getting roughed up on campus. The police raid caused over $10,000 of damage and it was reported over 3,000 shots were fired into the Lanier dormitory. There was little coverage that, the five students whom were charged with conspiracy and incitement of riot were all exonerated due to lack of evidence, or that the police officer died not from student fire, but the ricochet of Houston Police Department bullets.
A Democratic presidential debate took place on September 12, 2019, in TSU's Health and Physical Education Arena.
The university drew national attention in early 2020 when the Governor of Texas appointed board of trustees targeted the university's sitting president and changed its bylaws to give the board the power to remove anyone employed by the university. The board first suspended and then fired president Austin Lane, alleging that he failed to inform them about allegations of fraud committed by a former assistant dean at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Lane disputed the allegations. Just prior …