TSU's Glenda Glover leads Harris' campaign to promote HBCUs

Glenda Glover, who ended her decade as president of Tennessee State University this year, has a new role: leading outreach to historically Black colleges and universities for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

“I worked on her Senate campaign. I was one of her earliest supporters when she ran in 2020,” Glover said. “She is extremely qualified to be president of the United States.”

Glover will volunteer for the campaign.

In 2022, Harris delivered the commencement address at TSU. Harris and Glover are also members of Kappa Alpha Kappa, the Black sorority founded in 1908. Glover served as the sorority’s national president from 2018 to 2022.

“Glenda Glover is a trusted national leader who has deep relationships with HBCUs, their presidents, and alumni,” said Trey Baker, senior adviser to Harris’ campaign. “It’s a no-brainer that the vice president will count on Dr. Glover to help engage this vital voting community.”

Glover spent a decade leading TSU, Nashville’s public HBCU, and is an accountant and lawyer. But she has been involved in politics since 1974, when she headed the youth initiative for Harold Love Sr.’s congressional campaign.

“I grew up in a civil rights home in Memphis, in a political home,” he said.

Among HBCU leaders, Glover is recognized as an advocate for higher education for blacks. However, her time at TSU ended in a confrontation with Republican lawmakers that led to the replacement of the school’s board of trustees.

Glover will work with HBCU alumni and schools to organize voter mobilization drives. While his work will focus primarily on the key swing states that will decide the presidential election, Glover stressed that all states were important in supporting Democratic House candidates.

“No administration, no one, has done more for HBCUs than the Biden-Harris administration,” Glover said.

Further: Balancing achievements and controversies: President Glenda Glover’s tenure at TSU

Todd A. Price is a Southern regional reporter for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at [email protected].