This story about the historic underfunding of Tennessee State University is maddening.
It's not a new argument, but it's a new figure — the federal government has written a letter to Gov. Bill Lee explaining that Tennessee State University is owed $2.1 billion in back pay for underfunding the school.
Tennessee State University 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. A land-grant college is a research-based school within the state. Both schools have extensions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and both have agriculture programs.
In essence, TSU still had to function as a land grant college without the same funding, the letter stated.
Yes, it is disappointing that the state consistently treated TSU and its students differently. It’s also frustrating that despite the legislature acknowledging at least some of the shortfall, the state is not making it up very quickly.
In 2023, the legislature provided TSU with a lump sum of $250 million for infrastructure projects. This came after years of unpaid land grant matches by the state, a joint committee of the legislature decided. However, that committee said TSU was owed more than half a billion dollars.
To be clear: The state agrees that at least $500 million is owed to TSU. The state has a surplus THIS YEAR of more than $2 billion. The state did not make up the entire shortfall and has not (yet) indicated plans to do so.
Now, further evidence suggests that rather than another $250 million, the state may owe TSU about $1.5 billion.
Lee’s remarks upon learning of this new figure were underwhelming:
"We are going to look at our institutions of higher education — just like we funded TCATs to the tune of a billion. We are going to look at all of them and look at the unique needs they have and fund them appropriately."
The state has plenty of cash. They can take steps to set this situation right - if they want to.