Regents Reprimand Tennessee State University President Over Mishandled Student Honors Program

Black Issues in Higher Education, Sept 30, 1999

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The state Board of Regents reprimanded the president of Tennessee State University earlier this month and stripped control of a student honors program from him after revelations the program has been mishandled.

The university first landed in trouble when state officials discovered the school collected $1.6 million more than it should have under the program.

The university received funding that should have gone to other schools because it reported financial information differently than other participating universities, says Rich Rhoda, executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

"Once we get a firm figure, we will start conversations with the Department of Finance and Administration and Comptroller's Office to determine the best way of resolving that," Rhoda says.

Later, a federal judge overseeing the university's efforts to admit more White students as part of a long-running desegregation agreement said he was upset to learn that most students admitted under the honors program were African American.

U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Wiseman called that "disturbing."

But Dr. James A. Hefner, the historically Black university's president, says the honors program is designed to foster desegregation. Getting better students at the school will enhance its reputation, and make it more attractive to Whites, he contends.

The program, which began in 1994, was intended to be for an exclusive group of about 35 students, says Charles Smith, chancellor of the state Board of Regents. Tennessee State admitted more than 594 students under the program this year.

A 1994 regents' memo suggests that only stellar students such as National Merit Scholars and semifinalists be selected. However, the board did not enact firm entrance requirements or set limits on the number of students who could be admitted.

Tennessee State recruited scores of students from throughout the country and set the entrance requirement at a minimum 3.0 high school grade-point average and a 21 on the ACT college entrance exam. More than half the students who take the ACT test nationwide score 21 or higher.

The regents formally reprimanded Hefner for ignoring an order to stop mishandling the program by allowing too many out-of-state students to enroll at in-state tuition prices. Smith had directed Hefner last fall to discontinue the tuition breaks.