NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There are new calls to fund Tennessee State University for years of back pay.
The U.S. Department of Education says the school is now owed $2.1 billion dollars in state funding.
Tuesday, TSU students and alumni held a press conference and rally to talk about what options are available to get the money, and what's next in the process.
Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump attended the conference and talked about how school leadership, including President Glenda Glover, did its job and is owed an apology.
"TSU was the forerunner of these issues. President Glenda Glover continued to challenge the legislature for the lack of equal funding for TSU as opposed to UT," Crump said. "She's owed an apology for those who attacker her. She should have been celebrated for the job she was doing for less than half the money."
Crump said if the funding discrepancy isn't made up, students may sue the state.
"If they refuse to write this wrong, then these students are adamant that they will meet this moment in history, that they will not let their education be marginalized," Crump said. "This is about the future, the path forward, that they set a precedent that never again will TSU, a historically black college, be underfunded."
Students in leadership at TSU who spoke at the press conference promised to continue to talk to legislators until an agreement is reached to make up for the funding TSU lost.
"I know what's right and I know what's wrong, and I feel we need to continuously work for the money we are owed," Chrishonda O’Quinn, 83rd Student Government Association Executive Vice President, said.
Crump said he is confident that TSU can be the frontrunner in solving these issues alongside the legislature, and has hope for the students who stood behind him and for TSU.
"I look at y'all and I do see the future," Crump said. "It is so bright I have to squint my eyes."
In all, the report said historically black colleges and universities in 16 states didn't get the funding they were owed.
