TN Senate votes to vacate Tennessee State University board despite House compromise

The Tennessee Senate passed a bill Thursday that would vacate the board of Tennessee State University and leave it to Gov. Bill Lee to appoint new members.

The passage of the Republican-backed bill comes amid years of scrutiny over the historically Black university's finances and leadership and as it searches for a new president. The results of a forensic audit, commissioned last year by lawmakers, are still pending and expected out at the end of the month.

The Senate passed the measure in a 25-6 vote after only five minutes of discussion. All six senators who voted against the bill were Democrats.

The bill has stirred intense controversy over $2.1 billion in historic underfunding of TSU by the state and disparities in how TSU has been treated by lawmakers. University leaders have pleaded with lawmakers to extend the current board and allow it to build upon the progress it has made in the last year.

Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, who filed the amendment to the bill that would vacate the board, has repeatedly pointed to financial issues at TSU over the years. As the bill advanced through the Senate last month, he spoke about the incomplete forensic audit, saying the firm did not yet have the documents and other items it needed from TSU.

University leaders, including President Glenda Glover, maintained that they have gone to great lengths to cooperate with auditors. In what may have been the board's final meeting last week, Board Chair Deborah Cole said she's proud of the work they've done and praised her colleagues for helping improve the university's finances, increase its endowment and build up its reserves, all while navigating multiple audits.

More: Tennessee State University board holds what could be last meeting as Republicans push to vacate it

Sen. Oliver presses underfunding issue, urges colleagues to vote no

The House version of the bill is at odds with the newly passed Senate version, instead moving to keep three of the board's 10 members, along with its student and faculty trustees.

Sen. Charlane Oliver, R-Nashville, whose district includes TSU, urged her fellow lawmakers to vote against the measure Thursday and consider the House's proposal. While she recognized that there have been issues with university leadership over the years and that the debate over it often got heated and personal, she also pointed to the issue of the underfunding.

“We all want (TSU) to thrive, but we also need to recognize that we cannot underfund an institution for decades on decades and starve our system and then accuse it of not working," Oliver said.

Push for compromise: Tennessee House committee advances bill that would only vacate part of TSU board

She also argued that vacating the board would remove valuable institutional knowledge, be detrimental to the presidential search process and leave the next president to "pick up the pieces."

In a Senate Education Committee last week, Sen. Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, who first introduced the bill, said it's important to act quickly to vacate the board and appoint new members to minimize disruption. While he expressed his appreciation and love for many of the TSU leaders, he also said it was time for a change.

When the measure was first proposed to vacate the TSU board, Rep. Harold Love, D-Nashville, said he worried that talks would not move quickly enough to reach a compromise. He backed the amendment to retain three board members, along with the student and faculty trustees. TSU has also expressed its support for the amendment as a compromise, while maintaining that it does not believe any board members should vacated.

"The truth of the matter is … I don’t think that the board members actually thought that this would happen," Love, who is a TSU graduate, said in a news conference last week. "None of us really did."

TSU 'disappointed' by Senate decision

The university released a statement after the Senate vote Thursday, saying it was "disappointed" by the outcome and expressing hope that a compromise could still be reached to extend the board.

"The extension of the board would avoid disruption of TSU governance during a critical time for the university and, most importantly, for our students," the statement read. "TSU will continue to push for more favorable legislation that would better serve our university family."

What's next for the TSU bill

The House version of the bill is set for a full House vote on March 28.

Want to follow along? Visit capitol.tn.gov and search for HB1739 for more information. The bill is set for a vote during the House floor session on March 28. The session is set to begin at 9 a.m. A livestream of the session can be found at wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/LiveVideo.

If the House version passes, the bill will go to a conference committee to negotiate the differences between the two chambers.

If the House and Senate do not reach an agreement on the bill, the measure would fail, which would effectively terminate the existing board this summer. Since the TSU board was already set to disband on June 30 due to a measure lawmakers passed last year, that means the university would be without an independent board until the legislature forms another one.

After Thursday’s vote, Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, indicated the Senate is prepared to play hardball in negotiations with the House, even if it means TSU is without an independent board until at least next January when state lawmakers reconvene.

Watson said the Senate believes the "only way to fix" issues at TSU is to replace the board.

"The Senate is resolute in its position, and failure to pass that bill in the form that we think is best will result in the termination of the board completely," Watson said, acknowledging this would have "many, many ramifications" for TSU.

Watson suggested current board members should step aside and usher in a new board to avoid termination.

A separate bill, SB2109/HB2346, that would transfer the university's governance to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission if the board terminates has passed the Senate but is still working its way through the House. The House Government Operations Committee will hear it on Monday.

Melissa Brown contributed to this story.

Reach children's reporter Rachel Wegner at [email protected] or follow her on X, Threads and Bluesky @RachelAnnWegner.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee senators vote to vacate TSU board, at odds with House bill