WSMV: Attorney Ben Crump Advises TSU on Legal Options to Retrieve Funding
From WSMV …
Tennessee State University students are leading the charge to retrieve billions of state dollars after a federal report claimed billions of dollars should have been given to land-grant HBCUs across the nation.
TSU students held a news conference along with civil rights attorney Ben Crump to discuss the implications of missing funds. Student leaders are leaning on Crump for legal guidance specifically for options to obtain those funds from the state government.
“They wanted to know if they could go forward with their legal options. And I shared with them that they have absolutely every right to demand equality,” said Crump, during the news conference.
After the news conference, the group held a rally and town hall meeting inside of Kean Hall. TSU’s Grammy-award-winning Aristocrats of Bands performed during the rally. Many of the students held signs and wore t-shirts that read “TSU $2 Billion, we’ve been cheated” during the rally.
“This is our moment. Our moment to move forward and to achieve our funds and resources that are rightfully ours,” said Derrell Taylor, TSU SGA President.
Crump mentioned how economic achievement has a direct correlation to education access in this country. He says overall there’s a wealth gap in America, and this underfunding issue is a direct reflection of it.
“We can’t have two different ways of arithmetic in America one for white colleges and another for Black colleges,” said Crump.