NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — On Thursday, Tennessee State University (TSU) announced 114 layoffs as the school faces an ongoing financial crisis.
Before the State Building Commission Thursday, university leaders admitted they wouldn't have been able to make payroll for November had it not been for the state's help. TSU’s interim president, Dr. Ronald Johnson, detailed his way forward.
“The lack of checks and balances is beyond troubling," Johnson said.
Johnson announced 114 layoffs and a 100-day action plan, which he estimated would yield $13 million in savings. Lawmakers suggested TSU leaders sell its downtown Avon Williams campus, however that's a measure many alumni oppose.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell suggested campus leaders could consider a joint development for the property to help generate more funds.
"TSU is such a fundamental part of our educational landscape and it does create opportunity for thousands of Nashvillians and people coming to Nashville to be there,” O’Connell said.
Alumnnus Dwight Beard, president of the Nashville chapter of the TSU National Alumni Association, is originally from West Tennessee. Bears is one of almost 40 family members who attended TSU. He told News 2 some of his family members wouldn't have been able to go to college had it not been for TSU.
“We turn out great leaders all over the world and I'm also proud that they have helped students that otherwise would've not been able to be in the fields of education, in their fields of teaching, in their fields of corporations,” Beard said.
Beard is one of multiple alumni that have pointed to $2 billion dollars the Department of Education claimed TSU was owed. That claim comes from unbalanced funding compared to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
He asked state leaders to work together with TSU, and had said he has confidence in its new leadership.
“We've got one hell of a board now and we've got a good interim [president] and later on we'll get a good president and TSU is going to be on the move,” Beard said. “At the end of the day, everybody's working towards saving these students, saving that university and saving that legacy and they're doing a great job.”
Beard has called on alumni to do what they can to help keep TSU afloat. He encouraged any alumni who are able to donate to the TSU Foundation.
