After weeks of allegations, Boston University announced on Tuesday that it found "no issues" with the finances or expenditures of Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research (CAR).
Following the center’s massive layoffs in September, anonymous sources and former and current staff members suggested that there was a "mismatch" between the money taken into CAR and the research produced.
"It’s pretty hard for me to imagine they blew through $30 million in two years," associate professor Spender Piston told the student newspaper The Daily Free Press at the time. "There’s been a lack of transparency about how much money comes in and how it’s spent from the beginning, which comports with a larger culture of secrecy."
"There’s a mismatch between the amount of money that CAR has received from these grants and what they’ve actually produced," an anonymous source added. "You can juxtapose that with other research centers either at BU or other universities that have received a tiny fraction of what CAR has received and has produced a lot more."
However, an article from BU Today, a university publication, reported Tuesday that "an internal audit, found no issues with how CAR’s finances were handled, showing that its expenditures were appropriately charged to their respective grant and gift accounts.
"Our auditors concluded that CAR’s financial management of its grants and gifts was appropriate," BU’s chief financial officer and treasurer Gary Nicksa said.
"None of us at the Center for Antiracist Research (CAR) are surprised that auditors found no misappropriation or mismanagement of grants and gifts. As we have said from the beginning, we pivoted to ensure the long-term viability of CAR," Kendi said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
While the financial audit is complete, the university will now review whether the center properly followed the required reporting processes behind the 19 grants that came from outside foundations.
"We are making sure [CAR] provided what it was supposed to provide to its funding agencies—such as, were progress reports filed when they were supposed to be filed; were deliverables reported as required," vice president and associate provost for research Gloria Waters said, according to BU Today. "And we want to have the best practices and policies in place to assure all our funders that we are meeting their expectations."
IBRAM X. KENDI RESPONDS TO BOSTON UNIVERSITY’S ANTIRACIST CENTER LAYOFFS
CAR came under fire in September after the announcement that nearly half of its staffers would be fired in what the university called an "evolving" process. Staffers soon came out and criticized Kendi, claiming that "institutional failure" was responsible for this decision rather than redesigning.
Kendi has repeatedly denied accusations of financial mismanagement and insisted the accusations were a result of racism.
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"It is unfortunate that individuals near and far spread a false narrative about a Black leader taking or mismanaging funds. But if you know my scholarship, then you know I am hardly surprised about the mass circulation of racist ideas about the corrupt Black leader who needs to be surveilled and investigated. What happened demonstrates just how much CAR is needed—and needs to be supported. I am glad this is behind us so we can get back to work," Kendi told BU Today.
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