New Tennessee State University Board Silent on Search for President at First Meeting

The recently formed Tennessee State University Board of Trustees did not address the delayed search for a new president to replace Glenda Glover, who served for a long time, during their first meeting on Friday.

The eight-member board only focused on administrative tasks during the meeting, such as choosing a chairperson and following the procedures mentioned in the agenda that was shared a few days prior. The meeting was shorter than 30 minutes.

The members, who are made up of business and academic leaders, were suddenly chosen in late March by Gov. Bill Lee. The move happened right after the previous board was left by the Tennessee General Assembly. The General Assembly had concerns about how the historically Black public university was being managed, especially after a forensic audit of its finances. Gov. Bill Lee then chose eight new board members, all of whom are alumni of TSU, to take charge of governing the school.

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Glover announced in August that she plans to stop working at the end of this school year. The previous board looked all over the country for a new president and, in April, they told everyone about three people who could be chosen. The board members were in the middle of interviewing the finalists when they were taken out of their positions.

Artenzia Young-Seigler, a professor and coordinator of the Introductory Biology Department, is the ninth new board member. She was chosen by the faculty senate to represent the school’s faculty. The law that removed the TSU board also prevented the previous faculty and student representatives from continuing to serve.

The board will choose a 10th student member who will not have voting rights. The next meeting is planned for June.

The TSU board was created in 2016. This happened because of the FOCUS Act, which transferred the responsibility of overseeing public universities (such as Middle Tennessee State University, Austin Peay State University, and the University of Memphis) from the Tennessee Board of Regents to independent boards. The University of Tennessee system already had its own independent board of governance.