Opinion: Something’s rotten, and not just in the state of Tennessee

(CNN) —& On Thursday March 28th, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee& dissolved& the board of Tennessee State University (TSU) — the state’s only& public historically black college or university (HBCU)& — with the stroke of his pen. You read that correctly. MAGA Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill to remove every single board member of the state’s sole publicly-funded historically Black university —& and the governor signed it. Because, these extremists allege, the university’s financial situation is so dire that the only possible solution was to vacate the board and start& from scratch. While Lee has since appointed a new slate of board members, it’s important that we see clearly what happened here. TSU’s financial challenges are not the result of some widespread mismanagement on the part of the university’s leadership. In fact, an audit released last week& failed& to find any evidence of “fraud or malfeasance by executive leadership.” There is, on the other hand, plenty of evidence of underinvestment in TSU by the Tennessee Republicans who manufactured the very problem the school now& faces.& Over the past 30 years, the state underfunded TSU by over& $2 billion,& according to the Biden-Harris administration.& How can a public...