Tennessee State University is gearing up for a possible legal showdown with the State of Tennessee over what it maintains is 30 years of chronic underfunding. In an explosive development, TSU leaders and advocates are citing a federal report that claims the state shortchanged the university to the tune of $2.1 billion - dollars that allegedly went to predominantly white institutions instead. This revelation has prompted discussions among TSU stakeholders about whether to pursue litigation, according to WSMV.
The contention over TSU's financial woes has escalated recently, with the Tennessee General Assembly's decision last week to dismantle the university's Board of Trustees. Governor Bill Lee swiftly appointed new trustees, all TSU alumni, a move met with suspicion and frustration from TSU supporters. "There’s an opportunity if students and alumni want to purse that route. It doesn’t have to be an either/or, it can be both/and situation,” state Rep. Harold Love Jr. remarked concerning the lawsuit in an interview obtained by WSMV.
Amidst allegations of fiscal mismanagement, national activists and TSU student leaders have raised their voices against what they perceive as systemic neglect by the state. Derrell Taylor, TSU's SGA President, evoked a powerful historical comparison by stating, “If you’re only investing in us a quarter of the way, then maybe you still see us as three-fifths of a human being,” in a statement obtained by WKRN.
Adding to the tumult, civil rights leader Rev. William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign has magnified the issue, urging communities nationwide to fight for equitable funding for their HBCUs through "legislation, litigation and agitation." TSU's is not an isolated case - several states are accused of similar underfunding practices, affecting many historically Black universities. "We’ve done enough begging in my opinion. Now is not the time to be requesting. It is our time to take what is ours," Shaun Wimberly Jr., the sole student trustee ousted in the recent purge, told WPLN.
