A group has filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Board of Regents, accusing the higher ed oversight board of hiring administration tasked with cutting programs and destroying Tennessee State University.

“Evidence exists whereby programs, departments and majors at Tennessee State University have been eliminated, diminished or otherwise made irrelevant while at the same time those programs, majors and departments are now showing up at Austin Peay State, Tennessee Tech, East Tennessee State and Middle Tennessee State universities,” the suit claims.

The complaint described Tennessee State as “in disarray under the administration of Chancellor John Morgan and the direction of interim President Portia Shields.”

The plaintiffs also said “every taxpayer in the state is damaged because an incredible university is being destroyed at the whim of a renegade Tennessee Board of Regents.”

Obviously, there would be great difficulty in proving TSU President Portia Holmes Shields is trying to destroy the university, especially when a new research building is going up, it’s accreditation was reaffirmed, and renovations have begun on the university’s football stadium, among other big moves.

Maybe people don’t like the program cuts, and that’s understandable. Maybe they haven’t had the kind of communication with Dr. Shields that they would like to see from a progressive president. But to accuse of purposefully destroying the institution? It just doesn’t fly.

Tennessee State University