NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Former Tennessee State University president Glenda Glover is talking for the first time since she said she was forced to step down over the summer.
Glover wasted no time blaming state lawmakers for creating a public relations crisis for the school by vacating the university's board in early 2024. Glover said that caused a drop in enrollment, which in turn created even bigger financial problems. The school recently told state lawmakers and the Tennessee comptroller it couldn't make its November payroll without more money from the state.
"You can't create the problem then criticize us for going through the problem," Glover said.
Glover said she was forced to retire back in June in the middle of a five-year contract. As part of her retirement deal, Glover said she was given an $800,000 contract to continue raising money for the school. Glover said she is determined to bring students back to TSU no matter who or what stands in the way.
In October the school was forced to lay off 114 employees as a way of cutting costs. This month, state leaders said the school is going to have to make bigger cuts including to degree programs and tenured professors. The state has been providing emergency funds this semester to keep the school afloat. But state leaders say that can't continue.
Glover told NewsChannel 5 Investigates the school funding shortfall comes after 1,900 fewer students enrolled for the fall semester.
"Every semester stands on its own. What's the expectation if you don't have students?" Glover said. "We don't get all our money from the state. The rest comes from student tuition and fees. Why the state won't advance that argument is beyond me. That fact that they are out of money — you make money from your revenue source. Out the door in June I was calling parents. This all has to do with the negative publicity, and the antics the state government engaged in."
TSU posted its fall enrollment figures in early November. Those show that the university only had 6,310 students enrolled for fall classes. In 2023, the school started the year with 8,198 students.
State Republicans pushed to remove TSU's board after an audit found financial problems at the historically black university. The bill passed in both chambers of the legislature and Gov. Bill Lee signed it to vacate the TSU board that very day.
"We removed our governing board in the peek recruitment time," Glover said. "And that's when I started to get all these phone calls. It continued throughout the summer. We are trying to keep students at ease. It was more so the parents, trying to keep the parents at ease about whether is TSU going to be an HBCU still?"
According to data from the university, this year's freshman class was half of what it was in fall 2023.
"Because of the government antics that have taken place and all the negative conversations about TSU, many students changed their minds and went other places," Glover said.
Glover said over the years lawmakers have feigned concern that the institution is growing too much too quickly, while also underfunding the university altogether. She said that combined with the drop in enrollment created the current financial crisis.
"If you were really concerned about TSU's growth, you wouldn't try to destroy TSU," Glover said. "You wouldn't say you were going 'to take it down to the studs.' Who would say that about a university? They have never been on TSU's campus. That is laughable. If you were really concerned about TSU, you would know TSU was a viable institution."
What just happened to TSU
TSU has already laid off employees in hopes of averting deeper cuts. The school estimates its monthly payroll is between $18 and $20 million.
"This time last year, TSU was in a great financial position," Glover said.
Glover said that changed when the Tennessee Higher Education Commission refused to pay TSU money it was owed. Glover showed NewsChannel 5 Investigates the letters she sent THEC asking for a release of funding for "TSAC money," or funds a university can get in Tennessee for students who need scholarships. The Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation consists of financial aid programs — like the HOPE Scholarship, Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect.
Her letters to THEC and the commission recognized that TSU had audit findings that the university didn't meet the necessary guidelines. But THEC denies withholding money to contribute to the financial crisis TSU finds itself in today.
"During the most recent audit period, TSU failed to adhere to state and federal financial aid requirements which resulted in numerous findings, including widespread student recordkeeping inconsistencies," THEC said in a statement. "At no time were any TSU students denied any state financial aid funds for which they were eligible and qualified.
The university's financial troubles worsened when TSU accepted a record-setting freshman class during the pandemic. The school didn't have enough housing for all the new students and had to put hundreds of students in hotel rooms. The university also struggled to distribute scholarship money, which made it nearly impossible for hundreds of students to make it through the year.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, pointed out in November that the university used one-time federal COVID-19 funding on scholarships, but didn't have funding to sustain that influx in enrollment.
Glover said the idea of using COVID-19 funding for scholarships was "ludicrous" and a "fallacy." She said those enrolled during the pandemic would already be gone from TSU.
"That's why it's so crazy to say that we gave COVID money out to those students without having a way to sustain it," Glover said. "COVID money was not for scholarships. We took the COVID-19 dollars and paid off student balances. We paid off student balances, and students were able to come back to school. There was no COVID one-time funding to get students to come here."
We asked what the state got wrong about that statement in their hearing with the school. Glover said it was deliberate.
"They know better," she said. "They know that's not true. These students are gone. I just hoped that the Tennessee and national public would just know that and listen to that."
Glover said she was asked to leave TSU two years ago
State lawmakers recently chastised TSU for still having Glover on the payroll.
Glover clarified this was her retirement package that state lawmakers knew about since they forced her to retire.
"They sent a posse to me," Glover said. "To ask me to retire immediately. I didn't do that at the time. But I did know at some point we would come to a point where I would retire. This was key legislators telling me to retire. They were cowards. They sent others to me — people I trusted to talk to me about retiring. It was a very carefully constructed decision and agreement. What is this hypocrisy that's going on?"
As part of the package, Glover said she would still fundraise for the university if the incoming president wanted her to.
"They met with me, and they asked me to retire," she said. "I had a five-year contract, and they still wanted me to retire. Am I going to get $800,000 in one check? No. I spent 11 and half years building up the university. I don't want to tear it down."
Glover said she is still getting paid for her retirement package.
What funding TSU did receive from the state before the payroll crisis
As budget for the current school year, TSU was allotted $71.9 million from the state.
The state spent $8,557 per student at TSU this year. In contrast, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville students received $10,061 per student from the state.
Of that, $54 million went to their general fund, according to the budget lawmakers passed in April.
Because TSU is a land grant school, agricultural programs are a key focus. From that, the state provided $13.9 million
The other $4 million went to maintenance and electrical upgrades for the school.
Chronic underfunding of TSU has contributed to the crisis
TSU has been underfunded for years, according to both state and federal officials.
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 $2.1 billion.
In 2023, the federal government wrote a letter to Gov. Bill Lee explaining the university is owed the larger figure, which was calculated from 1987 until 2020.
This comes out of a federal policy for land grant schools. Congress established that act in the 1860s for public universities to receive federal dollars for state agricultural colleges. The University of Tennessee didn't receive that funding until after the Civil War because the state was part of the Confederacy.
We asked Glover if she felt race played a factor in why the TSU has been underfunded for decades and Glover said she's not sure.
“There was a challenge watching a Black woman tell them, you owe us this money...I’m not sure if it’s racism, sexism, I’m not prepared to call either one right now, but I can tell you it was not the most comfortable feeling for them,” Glover said.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville and TSU are land grant colleges, meaning they have an elevated funding status when it comes to state dollars. The two schools were established before desegregation when Tennessee higher education institutions wouldn't accept Black students.
Federal partners from the USDA and the Department of Education found that state lawmakers weren't funding the two schools the same. However, the letter doesn't provide any enforcement — just the figure owed.
State lawmakers would ultimately decide whether to give TSU the $2.1 billion. The letter from the federal government wasn't discussed in the legislature in 2024.
