Tennessee State University's turnaround plan calls for more cost-cutting, layoffs
Tennessee State University on Wednesday unveiled a financial recovery plan that would call for up to $37 million in additional cost-cutting, including more layoffs.
Why it matters: Interim president Dwayne Tucker told a state panel that those cuts would help put the historically Black college on solid footing after many years of financial tumult. The panel was broadly supportive.
Catch up quick: TSU nearly ran out of money last year, and the state had to provide millions in emergency funding to keep the doors open.
The State Building Commission, which includes top lawmakers and other leaders, pressed the university to take drastic action to shore up long-term finances.
Zoom in: The SBC's meetings with TSU have been tense for months. Commission members have blasted former leaders and recommended major land sales to make ends meet.
Wednesday's meeting might have marked a turning point. There were no such demands, and members praised Tucker for the work he's done since taking charge in December.
The latest: In the meeting, Tucker and his team presented his five-year turnaround plan, which includes capping scholarships for incoming students, restructuring faculty workloads to improve productivity, and making up to $13 million in staff cuts.
"Lives will be impacted from this," financial consultant Jim Grady said.
Zoom out: Tucker also wants lawmakers to reclassify a large pot of capital funding meant for maintenance and construction so that TSU can instead use that money for day-to-day operating expenses.
Flashback: In 2022, the state gave TSU $250 million for capital projects in recognition of historic underfunding. More than $154 million of that total remains unspent.
Tucker and his team said shifting the remainder toward operating costs would help keep the lights on while TSU steadies itself.
What's next: House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who serves on the commission, indicated he would be willing to support that change in the legislature as long as TSU agreed to hit progress benchmarks as school officials tapped into those funds.
The big picture: Once TSU has regained financial stability, Tucker's long-term plan would include revisiting the underfunding conversation.
A state analysis found TSU had been underfunded up to $544 million for food and agriculture research.
TSU leaders said that after the initial infusion of $250 million in 2022, an additional $294 million could help bring the university to new heights.
What they're saying: Tennessee comptroller Jason Mumpower, who has previously criticized TSU leadership, was complimentary after Tucker's presentation.
"I have great appreciation for the work you've done in the short time you've been there," Mumpower told Tucker. "It's remarkable what can happen when competent leadership is finally in place."
Go deeper
TSU board taps new interim president, says predecessor insulted students
Inside Tennessee State University's comeback effort
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
15 minutes ago
- New York Times
No, Not That Lee. Pentagon Finds Black Hero to Rechristen Base Long Named for Robert E.
In its latest move to undo diversity efforts, the Army announced this week that it had found ways to restore the names of seven installations that long venerated Confederate heroes. But in the case of Fort Lee in Prince George County, Va., the Pentagon did it with a curious twist. Rather than restore the name of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the Confederate commander who defended slavery, the Army found Pvt. Fitz Lee, who was Black and fought in the Spanish-American War. Private Lee, who had kidney disease, died in 1899 within months of being awarded a Medal of Honor. The Army announced the plans for Fort Lee in a list of the seven installations it intended to soon rebrand. The move would cancel changes adopted during the Biden administration at the recommendation of a commission created by Congress to find worthy replacements for base names with ties to the Confederacy. The base was named for General Lee from 1917 until 2023. But for the past two years, it was named Fort Gregg-Adams for Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg, the first Black man to reach the rank of an Army three-star general, and Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley, the highest-ranking Black woman to serve as an Army officer in World War II. The renaming effort is just the most recent by President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to dismantle their predecessors' diversity inclusion measures. In March, the administration stopped calling the large military base in North Carolina 'Fort Liberty,' reverting it to its previous name, Fort Bragg. 'We're not interested in your woke garbage or your political correctness,' Mr. Hegseth said in a speech there on Tuesday, to the cheers of an audience of soldiers in battle dress uniforms and red berets. Like General Robert E., Private Fitz was born in Virginia. He was one of four Buffalo Soldiers who received a Medal of Honor for valor on June 30, 1898, halfway into the war with Spain in Cuba. They went ashore from the U.S.S. Florida, a steamer, to rescue wounded Cuban and American soldiers from a beach near Tunas de Zaza, after a losing skirmish with Spanish forces. 'This after several previous attempts at rescue had been frustrated,' said their Medal of Honor citation, recounting their valor after what American historians have called the Battle of Tayabacoa. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
SEC scrubbed guidance on DEI in asset manager selection from website
The Securities and Exchange Commission has purged guidance from its website regarding fund manager diversity, but it was hard to find even before President Donald Trump's second term. That pullback from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in asset management comes as part of the Trump administration's executive orders targeting "DEI" programs. And it underscores the confusing current state of federal efforts to ensure that more women- and minority-owned fund firms get a fair shot at doing business with large government pensions and retirement plans. For advocates, such programs open doors to capital and to rewarding careers as financial advisors or wealth and asset management professionals and, in some cases, the enforcement of crucial civil rights laws. To Trump's supporters, DEI has expanded access for some at the expense of others, to the point that consideration of factors involving race, gender and other identities has turned more important than merit in, say, hiring or the awarding of contracts. The SEC has removed an October 2022 "frequently asked questions" memo explaining how the fiduciary duty applies to the use of DEI criteria in the selection of asset managers, according to a recent study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent watchdog agency that reports to Congress. The SEC issued the FAQ during President Joe Biden's administration, at which time critics questioned its importance and obscure previous location on the agency's website. Now, with so many aspects related to DEI in administrative or legal limbo, the way forward after small but notable progress in opportunities for women and minority financial professionals looks anything but clear. "I'm optimistic, and that's because we've seen this movie before," said Dorien Nuñez, the president and director of research with consulting firm OMNI Research Group and co-founder of OMNI Wall Street Advantage, a chartered financial analyst training, mentoring and internship organization. He cited the Reagan administration's unsuccessful push to eliminate the Small Business Administration in the 1980s. "This is definitely more aggressive," Nuñez said. "ESG is flourishing globally. DEI is flourishing globally. It's just the political will and megaphone that is fighting against it so much, so vocally." For impact managers whose strategies seek to close wealth gaps through clients' investment portfolios, the administration's anti-DEI actions are "really hampering their marketing efforts" and capital-raising, said Will Gholston, a CFA and certified financial planner who is the vice president of investments with New York-based registered investment advisory firm Re-Envision Wealth. At this point, any fund manager "would definitely think twice before bringing that type of product to market in this environment," he said. "I am currently at a Black-owned firm that's made racial equity investing the centerpiece of our strategies," Gholston said. "You have to be much more cautious in the way that you design products, the way that you talk about products. There is that risk that you're going to be in trouble." READ MORE: Which publicly traded firms have the best and worst racial equity grades? Representatives for the SEC didn't respond to inquiries about the removal of the guidance from its website or the findings of the GAO report, which updated the watchdog's 2017 study on asset manager diversity and came at the request of Democratic lawmakers three years ago. The dearth of assets managed by women- or minority-owned firms received more attention following the 2020 murder of George Floyd as part of the industry's response to the nationwide protests. The GAO found some signs of change at certain pension plans and across the industry. Five federal pensions told the researchers that 61 women- or minority-owned asset managers were overseeing a combined $4.06 billion on their behalf at the end of 2022 — but that was still only 2.8% of the externally managed assets across the plans. On the other hand, that is a far higher share than in asset management in general. As of 2023, the industry-wide assets managed by women- and minority-owned firms had ticked up to 1.1% from less than 1% in 2017. However, that tiny blip added up to a total of $1.3 trillion in assets managed by 340 firms, compared to $529 billion at just 180 firms only six years earlier. That's a 146% surge in assets, or a difference of $771 billion in AUM, and an 89% jump in the net increase of 160 more firms with some degree of ownership by women or Black, Hispanic, Asian American or other minority group members. READ MORE: DOGE cuts to fair housing grants hit HOME for financial advisor The ramifications of Trump's DEI orders to the SEC remain difficult to ascertain, based on the agency's website. The conservative Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 policy blueprint for Trump's administration called for the SEC to end "discrimination based on immutable characteristics" in the form of "offices at financial regulators that promote racist policies (usually in the name of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion')." And, in February, SEC staff informed GAO researchers that they had taken down the previous guidance about "investment advisers' consideration of DEI factors when recommending or selecting other advisers" based on Trump's executive orders in the previous month, the GAO report said. "As a result, we removed our assessment of this guidance from our review," the report's authors, Director of Financial Markets and Community Involvement Michael Clements and Director of Education, Workforce and Income Security Tranchau "Kris" Nguyen wrote. "SEC staff also told us that they were analyzing the potential impact of the executive orders on their activities related to promoting and collecting diversity policies and practices through SEC's diversity self-assessment form for its regulated entities." The link to the 2022 FAQ now goes to a "403 error" page. But still available are the "Diversity self-assessment tool" for regulated entities, a bare section explaining the purposes of the SEC Office of Minority and Women Inclusion under the Dodd-Frank Law and a statement by two commissioners praising the now-purged guidance. The report, which stated that the GAO hasn't "determined the scope and effect of the January 2025 executive orders or their impact on SEC programs and activities" didn't include any information about what specifically made the FAQ out of compliance with Trump's executive orders. "Staff from SEC's Division of Investment Management issued this guidance to clarify that investment advisers may consider DEI factors when recommending or selecting other advisers, such as asset management firms, provided that doing so is consistent with the client's objectives, the scope of the relationship and the adviser's disclosures," Clements and Nguyen wrote in a footnote. READ MORE: Fighting systemic racism with estate planning — one client at a time Even before Trump took office, some industry experts wondered what, if anything, to conclude from the FAQ. The guidance "raises more questions than it answers," according to a November 2022 blog by consulting firm Patomak Global Partners entitled "The Curious Case of the Hidden FAQ." The SEC issued no corresponding public announcement about the guidance, the blog noted. And the agency didn't even include the FAQ alongside others available in the FAQ section of its website. In fact, the mere existence of the guidance may not have become publicly known without two of the commissioners releasing the statement. And any asset allocators or managers would have found it difficult to use in the first place, according to Patomak, which described it as "a check-the-box exercise to implement a controversial recommendation." "Even if an adviser stumbled upon the FAQ," the blog continued, "it does not provide helpful guidance as to how an adviser can incorporate DEI factors into its selection or recommendation of other advisers consistent with its fiduciary duty to clients. Investment advisers should be wary of overreliance on this FAQ. Staff FAQs have no legal force or effect and do not alter or amend applicable law, given that they represent the views of SEC staff, not the Commission. Choosing an investment adviser with a short track record or minimal AUM can open an investment adviser to significant liability in the event of subpar performance or an incident of defalcation, a problem this nonbinding FAQ is unlikely to solve, particularly in light of the fact that it contains no guidance on how to balance these competing concerns." READ MORE: How financial advisors can help close the racial wealth gap Regardless, advocates like Nuñez and Gholston will continue their work in any political climate — and welcome collaboration from other industry professionals in the mission to increase opportunities and align clients' portfolios to their principles. "The short answer is, contact me," Nuñez said. "Some of us have been out here doing this for decades, and we're now working closer together than before. But it is very fragmented." Taking down the guidance is "definitely a move in the wrong direction" by the SEC, but efforts to increase women- and minority representation in asset management "have been so inadequate to date that there's not much room to decline," Gholston said. And that has spanned Democratic and Republican administrations, he pointed out. The underlying trends in the investing marketplace aren't going away in Trump's second term, according to Gholston. "The desire for greater fairness and a level playing field in the investment management world has not declined amongst the populace, the investment world and our clients," he said. "It's very likely that, over the long term, we're going to see a renewed effort in this space." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Restores Military Bases to ‘Racist' Confederate Names
Donald Trump has promised to rename army bases with the names of Confederate soldiers who fought to keep Black people in slavery. Speaking at Fort Bragg to kick off festivities for the 250th anniversary of the US Army, Trump told the audience he would rename army bases that had been changed under the Biden administration. 'For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort AP Hill, and Fort Robert E Lee,' the president said. 'We won a lot of battles out of those forts… And I'm superstitious, you know, I like to keep it going, right?' The announcement is likely to prove contentious as Confederate symbols are viewed as signs of racism and white supremacy for many Black people, representing those who fought to perpetuate oppression. Robert E Lee, for example, was a decorated military officer from Virginia who was responsible for some of the Confederacy's most consequential victories in its fight to protect slavery. In 2023, the army base that bore his name was changed to Fort Gregg-Adams in honour of two African American officers. The president made his announcement to a largely pro-Trump crowd of military members, who booed as he took aim at the 'fake media', California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and his predecessor Joe Biden. 'You think this crowd would have turned up for Biden?' he joked. He also used the speech to highlight the protests in California, vowing to 'liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion' after days of unrest in America's second most populous state. The address at Fort Bragg kicked off the army's 250th anniversary, a celebration that will culminate with an unprecedented parade in Washington on June 14, the day of Trump's 79th birthday. The sound and visual extravaganza will take place along Constitution Avenue and feature thousands of uniformed troops marching in formation, as well as about 100 military vehicles, including M1A2/Abrams tanks; Black Hawk, Apache, and Chinook helicopters. Trump's announcement about renaming army bases was welcomed by MAGA allies and many military members at Fort Bragg, a base that was also renamed by the administration earlier this year. Others on social media were far more scathing. One user said the move 'romanticized' white supremacy; another account, belonging to Republicans Against Trump, quipped that 'nothing says patriotism like honoring enemies of the United States.'
