NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After a federal report told them their school was lacking $2.1 billion, Tennessee State University student leaders traveled to Washington D.C. to find answers.
The group met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and others to listen for solutions in reference to the report from the U.S. Department of Education and the USDA.
“It is unfortunate that we have to fight this battle,” TSU student president Derrell Taylor said. “But I am proud to stand before these legislators, activists, and key community figures to express how disheartening it is for students to realize how much more of an experience we could have had if we had been allocated the necessary funding.”
TSU and the University of Tennessee are land-grant colleges. As outlined in the Second Morrill Act of 1890, all land-grant colleges should receive the same funding regardless of race and they have to provide a school to Black students if they weren’t going to accept them. The act was designed to target Confederate states, according to information from the U.S. National Archives. Congress passed the legislation at the time to remedy discrimination and required states to create land-grant schools for Black students.
Gov. Bill Lee said in Dickson Wednesday that he hadn't time to review the letter from the federal government because he had been traveling across the state. He said he would talk to "whomever" about the issue. He said he believed all colleges in the state mattered.
liyah Holmes, the former SGA vice president, added that while the funding shortfall covers the period from 1987 to 2020, it still affects her and current TSU students today.
"Us being underfunded for $2.1 billion continues to put us at a stagnant loss," she said. "The rest of Nashville is progressing in a positive direction, while TSU has been stagnant because we don’t have the adequate amount of funds to be able to grow."
