NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee State University leaders and the state sat down again Monday to discuss the financial crisis the school finds itself in, with leaders urging them to cut degree programs and tenured faculty before it runs out of money.
Interim president Dwayne Tucker was barely a few hours into his new job when he vowed to try and get the school on a better financial footing.
"We can't wait on a bailout, Tucker said. "We need to do things differently. We should reinforce the needs of all of our stakeholders. We are going to start off with the financials of where we are and what's required to move to the next phase. If we just sit and look at the news circle, everything is falling apart. Otherwise, it creates a whole of drama. I am all about the work that needs to be done."
TSU told lawmakers the school would run out of money between April and May, creating millions in deficit. Comptroller Jason Mumpower said that figure could be as high as $58 million, which he said the state would have to provide to keep the school open if something didn't change.
This fall, the school laid off more than 100 staff members, eliminated ads at the Nashville International Airport, cut band trips to away football games and nixed the football team staying at a hotel near the Tennessee Titans stadium before home football games. The school is traveling in golf carts on campus, not vehicles, to keep fuel costs down. They are also repurposing assets, like furniture. The school also eliminated 117 contracts that duplicated services, saving $3.5 million.
"What I want to do is provide stability," Tucker said. "That is the only way to move forward. I am not sure there are accounts payable to Tennessee State for $2.1 billion. More importantly, what is required is to put together a better plan. We need accountability to stand behind as well. I need a month to put together a plan for cash requirements with some degree of contribution to solve some of our cost issues."
Tucker also announced the CFO had abruptly resigned, following the quick resignation of former interim-president Ronald Johnson last week.
"Given the change in general and CFO resignation, we have to look deep across the organization and adjust the university to understand the projections around enrollment," Tucker said. "In order to move that ahead with a sense of urgency, I need to get through with everyone and what the university has to contribute to that. Until then, it's like moving a snowball up the hill. I think we need to bring additional resources up the hill. I am trying to find a CFO."
Tucker and the state will meet again in February to review the school's financial status.
Why we are here
TSU quietly told state leaders they were short on money at the beginning of the school year, asking for money to keep the school afloat.
Auditors told the board that the school started the school year with only $5 million in cash. TSU's interim chief financial officer Daarel Burnette said the school had to improve retention and improve the freshman class, which was half of what it was in fall 2023.
This all came to a public reckoning at the State Building Commission in November. That is when the university admitted they needed state help to make payroll for the month.
The meeting also featured a discussion of former TSU president Glenda Glover's contract, where then-interim president Johnson said he wasn't aware of the ins and outs of the paperwork.
Lawmakers asked why the school hadn't gone into fiscal exigency, which would slash programs and even tenured faculty.
Fiscal exigency is defined as "a severe financial crisis that fundamentally compromises the academic integrity as a whole and that cannot be alleviated by less drastic means than the termination of tenured faculty appointments," according to the American Association of University Professors.
"This legislature and the Tennessee public need that sign of an inward understanding," Mumpower said. "Look at that very soon."
Glover's $1.7 million contract and the tension surrounding it
TSU leaders told state leaders Monday they are done with former president Glenda Glover, who led the school for more than a decade.
"I appreciate all of you who are here," Mumpower said. "I have great appreciation you dismissed your prior general counsel and your work with AG's office to cancel the contract of someone who has made out like a bandit on a legacy of dysfunction. No parking place, Titans football tickets. Are you done?"
TSU Board of Trustees Vice Chair Charles Traughber said the school was no longer associated with Glover and her contract would more than likely end in litigation.
Board members voted unanimously in late November to urge then-president Johnson to end Glover's agreement. They said this deal was signed by the old Board of Trustees — not long before state lawmakers voted to replace the entire board.
I filed a records request for the contract: her retirement package and buyout. At the time, Johnson told lawmakers and the state comptroller her contract was only around $800,000.
TSU denied my records request saying the document didn't exist. When I followed up to ask how that could be possible, TSU did not respond.
We talked to Glover after the first State Building Commission meeting after the state questioned why she was on the payroll at all.
She told us originally she had a contract in the ballpark of $800,000 as part of an agreement where she was forced to retire from her post.
Glover later admitted she had two agreements with the school — one was a buyout of her five-year contract with the school if she agreed to retire early. The other is to continue working for the university as a president emeritus helping raise money and recruit new students. The two contracts total $1.7 million.
"There's no guilt feelings. I have a retirement package," Glover said. "It's like someone asked you, would you give up your retirement package? No. You don't ask someone to give up their retirement package. That goes beyond the bounds of decency to ask me to give up a retirement package especially if I'm still doing a lot of work for the university."
The student aid financial director lawsuit lingers
The former financial aid director of the university claimed in a lawsuit this month that she was fired this fall because she wouldn't commit perjury for scholarship money.
Former Metro Council person Tanaka Vercher worked at TSU for 21 years. However, the lawsuit stated this fall fell into turmoil for her when it came to distributing financial aid money.
By federal law, TSU has to verify students' credentials in what's called a reconciliation process. Those credentials include a high school diploma or an equivalent certificate. State auditors notified Vercher that TSU had previously provided student aid money to students who did not qualify because they lacked proof of those documents.
When Vercher refused to file the paperwork without the reconciliation process, she claimed in the lawsuit she was fired the next day. Previously, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission had findings for the school for this very issue.
In the lawsuit, Vercher is asking for back pay, lost benefits and pension, compensatory damage and attorney fees.
Tucker said the school was addressing the admission of students who should have gone to a two-year college or who weren't ready for college.
Yes, TSU is owed money.
How much is still up for debate and depends on who's asked. The state said half a billion was owed in 2022, while the federal government said that number is actually $2.1 billion.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the news cycle around that number needed to be rectified.
"There's discrepancies among the two bodies," Sexton said. "We wanted to look at the historical funding. When you look at Gov. (Bill) Haslam and Gov. Lee's administrations, it appears that Lee and Haslam have appropriated more dollars than the previous four governors. When you look at the amount of money during the last 14 years compared to 32 years."
TSU has the same funding status as the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in that the two were given resources for land and later should have been given the same state appropriations for agriculture extension offices and expanding their academic programs.
A data analysis I did more than a year ago showed that both raw figures of state dollars and per-student spending don't match each other, with the University of Tennessee flagship campus receiving more state funding.
Back in 2023, the federal government wrote a letter to Gov. Bill Lee explaining that Tennessee State University is owed $2.1 billion — which occurred from 1987 until 2020. The state has provided $250 million a couple of years ago.
No, TSU and UTK are not funded the same.
On average, the state spends around $2,206 more per student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville than at TSU, and it paints a clearer picture of funding given the enrollment numbers.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville and TSU are land grant colleges, meaning they have an elevated funding status when it comes to dollars from the state. The two were established before desegregation and Tennessee higher education institutions wouldn't accept Black students.
The Second Morrill Act of 1890 — more or less — created a separate but equal collegiate system for students of color, who couldn't attend public universities with White students. This was aimed at Confederate states, like Tennessee, that were struggling with the outcome of the Civil War and failing to integrate.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville is the state's first land-grant college, established as such during the Morrill Act of 1862 during the Civil War.
Both Morrill Acts focused on creating schools that emphasized agriculture and mechanic arts. The federal government bequeathed 10 million acres provided by land grants across the country, which meant taking land from Native American communities, according to the U.S National Archives.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at emily.west@newschannel5.com
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