(The Lion) — A project led by one of the most prominent left-wing academics in America is shutting down after producing virtually no academic research.
The Center for Antiracist Research (CAR), headed by Ibram X. Kendi at Boston University (BU), is closing June 30, the school announced. Kendi is leaving to take a role at Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C.
”BU hired Kendi, a leading historian and antiracist scholar, in 2020 from American University in Washington, D.C., to open the center,” a BU Today update read. “The explosion of activism and interest on the subject led to several strong years of fundraising and research.”
The center has 12 employees left after a previous wave of downsizing amid allegations of mismanagement and mistreatment of employees. The school said the remaining workers are “receiving resources and support to assist with their transitions,” according to BU Today.
Kendi, who has authored several books on “antiracism,” said he is proud of what the center accomplished.
“Despite all the headwinds we faced as a new organization founded during the pandemic and the intense backlash over critical race theory, I am very proud of all we envisioned, all we created, all we learned, all we achieved—the community we built, the people we helped and inspired,” Kendi said in a statement.
The New York Times reported in September 2023 that CAR was downsizing despite receiving $55 million in donations.
The center reportedly produced little research and faced accusations of fund mismanagement; it also failed to deliver projects it promised and Kendi faced accusations of mistreating his employees, according to journalist Christopher Rufo.
Professor Saida Grundy, the center’s assistant director of narrative in 2020 and 2021, filed a formal complaint with the school against the center in 2021.
She claimed that employees feared disagreeing with Kendi, the center’s employees consistently worked more hours than expected and the amount of work the center produced was small compared to the funding it received, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The Daily Free Press, Boston University’s student newspaper, said in 2023 that CAR had produced an “underwhelming output of research.”
Spencer Piston, the center’s former policy office lead, admitted the center lacked rigorous academic research.
He told Inside Higher Ed the center’s employees “produced research that might not be behind an academic paywall, might not be peer-reviewed, but it feeds directly into social movement work. It feeds directly into the antiracist struggle.”
Kendi responded to the media coverage surrounding CAR’s struggles last year by telling the Daily Free Press, “Not everyone wants to build an antiracist society.
“I have been disappointed in journalists who report criticisms of a Black leader without asking for evidence to substantiate those allegations. Racist ideas about a corrupt Black leader running a dysfunctional or toxic organization are so ingrained that reporters don’t feel the need for evidence,” Kendi added.
Kendi will be the director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study to focus on “global African diaspora,” according to Campus Reform. He will cover areas such as “race, technology, racism, climate change, and disparities,” the report said.
