Boston University Clears Ibram X. Kendi’s ‘Antiracist’ Center of Financial Mismanagement Complaints

Ibram X. Kendi is seen in a New York City studio on March 10, 2020. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

A weeks-long audit into the finances of Boston University (BU) professor Ibram X. Kendi’s multi-million-dollar “antiracist” think tank has identified “no issues” with that aspect, the university said on Tuesday.

The audit came after the Center for Antiracist Research (CAR) in late September let go more than a third of its employees in what it called a transition from its current “research-based approach” to “a fellowship model,” prompting questions and complaints surrounding the center’s academic output, fund management, and workplace culture.

The CAR raked in more than $50 million in grants and donations since its opening in June 2020 amid the widespread racial unrest following the death of George Floyd. One of the key allegations in the audit was that there was a “mismatch” between the amount of money the center has received and what it has yielded.

However, the internal probe has found “no issues” with how CAR uses its money, according to BU Today, a university publication.

“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, noting that the probe covers a period spanning from June 2020 to September 2023.

The investigation into the workplace culture complaints is still underway, according to BU. The university said it hired a team of third-party auditors to talk with CAR staff members to learn about what it is like working under Mr. Kendi.

In a statement published on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr. Kendi called the mass layoff an “extremely difficult yet crucial” decision to make sure that CAR stays financially sustainable in the long run. He also indicated that his leadership has been placed under an unfairly negative light because of his race.

“It is unfortunate that individuals near and far spread a false narrative about a Black leader taking or mismanaging funds,” wrote the professor, who popularized the idea that it requires “antiracist” actions to combat racism that is purportedly ingrained into American culture.

“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,” he added. “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.”

Big Donations, Little Output

Mr. Kendi, who rose to prominence among progressive activists as riots and anti-police protests raged across the nation, was hired in June 2020 by Boston University as a history professor, and soon founding director of the “antiracist” research center.

With a promise to “solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice,” Mr. Kendi’s center attracted generous donations from corporations, advocacy groups, and individuals seeking to advance progressive causes. Just six weeks after its creation, CAR received a $10 million donation from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, followed by $4.5 million from biotech company Vertex, a $1.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, and many others.

According to 2021 budget records obtained by The Daily Free Press, at least $43 million in grants and gifts had been poured into CAR by that time.

Despite massive funding for his center, it appears that Mr. Kendi has not published a research paper in a peer-reviewed academic journal over the past four years.

Most of his Google Scholar entries during the period are for translations of his previous books, particularly the 2019 New York Times bestseller “How to be an Antiracist” and its spin-offs, such as the 2020 picture book “Antiracist Baby.”

Semantic Scholar, another academic publication database, lists an entry for 2022 in Modern American History, in which Mr. Kendi, along with other scholars, wrote in response to questions submitted by other people.

CAR’s research projects, namely the “Racial Data Lab” and the “Antiracist Tech Initiative,” have hardly been doing any better.

In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Racial Data Lab worked with The Atlantic to create a “COVID racial data tracker,” reportedly relying on a team of volunteers on the newspaper’s part to do all the data collection. The tracker, which stopped updating a year later in March 2021, remains the Lab’s sole project.

The Antiracist Tech Initiative, with stated goals to “co-create research agendas, conduct antiracist research, and engage with communities,” has so far published little more than a dozen interviews and two blog posts.

CAR did successfully partner with The Boston Globe to launch a digital “antiracist” publication called The Emancipator. The publication remains active on The Globe’s internet domain after the partnership ended last year.

Antiracism or Critical Race Theory?

Mr. Kendi doesn’t identify as a critical race theorist, although his “antiracist” ideology mirrors the Marxism-inspired critical race worldview that interprets society through a Marxist dichotomy between “oppressors” and “oppressed,” but replacing the class categories with races.

Like many proponents of critical race theory, Mr. Kendi sees deeply embedded racism in fundamental aspects of American society—including in neutral systems such as constitutional law and standardized tests and blames “systemic racism” to be the root cause of “racial inequity,” or different legal, economic, and educational outcomes between different racial groups.

According to Mr. Kendi, addressing this perceived inequity would require active discrimination against racial groups deemed as “oppressors.” As explained in “How to Be an Antiracist,” discrimination should be considered “antiracist” so long it is “creating equity.”

“The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination,” he wrote.