Posted on January 31, 2025

Center for Anti-Racist Research To Close Down

James Bickerton, Newsweek, January 31, 2025

Boston University has announced its Center for Antiracist Research (CAR), which was founded in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, will close on June 30, with founding director Ibram X. Kendi leaving to join Howard University in Washington, D.C.

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Boston University revealed its CAR was shutting down in a statement released on Thursday, along with the departure of Kendi, a historian specializing in racism who wrote the 2019 book How to Be An Antiracist which became a best seller the following year.

According to the statement, the center currently has 12 staff members who are “receiving resources and support” after it was announced their employment would end on June 30.

In its statement, Boston University said it had hired Kendi in 2020 to open its CAR following “a string of killings of Black men and women in the United States, most notably the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis.”

It added: “The explosion of activism and interest on the subject led to several strong years of fundraising and research.”

However, the university also noted that in September 2023, “with public support having shifted and contributions waning,” the center “pursued a new strategy under Kendi” which “included eliminating 19 staff positions.” Kendi faced accusations of financial mismanagement, though an audit by Boston University found no evidence of wrongdoing.

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Howard University is a historically Black college in Washington, D.C. whose alumni includes former Vice President Kamala Harris, who delivered her 2024 presidential concession speech at the institution.