The student newspaper at Boston University reports:
Three years [since its founding], after at least $43 million in grants and gifts and what sources say has been an underwhelming output of research, the Center for Antiracist Research laid off almost all of its staff last week.
Multiple former staff members allege that a mismanagement of funds, high turnover rate and general disorganization have plagued the Center since its inception.
The $43 million, according to 2021 budget records obtained by The Daily Free Press, includes general support, such as the $10 million from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, as well as donations for specific projects.
The document, which is not an all-inclusive list of donors, also lists TJ Maxx’s foundation, Stop & Shop and Peloton as donating over a million dollars....
A week after the layoffs, BU announced Wednesday that they received complaints “focused on the center’s culture and its grant management practices"....
The Compliance Services Office received an anonymous complaint in 2021 about the Center from Saida Grundy, an associate professor of sociology at BU and former CAR employee.
The complaint detailed multiple high-level employees leaving suddenly and allegations of a workplace culture that included fear of retaliation and discrimination.
After submitting the complaint, Grundy then personally went to then-Provost Jean Morrison in 2021 to discuss the alleged toxic work culture and grant mismanagement, among other significant concerns. Grundy said she sent a follow-up email after the meeting, and Morrison did not reply....
“The pattern of amassing grants without any commitment to producing the research obligated to them continues to be standard operating procedure at CAR,” Grundy wrote to Morrison. “This is not a matter of slow launch. To the best of my knowledge, there is no good faith commitment to fulfilling funded research projects at CAR.”
Grundy said the Center ceased communication when her year-long contract came to an end in June 2021, which she said was retaliation for speaking up about the Center’s underwhelming work and impact on campus.
Kendi is such an obviously unsubstantial charlatan that it's tempting to think this was all predictable from the outset. The more interesting question is why so much capitalist money flowed his way and why so many elite (but inconsequential) institutions (like the MacArthur Foundation and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences) have put his views into practice (i.e., remedying "racial inequities" with affirmative discrimination on behalf of Blacks and other minorities). The most likely answer, of course, is that this whole charade has been a massive distraction from the actual pathologies of the market and the polity it rules.
Consider this: why haven't corporations showered millions of dollars on a serious social critic and analyst like Adolph Reed instead of on Kendi? The question answers itself.
Recent Comments