Lawmakers give Tennessee State University a boost

State lawmakers gave good marks to Tennessee State University during a Tuesday joint Government Operations Committee meeting. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Tennessee lawmakers gave Tennessee State University a vote of confidence Tuesday, just a year after the state’s only historically Black university needed help to pay its bills following decades of underfunding.

A joint Government Operations committee voted unanimously to extend the university’s board of trustees for three years, up from the typical two-year extension. The move represented a shift in support for the university’s leadership after lawmakers voted in February 2024 to replace the previous board and forced former President Glenda Glover to resign amid questions about financial and enrollment mismanagement.

Nashville businessman Dwayne Tucker was hired after an interim president resigned when state leaders found out he signed two $800,000 consulting contracts with Glover when she left the post.

The committee heaped praise on TSU officials Tuesday, marking an about-face from a late 2022 hearing in which senators bashed Glover for mishandling an aggressive scholarship program on the heels of the COVID pandemic and causing a student housing crunch.

Democratic state Rep. Harold Love of Nashville called the move “an indication that the legislature has confidence in the direction Tennessee State University is going.”

TSU Board of Trustees Chairperson Dakasha Winton told lawmakers Tuesday the toughest task was figuring out where to start in “transforming” the university’s operations. Part of the task was to settle on enrollment figures and tuition expenses that would allow the university to flourish.

$2 million audit finds accounting problems but no fraud at Tennessee State University

“We recognize these challenges did not arise overnight,’ Winton said, adding resolving them wouldn’t happen immediately either.

A land grant university funding study determined the state shorted TSU by as much as $544 million over the course of a century. A subsequent federal study showed TSU was cut short by $2.1 billion over about 30 years.

Constantly short on money, TSU has survived over the years by borrowing money from its foundation.

The legislature funded a $2 million audit of the university when the Comptroller’s office continued to find the same budget problems yearly.

A recent audit of TSU showed it resolved four major problems but made 11 findings repeated from previous years. For instance, former management lacked controls, oversight and knowledge over accounting ledgers and related systems, weaknesses that created an error-prone environment that made it hard to identify problems, causing “enormous complexity” in tracking the simplest activities.

In addition, the audit said, “Management continued to allow a breakdown of controls related to financial reporting and has not corrected control deficiencies noted in the prior nine audits.”

The university also overcharged and undercharged students for courses and failed to properly refund some students who withdrew from classes, the audit found.

Comptroller Jason Mumpower, who has worked closely with Tucker to reshape TSU’s financial situation, blamed previous administrations for the continuing problems.

Since being appointed, Tucker and the new board have been trying to understand the “issues they inherited,” Mumpower said.

“While it is too early to measure long-term results, early indications show a willingness to confront longstanding problems, increase transparency, and cooperate with state oversight partners,” Mumpower said.

TSU signed an operating agreement with the state in June, shortly after approving a 6% increase in tuition and fees. The memorandum allowed the university to use $96 million for operations over three years, part of a $250 million grant the legislature made in 2022 for campus maintenance.

The state also approved a $43 million infusion into TSU’s operating budget in November 2024 to make payroll and prop up the university for the rest of the budget year.

Mumpower said last year the university should sell the Avon Williams Campus in downtown Nashville and property at John Tune Airport to make ends meet.

TSU officials disagreed with the idea and under Tucker’s direction requested approval of funds remaining from the campus grant to keep operating.