Tennessee State trustees approve permanent presidential contract, delegate signature authority to chair

The Tennessee State University Board of Trustees voted Friday to approve a permanent presidential contract for President Edison Tucker and delegated authority to the board chair to sign the agreement. The board approved the contract after the trustees held an executive session to review terms. The board then returned to open session, moved for approval and adopted a motion delegating signature authority to the board chair to finalize the contract. The vote was taken by roll call. Recorded votes in the transcript show Chair Winton and the following trustees voting "yes": Smith Knight; Norfleet; Qualls; Smith; Towns; Young Sigler; Traubber; Chapman; Bruce. The board announced that the motion carried. The transcript does not provide the name of the member who made the original motion or the member who seconded but records a motion, a second and the roll-call approval. The board chair opened the item by noting board members had received the proposed presidential contract in advance and offered options for discussion, including a 30-minute executive session to consider the full terms. Trustee Smith Knight moved to go into executive session; trustees seconded the motion and the body recessed. After the executive-session discussion, the chair presented a motion to approve the permanent presidential contract and to delegate to the chair the authority to sign the contract on behalf of the board; the motion was seconded and passed by roll call. Next steps noted in the meeting: the chair will sign the authorized contract for President Tucker on the board's behalf and the administration will complete any follow-up administrative tasks necessary to implement the contract. No additional terms, dollar amounts, amendment language or contract length were read into the public record during the open meeting; those details were discussed in executive session and are not part of the public transcript.