End financial segregation that harms HBCUs such as Tennessee State University | Opinion

• State Rep. Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville, represents District 54 in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

The first Morrill Act was passed in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln providing federal land to states, in part to establish colleges for education and research into the sciences including agriculture, engineering, and other programs.

After the passing of the second Morrill Act of 1890, states (especially southern states) were required to provide land-grant colleges and universities for Black students not permitted to attend white land-grant schools. With this act in effect, Black churches (backed by the American Missionary Association and the Freedmen’s Bureau) founded many of the still-standing Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

HBCUs were radical institutions creating opportunities for African Americans to obtain a college education within a comforting environment that upholds and celebrates their identities.

More:Budget disparities have left historically Black schools neglected for too long | Watts

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HBCU graduates include Kamala Harris and Oprah

Even in the modern age, HBCUs continue to celebrate African American scholarship and culture in the face of tremendous hardship. The late president George H.W. Bush described the value of these institutions, "[a]t a time when many schools barred their doors to black Americans, these colleges offered the best, and often the only, opportunity for a higher education."

HBCU graduates from a variety of schools have achieved positions of leadership in the United States, including Vice President Kamala Harris (Howard University), Sen. Raphael Warnock (Morehouse College), novelist Toni Morrison (Howard University), journalist and former football player Michael Strahan (Texas Southern University), and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey (Tennessee State University, TSU).

Founded in 1912, TSU is the only state-funded HBCU in Tennessee.

HBCUs are a valuable part of the American university system. Although they represent only 3% of “two-year and four-year public and private nonprofit institutions that participate in federal student financial aid programs,” they are responsible for 17% of all bachelor's degrees earned by black students, including a large portion of first-generation students that require financial aid to attend college, a growing segment of the student population.

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There is a history of underfunding

All land-grant institutions were initially founded to promote research. White land-grant schools have been able to build their research departments based on years of plentiful state funding historically denied or limited for institutions like TSU.

Despite their value to the educational system, HBCUs have been grossly underfunded compared to the financial support provided by the federal government to other white-majority universities. Forbes estimates that HBCUs have been underfunded by at least $12.8 billion in the last three decades.

According to various laws enacted as far back as 1887, federal land-grant university funding must be matched from a non-federal source, typically the state. However, it wasn’t until 2017 that Tennessee’s state legislature began meeting its matching requirement for TSU, meaning that Tennessee did not legally support the school as required for 105 years of its 110-year existence.

Some effort has been made by Tennessee to improve its support of TSU, yet a significant financial disparity remains. Currently, $8,339 per student in state funding is provided to TSU. However, that amount is nearly 50% less than the $12,865 per student the state provides to the University of Tennessee system, which is 77% white.

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Proven successes despite funding disparities

TSU has accomplished much in the past 11 decades despite the lack of state financial support. In 1999, researchers from the TSU Center for Automated Space Science were the first to discover a planet outside of our solar system.

TSU has received national awards for community service and engagement, and the university obtained the Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. TSU served as a safe haven, opening its doors to flood victims in 2010, and was awarded $8 million for Race to the Top Funds by President Obama (a program that gave grants to states that agreed to implement education policies and practices designed to improve student outcomes).

To set things right, in November 2021, a Joint Land Grant Committee was formed, led by Rep. Harold Love Jr., with the assistance of Tennessee State University leadership. The effort validated that TSU had been underfunded for decades and was now owed between $151 million and $544 million in back funding.

In 2022 Gov. Bill Lee, in a non-partisan agreement, announced in a state-of-the-state speech in June that Tennessee would provide TSU with $250 million in funding designated for physical infrastructure---a substantial win!

The financial segregation experienced by TSU and other HBCUs is not political in the traditional sense, as both political parties have had control of the Tennessee budget during the past 100 years and were unanimous in the consistent and continuous decision to underfund the university. However, a new day has arrived, and HBCUs are experiencing a Renaissance. The funding could not come at a better time, as TSU requires $400 million to ensure that the campus and physical plant receive needed updates.

After 110 years of serving the Nashville community -- that’s the least we can do.

State Rep. Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville, represents District 54 in the Tennessee House of Representatives.