New Tennessee State University board silent on presidential search at first meeting

The newly seated Tennessee State University Board of Trustees did not tackle the stalled search to replace longtime president Glenda Glover at its first meeting on Friday.

Instead, the eight-member board confined itself to a list of bureaucratic matters such as electing a chair and adopting procedures outlined in the agenda posted a few days before the meeting. The meeting lasted less than half an hour.

The members, who include business and academic leaders, were abruptly appointed in late March by Gov. Bill Lee. The move came immediately after the previous board was vacated by the Tennessee General Assembly, which raised concerns about the management of the historically Black public university following a forensic audit of its finances. Gov. Bill Lee then appointed the eight new board members, all TSU alumni, to take over governance of the school.

Glover announced in August that she would retire at the end of this school year. The previous board conducted a nationwide search for a new president and, in April, they announced three finalists. The board members were in the midst of interviewing those finalists when they were removed from their positions.

A ninth new board member, professor and Introductory Biology Department Chair Coordinator Artenzia Young-Seigler, represents the school's faculty and was chosen by the faculty senate. The law that vacated the TSU board also barred the previous faculty and student representatives from continuing to serve.

The board itself will select a 10th, non-voting student member.

Its next meeting is scheduled in June.

The TSU board was formed in 2016, when the FOCUS Act moved oversight of public universities, including Middle Tennessee State University, Austin Peay State Univesity and the University of Memphis, from the Tennessee Board of Regents to independent boards. The University of Tennessee system was already governed by an independent board.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: New TSU board silent on presidential search at first meeting