https://dailyfreepress.com/2023/09/21/amid-mass-layoffs-bu-center-for-antiracist-research-accused-of-mismanagement-of-funds-disorganization/ * Staff Applications * Contact * Board + About + Staff Training + Code of Ethics + Standards * Donate * Advertising * Print Edition * Tips * Archive * Press + Semester in Review + Press Releases * Staff Applications * Contact * Board + About + Staff Training + Code of Ethics + Standards * Donate * Advertising * Print Edition * Tips * Archive * Press + Semester in Review + Press Releases The Daily Free Press The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University Thursday, September 21, 2023 [ ] [Search] Menu * News + Campus + City + Campus COVID-19 Data + State COVID-19 Data * Sports + Boston Hockey Blog + Ice Hockey + Basketball + Soccer + Field Hockey + Lacrosse + Softball + Cross Country + Track and Field + Club Sports + Columnists * Community + Profiles + Impact + International * Business & Tech + Science * Arts & Entertainment + Local + Reviews + Music + Movies & TV + Pop Culture + Fashion & Beauty + Games * Lifestyle + Food + Relationships + Campus Life + Advice * Opinion + Columns + Editorial + Comics + Letters to Editor + Op-Ed * Multimedia + Podcasts o Unmasked o Fair Admission o East to West o Terrier Hockey Talk o Is It OK If I Record? o Blaming the Messenger o Clout Chasing + Photo + Video * Investigative * News + Campus + City + Campus COVID-19 Data + State COVID-19 Data * Sports + Boston Hockey Blog + Ice Hockey + Basketball + Soccer + Field Hockey + Lacrosse + Softball + Cross Country + Track and Field + Club Sports + Columnists * Community + Profiles + Impact + International * Business & Tech + Science * Arts & Entertainment + Local + Reviews + Music + Movies & TV + Pop Culture + Fashion & Beauty + Games * Lifestyle + Food + Relationships + Campus Life + Advice * Opinion + Columns + Editorial + Comics + Letters to Editor + Op-Ed * Multimedia + Podcasts o Unmasked o Fair Admission o East to West o Terrier Hockey Talk o Is It OK If I Record? o Blaming the Messenger o Clout Chasing + Photo + Video * Investigative Campus, Investigative, News Amid mass layoffs, BU Center for Antiracist Research accused of mismanagement of funds, disorganization September 21, 2023 3:48 am by Daily Free Press Staff By Molly Farrar and Lydia Evans Boston University hired Ibram X. Kendi to lead its new Center for Antiracist Research in 2020, a year marked by a global pandemic and nationwide racial tension. Three years later, 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. [Digital_Ibram_MontclairFilm-400x266]Ibram X. Kendi speaks at a panel hosted by Montclair Film on Wednesday, August 14, 2019. PHOTO COURTESY OF MONTCLAIR FILM VIA FLICKR 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. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of "How to Be an Antiracist," Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and a history professor at BU, founded the Center three years after he founded the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. Kendi talked to BU Today when BU's Center first launched in 2020. "My hope is that it becomes a premier research center for researchers and for practitioners to really solve these intractable racial problems of our time," Kendi said to BU Today. "Not only will the center seek to make that level of impact, but also work to transform how racial research is done." A week after the layoffs, BU announced Wednesday that they received complaints "focused on the center's culture and its grant management practices." "We are expanding our inquiry to include the Center's management culture and the faculty and staff's experience with it," BU spokesperson Colin Riley said. "Boston University and Dr. Kendi believe strongly in the Center's mission, and ... he takes strong exception to the allegations made in recent complaints and media reports." 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. As Provost, Morrison was instrumental in Kendi's hiring, according to Grundy and BU Today. "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. BU notes an 8% increase in Black enrollment over the past five years as of 2020-2021. The Boston Globe reported in 2021 that out of BU's 3,030 faculty members, there were 71 Black female instructors, including seven tenured instructors in 2019. The University reported the Black undergraduate student population as about 4.8% in the 2021-2022 academic year. Kendi's hiring and the founding of the Center were BU's way to address their "race problem," Grundy said. "They don't want to address Black enrollment because they don't want to be seen as a school that's getting Blacker, because they want to raise their prestige," Grundy said. "That's the real racism." Phillipe Copeland, a clinical associate professor in the School of Social Work and former assistant director of the Narrative office at CAR, spent two years developing educational programming for the Center. He left his role in June. "The narrative that seems to be coming from CAR and from BU is that this is some innovative, organizational pivot or redesign rather than an institutional failure, for which people need to be accountable," he said before the inquiry was launched. "There needs to actually be an explanation to people who invested time and energy in the Center." Two emails sent to Kendi's chief of staff requesting comment from CAR and Kendi were not answered. "It's a real mess," Copeland said. "There's just no winners here." LAYOFFS AND FUNDING The University would not confirm the number of affected staff, but sources familiar with the matter say at least 20 to 30 staff members have been let go as the Center "evolves" toward a nine-month fellowship model. "The University and Center are committed to working with and supporting affected employees as they look for their next opportunities," Riley wrote in an email. Riley wrote that The Emancipator, CAR's digital publication that previously partnered with the Boston Globe, is not affected by the layoffs, and Kendi will remain the Center's director. Copeland said, to his knowledge, these massive layoffs are unheard of at BU. "It does damage to this area of work because there are already people out there that are trying to discredit antiracism," Copeland said. "To have such a high-profile person be associated with leading an organization that fails so spectacularly, that has a ripple effect." A CAR manager, who requested to remain anonymous, was laid off on Sept. 13. In several Zoom meetings, groups of four to five employees were let go in each meeting. The manager described the layoffs as "rehearsed." "We felt disposable," they said before the inquiry announcement. "I'm surprised that there's still no official statement. Actually, it adds to the disrespect, in my opinion, almost as if it can be kept under wraps." They said much of the work at the Center was being postponed until Kendi, who was on leave as of July 31, returned to work. His return to work coincided with the layoffs to make room for "CAR 2.0," according to emails obtained by The Daily Free Press. The manager said staff were informed of a hiring freeze in June, and it was communicated to staff that a restructuring would occur when Kendi returned from his leave. "We have been hearing for weeks or months about a new vision for the Center, and how that would be communicated when he came back," they said. "A lot of the reason why a lot of projects were on pause [was] because we didn't know what that vision was going to look like." Former staff members said the Center appeared to prioritize fundraising and revenue over research. "If something was not sufficiently revenue-producing, then it wasn't for CAR's time," Copeland said. BU is not commenting on the reason for the layoffs, but according to multiple people familiar with the matter, Kendi told staff that the model of the Center is not currently financially sustainable. Copeland said that earlier this year, the Center's staff were told at least one funder would not continue investing in the Center because they were unhappy with the work being done. "People started to get nervous," Copeland said. "A funder, or more than one funder was like, basically, 'we're seeing the same thing that your staff are seeing, which is that the Center is having a problem, and we're not going to keep giving you money.'" Spencer Piston, an associate professor of political science, who works as the faculty lead in the Policy office at the Center, said the layoffs are surprising given that the new fellowship model "will involve hiring new people." He said he is unsure if his job is secure at the Center. "It's pretty hard for me to imagine they blew through $30 million in two years," Piston said. "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." Multiple CAR staff members said the Center was disorganized, and Kendi was ill-equipped to lead. The Center hired an executive director to run operations in Jan. 2022, who left after 14 months. "Just because you're a good scholar in your field doesn't mean that you know how to run an organization, and that's why lots of people don't do that," Copeland said about Kendi. "I don't know if it's a disciplinary issue as much as just a leadership ability issue." Copeland said the Center seemed disconnected from the University community, and that "it could've been a separate thing." Research institutions do not need to be affiliated with a university, he said. "From my perspective, the University allowed this to happen. They invited him to come. They gave him this power and money. They gave him public support, and now we're in a situation where mass layoffs are happening," Copeland said. "That didn't happen in a vacuum." CAR'S WORK SO FAR The Center is split into four offices: Research, Narrative, Policy and Advocacy. A former CAR employee involved in research leadership at the Center in 2020 said many investors were interested in quantitative research about racial disparities. Specific grant funding ranged from funding the COVID Racial Data Tracker to health and food disparity research, summing hundreds of thousands of dollars. With tens of millions of dollars total, the Center was well-funded to meet those goals, the anonymous source said. "There's a mismatch between the amount of money that CAR has received from these grants and what they've actually produced," they said. "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." Kendi told the Boston Globe in 2020 that the Center's goals included data science-based research. "Data science is going to be one of the pillars of our new center and the University's investments in data science were attractive," he told the Globe. The Racial Data Lab and the Antiracist Tech Initiative make up the extent of the Center's data-based output under their Research category, according to CAR's website. The COVID Racial Data Tracker, a collaboration with The Atlantic that started during Kendi's time at AU, is the Racial Data Lab's sole project, according to CAR's website. The tracker stopped collecting data a year later in March of 2021. The Racial Data Lab only includes the now-defunct tracker. "The Center has very, very much failed to deliver on its promise. It's been a colossal waste of millions of dollars," said Piston, noting that individual staff members did make progress on specific projects while facing high turnover and lack of support from management. Of the five CAR contributors who worked on the COVID Racial Data Tracker, only two are still with the Center as of July: Kendi's chief of staff, Adeline Guttierez-Nunez, and Kendi. The final category in research, which has been missing an associate director since 2021, is the Antiracist Tech Initiative. The tech initiative lists three priorities, based on the materials listed on CAR's website: to co-create research agendas, conduct antiracist research and engage with communities. No other details or deliverables were listed. A former CAR employee involved in research leadership, who also asked to remain anonymous, said the Center was not able to hire a qualified senior social scientist, and it seemed like Kendi was not "interested in bringing [one] on, or seemingly couldn't," they said. In addition to the alleged lack of research output, CAR's 2020-2021 Donor Impact Report presented several projects planned to launch within the next two years, including the American Antiracist Society and the third National Antiracist Book Festival. The CAR budget included a $170,000 grant from the Raikes Foundation to appoint an assistant director of Advocacy. The Donor Impact Report stated that the assistant director of Advocacy would be appointed specifically to develop the American Antiracist Society. Though the society was planned to launch publicly in early 2022 and appointed an assistant director of Advocacy in November 2021, no mention of the American Antiracist Society currently appears on CAR's website. The first National Antiracist Book Festival took place in person at AU, where Kendi led their antiracist research center. The second festival was held virtually in 2022 with CAR, featuring guests such as Angela Davis, former The Emancipator co-editor-in-chief Deborah Douglas, and 50 other authors, including Kendi. Copeland, who worked with authors, was told the National Antiracist Book Festival was canceled, and little explanation was offered to staff members who worked on the event, he said. "This is the biggest event that we have that engages the most people, so to decide that you're just not going to do that anymore seemed odd to me," Copeland said. "This is not indicative of a healthy organization when you're just canceling your biggest draw." Inspired by a Boston-based abolitionist newspaper from the 1830s, CAR and the Boston Globe launched The Emancipator in 2021 and began publishing in 2022. "If there was ever a body of people who should be arguing out the definition of a term, particularly a seemingly politically charged term like 'racism,' why would it not be journalists?" Kendi told the New York Times in 2021 about The Emancipator. "They should define the term based on evidence." The Emancipator, while still active with a bostonglobe.com domain, is no longer associated with the Boston Globe after a two-year partnership, according to internal emails obtained by The Daily Free Press. The paper is currently searching for a new editor-in-chief to replace the two former editors-in-chief. "The move to BU will streamline its operations and fundraising efforts and will unite the editorial team under one organization," Linda Henry, the CEO of Boston Globe Media, and editorial page editor James Dao wrote to the Boston Globe newsroom. The email went on to thank those involved, including The Emancipator co-founder Bina Venkataraman and former editor-in-chief Amber Payne, who transitioned to publisher. The note did not mention co-founder Kendi. Copeland, who was involved with the Narrative office, said the decision to cut ties with the Boston Globe was confusing, much like the decision to cancel the book festival. "The Globe has much more legitimacy and reach than a little startup publication that nobody's heard of yet," Copeland said while acknowledging The Emancipator's work so far. Copeland also said none of his work came to fruition, which included developing coursework for a graduate degree and an undergraduate minor in Antiracist Studies. "The whole thing has been abandoned in part because I just think CAR was not able to generate sufficient support from the faculty to pull it off," he said. CAR's Policy office lists multiple public comments and amicus briefs about racial and ethnic data, civil rights and mass criminalization and incarceration on the website. The manager who was laid off last Wednesday said while progress was made, work completed across the sectors, especially in the Policy office, was not highlighted. "It was mostly about him, rather than the work, and it was just very difficult to highlight the work over the founder," said the anonymous manager. The 2021-2022 Antibigotry Convening, a Policy project mentioned in the Donor Impact Report, brought together 35 scholars for an output of short essays regarding different intersections of identity, all funded by a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, according to the CAR budget document. The Convening was an academic-year-long virtual fellowship culminating in a report of collected essays that contributed "to public conversations about bigotry by focusing particularly on its structural aspects," according to the Center's website. Grundy said several faculty affiliates who participated in the Convening "walked away from the project soured by what they feel was not only an exploitative ask, but also a deeply anti-intellectual endeavor," anti-intellectual because the project solely promoted Kendi's work, "not a scholarly dialogue." Heron Greenesmith, a fellow for the Convening who focused on anti-trans and anti-LGBT activity, said Grundy's complaint was a "strange critique." "It was phenomenal, being in conversation with other experts in their areas of research," Greenesmith said. Jason Stanley, a philosophy professor at Yale University, wrote in an email that he participated in about two to three Zoom calls for the Convening and gave a short talk. Stanley is credited as a fellow on CAR's webpage. WHAT'S NEXT Riley, BU spokesperson, said a previous examination of the Center's grant management practices will continue while new information comes to light about the Center's culture. "We recognize the importance of Dr. Kendi's work and the significant impact it has had on antiracist thinking and policy," Riley said. Now, amid BU's inquiry, Piston calls for accountability. "We complained in writing years ago to the Provost, who did not even bother to respond to us," Piston wrote in a statement. "A more appropriate response would be to remove Dr. Kendi from the directorship and hand governance over to the fired staff, who have been working intensely with deep commitment to the cause of racial justice." Molly and Lydia started the investigation in December 2022 while Molly was the editor-in-chief of The Daily Free Press. Molly has since graduated and Lydia works part time for Boston.com which is owned by Boston Globe Media. [ffbe062e] Author: Daily Free Press Staff 13 Comments 1. [820d0e4e] Bob September 21, 2023 at 10:34 am * Reply Sad to see such a beacon turn out to be a flickering candle that will soon blow out in the wind. Tragic. Just Tragic. 2. [d8c45f46] John Lyons September 21, 2023 at 11:18 am * Reply Some seriously stellar reporting. The real travesty here is that this largely promotional "research center" was amassing funds while TAs, RAs, etc were fighting for scraps. 3. [67997de7] Vicki September 21, 2023 at 11:23 am * Reply Very comprehensive article, thanks DFP staff! 4. [57ef4c0b] Anon September 21, 2023 at 11:32 am * Reply "It's pretty hard for me to imagine they blew through $30 million in two years," Piston said. "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." it's not hard for me to imagine they blew $30 million. why? 1)I watched them gut the entire area of the building where the offices are located. It was quite a process watching them dismantle and rebuild the office suites. As a person interested in renovations, this was dramatic, speedy, and no doubt costly. 2) Additionally, I always wondered where the head of the organization was as it never seemed that he was in Boston/ at Boston University when he appeared on TV or on BU sponsored Zoom events. Might be worthwhile to audit travel records to see what was going on there. I feel so badly for the 20-30 staff members that were fired. Sounds like it was a very toxic work environment. I hope that they find healing and new positions. Further, I hope that BU HR will find roles for them somewhere in the University system. It seems as if BU wanted so badly to be adjacent to this big, popular, young superstar talent, and totally disregarded the CV of person they put in place. In academia, this is not unusual, because there is such a fight and desire to be relevant and find ways to attract more students and funding. It's all about the all mighty dollar, and BU's Charles River Campus leadership has blown it once again. 5. [e8522352] Lydia September 21, 2023 at 11:35 am * Reply Like Sharpton, BLM et. al. we saw from day one that this guy was a grifter and a shakedown artist. The people involved in giving him millions to utterly waste on revenge racism "research" should be ashamed, as those were funds that could have been directed at something positive and useful. That they should feel as dumb as they look. 6. [409b367c] Charles M Velikis September 21, 2023 at 12:10 pm * Reply this office was a joke from the start. Stop with the band Wagon Concepts. get back to EDUCATION. + [47052ce6] Any Idiot September 21, 2023 at 1:23 pm * Reply Really? You can't think of any way an educational institution could contribute to fighting racism? 7. [7ab5e84d] Blake September 21, 2023 at 12:27 pm * Reply Breaking news: social justice org w/vague, idealistic, unmeasurable mission turns out to not have a very well-defined purpose for existing 8. [5fbd755b] Alessandra Kellermann of BU Parents United September 21, 2023 at 2:09 pm * Reply This is extremely sad to see and in short it sounds like this became a slow but continuous battle between Professor Kendi, his ego and personal book sales verses dedicated staff and scholars,students who were dedicated to ensure the intended higher purpose of building a world research and resource center for Anti-Racism. It's even more disappointing that the promised courses for graduate and undergraduate students were never fully developed and initiated. Millions of dollars of donations and grants and lack of transparency? It's no wonder the Boston Globe severed ties in order to preserve their own world class reputation. Hoping perhaps with some more changes such as a new role for Professor Kendi at BU and new leadership, we can resuscitate the center to benefit students and scholars worldwide and help us understand and combat racism more effectively. Bring back the fired staff and recruit researchers and scholars who are willing to put their egos and alleged greed for personal book sales aside for the greater good. Racism is more prevalent than ever and the work needs to be done. 9. [00d269c4] J. Heron September 21, 2023 at 2:35 pm * Reply Disheartening to say the least. It's possible that Prof. Kendi's health struggles played a role in this debacle. https:// www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-08-29/ ibram-x-kendi-stage-4-colorectal-cancer-survivor 10. [86f529d4] James Iffland September 21, 2023 at 2:54 pm * Reply The Center's objective is laudable. It would be a shame if this situation discredits it. Having said that, some BU faculty feel that the Center has been remiss in not having taken a better look at its host institution. Below are links to two items from the Daily Free Press which refer to the case of Rodrigo Lopes de Barros, formerly of the Department of Romance Studies in CAS. Unfortunately, attempts to have the Center show even minimal interest in the case came to nothing. Yes, registering concern about this egregious case could be construed as "biting the hand that feeds you", but if the Center has been sincere in its stated objectives, it should have spoken up at some point. Lopes de Barros's status as an Assistant Professor at BU came to an end on June 30, 2023. His case before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination is pending. If he wins, it will make the Center look worse than it currently does. (Antiracism should begin at home...) https://dailyfreepress.com/2023/03/31/ bu-professor-denied-tenure-sues-university-for-discrimination/ https://dailyfreepress.com/2023/05/01/ letter-to-the-editor-faculty-letter-to-president-brown-regarding-bu-professors-denied-tenure / As an example of the attention this case is garnering at a national and international level, I append the text of a letter sent last spring to BU officials by the Officers and Executive Committee of the Brazilian Studies Association. It shows that this case is not just a trivial local matter. May 24, 2023 To Whom It May Concern: The Officers and Executive Committee of the Brazilian Studies Association register objection to the decision to deny tenure to Rodrigo Lopes de Barros, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies of Boston University. Prof. Lopes de Barros is an outstanding scholar who has made original and necessary contributions to Latin American literary and film studies with a focus on Brazil and Cuba. He is an important voice in contemporary Brazilian studies in the United States and a cherished teacher, mentor, and colleague. His tenure and promotion case received strong support from a number of highly qualified scholars and was recommended by all the committees that reviewed his case before being rejected at the provost's level. The Brazilian Studies Association urges President Brown and Provost Morrison to reconsider this decision and grant tenure and promotion to Prof. Lopes de Barros. Prof. Lopes de Barros is the author of a monograph, Distortion and Subversion: Punk Rock Music and the Protests for Free Public Transportation in Brazil (1996-2011), published by Liverpool University Press (2022), which has an excellent catalogue of titles relating to Brazilian/Latin American literary and cultural studies. We note, for example, that Liverpool UP also published Bruno Carvalho's Porous City: A Cultural History of Rio de Janeiro, which received the Roberto Reis Best Book Prize from the Brazilian Studies Association in 2014 and was the centerpiece of Prof. Carvalho's successful bid for tenure at Princeton University, before his move to Harvard University in 2018. Prof. Lopes de Barros is also the author of series of articles published by prestigious journals such as Comparative Literature Studies and Alea: Estudos Neolatinos and the co-editor of Ruinologias: ensaios sobre of destrocos do presente (EdUFSC, 2016). In addition, he has directed film documentaries on Brazilian writers Chacal and Jacques Fux. All these works are marked by a unique critical gaze that investigates transversal, unsuspected connections between authors, contexts, and intellectual traditions. His monograph mobilizes an innovative set of methodologies to investigate how punk rock, understood as a musical, political, and performative practice, has impacted one of the most consequential chapters of contemporary popular movements in Brazil, which is movement for affordable public transportation. In doing so, Prof. Lopes de Barros offers a new reading of the history of the punk movement in Brazil, that takes into consideration its many aesthetic, political, and racial specificities in the context of expanding metropolitan areas in the country. In other portions of Prof. Lopes de Barros's scholarship, he offers original contributions to reconsider the cultural and political stakes of the present through the lenses of avant-garde and other early-twentieth-century artists and thinkers, showing how theorizations on the concepts of ruin and fetish, among others, can tie together periods, authors, and questions rarely put side by side. Finally, Prof. Lopes de Barros has often probed the limits of critical activity by reinventing it as a documentary filmmaker and through hybrid critical and creative exercises, such as his work on Fux. Very few scholars today offer the combination of rigorous inquiry and creative energy found in Prof. Lopes de Barros's work. Prof. Lopes de Barros has also received enthusiastic support from Boston University's faculty as recorded in articles from the Daily Free Press as well as in a petition organized by students. All of these voices render evident his talent as a teacher, his continuous support to students, and his important mission as one of the only faculty members working on the Caribbean and on Brazil in the realm of literary and cultural studies on campus. We share their sense of dismay that Boston University stands to lose a talented and versatile scholar who has pursued a range of activities in serious and systematic fashion. Moreover, his colleagues have expressed their deep concern regarding the impact of such denial on the university's stated efforts to increase diversity on campus. The absence of a reasonable justification for the tenure denial of a Black Brazilian professor who possesses the necessary qualifications for tenure and promotion, against the recommendation of the university's own members, makes the present situation even more concerning. We are troubled by reports outlined in the public letter from faculty published in the May 1, 2023 edition of the Daily Free Press, which suggest that there were serious procedural errors in the report issued by University Appointments, Promotions and Tenure Committee (UAPT). The letter indicates that UAPT raised concerns about candidate's citation rate, yet also noted that the committee used incorrect data due to confusion related to his compound surname. His faculty colleagues also pointed out that his citation rate is comparable to some of the leading scholars in his field. We further argue that measuring citation rate is not typically how humanities scholars are evaluated at such an early stage in a career. As his first book was published just last year, it's too early to evaluate its citation rate. Finally, the letter indicates that the UAPT expressed concern that the response rate for letters of tenure evaluation was relatively low. His faculty colleagues have noted that this rate may be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, while also observing that it was comparable to the rate of a recent case involving a successful promotion to full professor. We would add that the response rate for these requests is not a useful metric for evaluating a candidate's stature in the field. Potential evaluators regularly turn down or simply ignore these requests for any number of valid reasons that should not reflect negatively on the candidate. As an organization committed to the production and dissemination of high-quality scholarship on Brazilian studies, and to the promotion of a lively, healthy, and equitable intellectual community, the Brazilian Studies Association urges Boston University to reverse its decision and grant tenure to Prof. Lopes de Barros. Signed Officers and Executive Committee Members of the Brazilian Studies Association Rebecca Atencio, Associate Professor of Portuguese and Gender & Sexuality Studies at Tulane University Sidney Chalhoub, Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and President of the Brazilian Studies Association Amy Chazkel, Associate Professor of History and Bernard Hirschhorn Chair of Urban Studies at Columbia University. Isis Barra Costa, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Brazilian Literary and Cultural Studies at Ohio State University. Benjamin Cowan, Professor of History, University of California-San Diego Christopher Dunn, Professor and Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Tulane University and Executive Director of the Brazilian Studies Association Reighan Gillam, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology at the University of Southern California. Erika Robb Larkins, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Director of the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University and Vice President of the Brazilian Studies Association Ana Paulina Lee, Assistant Professor of Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University. Ynae Lopes dos Santos, Professor of History of America at Universidade Federal Fluminense. Marcelo Paixao, Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at University of Texas- Austin and Past President of the Brazilian Studies Association Okezi T. Otovo, Associate Professor of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at Florida International University Flavia Rios, Professor of Sociology at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) Aldair Rodrigues, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Campinas Fabio de Sa e Silva, Assistant Professor of International Studies and Wick Cary Professor of Brazilian Studies at the University of Oklahoma Victoria Saramago, Associate Professor of Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies at the University of Chicago Rebecca Tarlau, Associate Professor of Education and Labor and Employment Relations at the Pennsylvania State University Rubia Valente, Assistant Professor at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College (CUNY) + [13315259] Anonymous September 21, 2023 at 3:58 pm * Reply Iffland .. it is comical you would expect a Research Center to take a stance in a tenure case. Shows you how out of touch you are about T&P. 11. [86f529d4] James Iffland September 21, 2023 at 5:20 pm * Reply Anonymous: Well, that's part of the problem. Research on a subject like this (racism) would seem to demand some sort of praxis based on the research carried out. The praxis should apply, presumably, to the institution that hosts you. Otherwise, it borders on being a scam. On the issue of being "out of touch", I would only point out that I had nearly a half century of experience with tenure cases at BU (I taught there from 1974 until 2023), including the Lopes de Barros case (he was a faculty member in my department). For the Provost and President of BU to reverse all the committee recommendations made on this case, with zero explanation, goes against all acceptable precedents in U.S. higher education. It only suggests that racism (let's assume on an unconscious level...) may have played a role. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination will have the final word. If its finding goes against BU, it will make its Center for Antiracist Research look fatuous. Leave a Comment Cancel Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Message [ ] Name [ ]* Email Address [ ]* Website [ ] [ ]Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. [Post Comment] Help us out by filling out our Readership Survey! Click here to fill out our Readership Survey! Support independent student journalism by donating to the FreeP here! Get BU's headlines delivered straight to your inbox. 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