of the concerns raised in the audits," Love said. "We had an amendment in Government Operations (Committee) that vacated three board members. and that was the amendment we thought was going to be on the bill. In the conversations, things did not go the way I guess some of the members wanted to have happen so as a result they chose that route."

Students share they are frustrated over board vote

Students said lawmakers failed at one element in their decision before the vote: asking students.

"Everyone’s opinion was already solidified regardless of the individuals who stood up and defended the university tooth and nail and compared our institution to other (land grant institutions) in the state and just continue to emphasize what the facts are and the numbers are," said Derrell Taylor, TSU student body president. ":And still have no response as far as the funding could’ve looked like or what the university could’ve looked like if we didn’t go through the underfunding issues. Nothing was done to address that. Nothing was done to address what will happen in the future and where to receive these funds."

TSU students stood in the Tennessee capitol Thursday with a banner saying: TSU takeover. Students said between the president transition and now the potential for the board members to leave, they believed their institution was at a disadvantage.

"Now next I believe that the vacate of the board is untimely, when I mean untimely, it is because currently our institution is searching for a new president," said Samson Cook, a freshman TSU student. I believe that when we should use all our resources to ensure that our next president is going to be the most effective leader to lead our institution to a better future. Moving forward, I believe the us students should encourage other students. I believe we should encourage faculty. I believe that we should encourage alumni. I believe that we should encourage the Black community to get involved with this issue. Because if this issue persists, this issue will spread. I'll say this one more time. If this issue persists, this issue will spread."

What TSU has said

Today, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted to adopt the Senate version of HB1739 (SB1596), which will result in vacating the entire Tennessee State University Board of Trustees. This is unprecedented, unfortunate, and uncharted waters for any public university in the state. We believe this legislation will disrupt our students’ educational pursuits, harm the image of the University, and remove a Board that had achieved success in its enhanced governance of TSU.

In passing today’s legislation, some lawmakers suggested the action was necessary due to audit findings and the forensic report released today by the State Comptroller’s Office. There have not been any audit findings that TSU mismanaged funds. The university has made significant improvements to its business operations from two years ago, which were not addressed in the just-released FY 2022 audit. Additionally, today’s forensic audit report clearly states that TSU had not engaged in any fraud or malfeasance. TSU has been a good steward of taxpayer dollars.

State lawmakers also have made very little mention of the chronic underfunding that TSU has experienced over generations. Confirmed totals are $544 million according to state officials, in which $250 million was allocated in April 2022; and $2.1 billion according to a recent federal report. TSU would undoubtedly be in a different position today if it had received the funds promised by the state over the course of the last three decades.

While we are very disappointed by today’s vote, we will continue to work with the General Assembly and the governor’s office to pursue options, both in funding and governance, that allow TSU to continue the momentum it has achieved in enrollment, research, academics, and providing great opportunities for students.