by Rosetta Miller Perry
The calendar says 2022, but in the minds of some Tennessee Republican legislators, it could as easily be 1852 or 1962, given their contempt for Black institutions and officials.
A few days ago, the state legislature held what could best be described as a hybrid of a Salem witch trial and a kangaroo court because an HBCU that has historically been denied funding was now asking for help from the legislature to deal with a crisis that neither the state nor anyone outside of it had anticipated.
HBCU enrollment is increasing across the country. For a variety of reasons, most likely, Black students are returning to HBCUs in large numbers, fed up with hostility and resentment from white student bodies and institutions that have been fed the lie that Black students are treated better.
This has resulted in a housing crisis at Tennessee State. A housing crisis is no longer considered fraud, extortion, or murder. It is a situation in which the available resources are insufficient to handle an unexpected surge in the number of people who require them.
So Tennessee State President Dr. Glenda Glover went to the place where she thought she could get help: the state legislature, the place and people who appropriate funds. Instead of a respectful audience and a willingness to assist, she encountered ugliness that was equal parts paternalistic contempt, racial animus, and hostility towards an academic institution that has never been a favorite of this state legislature in the first place.
After the smoke cleared and all the accusatory remarks had been made, the legislature decided that the best way to solve a crisis was to do nothing. Instead of moving forward with the $250 million they had previously approved for new housing, the legislature put it on hold.
Dr. Glover attempted to inform this crew that no one, least of all TSU, had anticipated 2,000 more students than had been predicted. She described how the TSU situation was reflected in increased attendance in North Carolina, Washington, D.C., and even Mississippi, but her attempts to inform this committee were met with skeptical to outright disbelief.
The Committee attempted to justify its stance by citing numerous student complaints, and no one can blame students for being frustrated by a lack of available housing. They have also been propelled by television news reports that lack context and paint a picture of inept Black administrators wasting money and ignoring the student body’s plight.
Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee Chairman Bo Watson acted as if he were leading an SEC investigation into a failed merger, demanding all kinds of documents for a January meeting. The implication that if the Committee did not believe TSU handled the situation properly was left unsaid.
Watson at least showed President Glover some grace and politeness by saying, “Shame on us and shame on Government Operations for not drilling down deeper and helping you solve it five or six years ago, so there’s responsibility on both sides.”
Watson continued to issue threats even after acknowledging the state’s long history of responsibility for this situation, saying, “The buck ends with the president, and when the CFO testifies and he says this predates me, that’s accurate. However, it is not older than this board or this president, he insisted. Another not-so-subtle warning he made was that the board’s appointment of the president was up for renewal by the Government Operations Committee. Additionally, Watson made an effort to shift the responsibility to TSU by claiming that some of the university’s data delivery delays were due to TSU’s failure to provide it.
While no one is blaming TSU for everything that has happened, it is clear that much of what has happened is not directly attributable to administrative incompetence. It is also clear that this legislative committee would not have responded in this case if officials from UT-Knoxville or Chattanooga, MTSU or ETSU, or any other state university had approached them for assistance with a crisis that they did not entirely or primarily cause.
According to state representative Torrey Harris, a Memphis Democrat, “it’s very clear that the goal from all of this is to try to figure out how to get rid of Dr. Glover, and they’re just trying to build a case around that, to say in the spring we think that management needs to change or that we need a new board.”
Harris and other Democrats view these measures as a series of chess moves by the Committee to set the stage for Dr. Glover’s dismissal. If this is the GOP plan, there isn’t much Democrats can do about it given their super majority in the legislature.
Since state Comptroller Jason Mumpower issued an audit alleging TSU bookkeeping errors for five years, the legislature’s right-wingers have been looking for a way to slam TSU and Dr. Glover. They clearly believe they’ve found it now. What we have is the spectre of a legislative witch hunt aimed at TSU that isn’t really interested in addressing the housing crisis, but instead wants to embarrass Black administrators and pretend to care about Black students while emasculating the institution that wants to prepare them for the future, at the behest of Lt. Governor Randy McNally, who demanded this one-sided hearing be held.
The Tribune and other Black legislators and community members understand that the legislature should focus on finding solutions to the housing crisis rather than interfering in university personnel matters and attempting to install their own handpicked puppets to run things the way they want.
The committee has done nothing but publicly criticize, embarrass, and humiliate Black administrators while doing nothing to address the housing crisis.
This is a failure of the state legislative committee to do its job fairly, as well as a failure of the legislature as a whole to address a critical issue affecting the Black community and Black students.
It is also time for Black legislators in the state legislature to stand up and make some bold suggestions to end this crisis. The Republicans are clearly not going to do it.