An internal audit of Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research (CAR) has found no issues with the handling of CAR’s finances, according to the school.
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
The audit comes after CAR founding director Dr. Ibram X. Kendi announced the laying off of 19 people, in doing so prompting outside questions about the center’s grant management and why it had not completed more research with its funding.
The audit. which covered the center’s founding in June 2020 through September 2023, is part of BU’s larger look into CAR, hiring an outside firm to inquire into its workplace culture and climate under Kendi. It found that CAR’s expenditures were appropriately charged to respective grant and gift accounts.
Other findings from the examination are still to come. The school is now looking into CAR’s grants for adherence to proper reporting processes.
After the restructuring, the center will have a staff about half its original size and will have nine-month resident fellows conducting individual projects instead of staff and faculty, according to BU.
“As I have said from the beginning, the restructuring did not come from financial distress brought on by financial mismanagement, and the team of auditors validated this truth,” Kendi said. “We sought to put in place a new financially sustainable structure that will support CAR’s mission for the long term. We are glad to have this financial inquiry behind us and a financially sustainable model ahead of us.”
According to Kendi, the center’s funding since its creation was heavily dependent on donor gifts rather than long-term institutional grants.
