Title 49, Education

(a) By July 31 of each year, a campus meeting the qualification criteria and attaining the VETS campus designation shall provide the following data to THEC:(1) The number of veterans enrolled at the campus;(2) The programs of study in which veterans are enrolled;(3) The completio…

No person acting on a presidential search committee for any public higher education system or institution in this state shall be eligible for initial employment or for promotion by that system or institution of higher education for a period of twelve (12) months after the complet…

(a) State institutions of higher education shall develop and implement uniform procedures for awarding academic credit applicable toward a degree or credential for military education, training, experience, and occupational specialties in the form of course credit equivalencies. S…

(a) An expenditure or combination of separate expenditures in excess of one million dollars ($1,000,000), or a subsequent greater threshold established by the state building commission, made in a six-month period on a single building or structure owned or leased by a public four-…

(a) A person commits the offense of misrepresentation of academic credentials who, knowing that the statement is false and with the intent to secure employment at or admission to an institution of higher education in Tennessee, represents, orally or in writing, that the person:(1…

(1) The board of regents, the state university boards, and the board of trustees of the University of Tennessee shall adopt policies to govern reductions in force that could result in employee layoffs or terminations at their respective institutions of higher education. The polic…

Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, including § 4-4-121, § 39-17-1551, or title 39, chapter 17, part 18, the board of regents, the trustees of the university of Tennessee, and state university board of each public institution of higher education may adopt policies regulating…

(a) The board of trustees of the University of Tennessee, the board of regents, and the state university boards shall adopt uniform rules requiring the placement of an emergency keyed lock box in all student dormitories and other campus housing with functioning elevators. The eme…

(a) Each public institution of higher education is strongly encouraged to offer instruction aimed at increasing the awareness and prevention of hate crime offenses, sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and date rape to all students. (b) Each public institution of hi…

The institutions of the University of Tennessee system and the state university and community college system shall adopt a policy concerning preference for admission to residents of this state.

(a) Every public postsecondary institution is authorized to provide campus-wide wireless internet access to students, faculty, staff and the general public without charge. (b) For purposes of this section, “public postsecondary institution” means:(1) An institution operated by th…

Records and information that concern gifts to public institutions of higher education or foundations established under § 49-7-107, and that include the name, address, telephone number, social security number, driver license information, or any other personally identifiable inform…

The higher education foundation investment pool is created for the purpose of receiving and investing a higher education foundation's money in the custody of any officer or officers of the state unless prohibited by statute to be invested. For the purposes of this section, “highe…

(a) A higher education foundation may participate in the investment pool by submitting a request to the state treasurer to have some or all of its money invested in the investment pool. (b) Should a participant wish to discontinue its participation in the investment pool, it may …

The state treasurer shall be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the investment pool and for establishing policies and procedures to manage the operations and responsibilities of the investment pool, including, but not limited to, establishing criteria for participat…

(a) The investment pool shall be invested and managed solely in the interest of the participants in the investment pool in a manner consistent with § 35-14-107, the prudent investor rule pursuant to § 35-14-103, the standard of care pursuant to § 35-14-104, and the exercise of re…

The state treasurer shall establish a revolving account, under the state treasurer's custody, to defray administrative costs of the investment pool. The state treasurer may deduct from each participant's pro rata earnings through the investment pool a reasonable charge for admini…

As the administrator of the investment pool, the state treasurer is authorized to receive, invest, and distribute a participant's funds by means of an electronic transfer or other reasonable methods.

(a) The University of Tennessee system and the Tennessee board of regents shall develop policies for minimizing the cost of textbooks and course materials used at public institutions of higher education while maintaining quality of education and academic freedom. These policies s…

(a) Each public and private institution of higher education in the state that has student residential computer networks shall:(1) Adopt and reasonably implement a policy defining computer and network usage and ethics that applies to students, staff, and faculty that clearly descr…

(a) Any public institution of higher education that collects personal information from students, including, but not limited to, names, campus or home addresses, telephone numbers, or other identifying information, for the purpose of using this information in student or campus dir…

(a) No person, agent, group or entity of whatever kind, alone or in concert with others, shall operate in this state a postsecondary educational institution unless, prior to a student signing an enrollment contract or agreement, the institution provides any prospective student a …

The Tennessee student assistance corporation shall develop a student disclosure form to provide notice of the specifics of loans consistent with state and federal law on the subject.

A public institution of higher education shall notify a parent or legal guardian of a student under twenty-one (21) years of age, if the student has committed a disciplinary violation with respect to the use or possession of alcohol, a controlled substance, or a controlled substa…

(a) A public institution of higher education may offer remedial or developmental courses, coursework, or other methods such as corequisite remediation to address a student's remedial needs, as determined by the public institution of higher education. (b) A state university and th…

Institutions of higher education offering approved teacher training programs under chapter 5, part 55 [repealed] of this title are urged to explore ways in which research methodologies related to comparative education concepts that study and examine teaching practices and learnin…

(a) This section shall be known as and may be cited as the “Kristen Azevedo Act.” (b) All persons applying at public institutions of higher education for employment in housing facilities owned or operated by such institutions, who shall have access to student rooms or apartments,…

The community colleges of the board of regents system are authorized and encouraged to enter into reverse articulation or reverse transfer agreements with the universities of the board of regents and the University of Tennessee systems and with private institutions of higher educ…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement Act.”

The purpose of this part is to authorize the state's participation in a state authorization reciprocity agreement relative to postsecondary distance education.

(1) As used in this part:(1) “Commission” means the Tennessee higher education commission;(2) “Complaint” means a complaint or grievance against a Tennessee SARA institution filed by a non-Tennessee student residing in a member state other than Tennessee and whose complaint is re…

(1) The commission is authorized to:(1) Enter into the interstate reciprocity agreement known as SARA, or any successor organization, which serves the purpose of approving institutions in Tennessee to participate in SARA;(2) Serve as the portal agency for SARA;(3) Act in accordan…

(a) The commission is authorized to annually collect fees from each Tennessee SARA institution based on full-time enrollment and commensurate with the costs of administering SARA. The commission may set fees by:(1) Defaulting to the fees set for the initial application, annual re…

(a) As applicable to Tennessee SARA institutions, the commission's complaint investigation and resolution under this part shall be limited to complaints:(1) Filed by a student residing in a member state other than Tennessee;(2) Where the complaint involves a distance education co…

(a) Institutions in Tennessee that offer distance education may apply to the commission for approval to participate in SARA as a Tennessee SARA institution. (b) The commission may commence an action to revoke a Tennessee SARA institution's approval as a participating SARA institu…

(a) The board of trustees of the University of Tennessee, the advisory boards for the University of Tennessee institutions, the board of regents of the state university and community college system, and the state university boards are not subject to the requirement of § 8-44-108(…

(a) As used in this section, “military veteran” means a person who has entered and served honorably in the United States armed forces on active duty, active national guard or active reserves. (b) A military veteran who is a current resident of this state or whose home of record f…

An interest inventory such as the Kuder assessment, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory, the ASVAB or other interest or career exploration inventory shall be available to all public postsecondary students beginning in their freshman year as a follow up to the intere…

(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, an application for a position of chief executive officer of a public institution of higher education, materials submitted with an application, letters of recommendation or references concerning an applicant, and any other records or in…

(a) (1) When the consortium approves a dual credit class that is accepted for credit by a four-year institution of higher education in either the board of regents system or the University of Tennessee system, then, upon approval by the state board of education of the class's curr…

(a) No state higher education institution that grants recognition to any student organization shall discriminate against or deny recognition to a student organization, or deny to a student organization access to programs, funding, or facilities otherwise available to another stud…

The governing board or government entity, as defined in § 4-1-407(a), of a public institution of higher education operating under chapter 8 or 9 of this title shall not adopt policies, rules or directives that substantially burden students' free exercise of religion, but shall co…

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Brian Byrge Act.” (b) As used in this section, “space availability” means the maximum possible enrollment for the class has not been reached. (c) Temporary part-time employees and regular part-time employees of the communit…

There is no cause of action against a public institution of higher education for any loss, damage, injury, or death arising from COVID-19, as defined in § 14-1-101, unless the claimant proves by clear and convincing evidence that the loss, damage, injury, or death was proximately…

(a) All campuses of public higher education institutions operated by the board of regents or University of Tennessee board of trustees shall hold observances for Veterans Day on or near the day recognized as the national day of observance. (b) It is the intent of the general asse…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Tuition Transparency and Tennessee Responsible Borrowing Initiative Act”.