Howard U. Appoints Ibram Kendi to $3 Million Endowed Chair Position
“will serve as the inaugural holder of the Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History”
This guy has a real talent for failing upwards.
Campus Reform reports:
Howard University appoints Ibram X. Kendi to $3 million endowed chair position
Howard University has appointed a leading ’antiracist’ scholar and activist to one of the school’s most prestigious academic positions.
Ibram X. Kendi will serve as the inaugural holder of the Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History, a position supported by $3 million in donor funding that honors its namesake historian, known as the “father of Black history,” according to a university press release.
Interim President Wayne A.I. Frederick said the chair “affirms Howard University’s enduring responsibility to steward Black history with rigor, integrity, and purpose.”
Before joining Howard, Kendi founded and led Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research (CAR), which launched in 2020 following the death of George Floyd. The center aimed to promote policies and scholarship designed to build what Kendi described as an “antiracist society,” but was shuttered by the university last June following reports of internal management issues and financial concerns.
Campus Reform reported on the closure and questions raised by staffers about the center’s operations, including former employee Yanique Redwood, who stated that employees felt “overwhelmed” and that leadership made “too many promises” to funders while delivering few tangible results.
Kendi responded to criticism by arguing that media coverage unfairly targeted him, claiming that journalists often repeat allegations against black leaders without sufficient evidence and suggested that such scrutiny reflects broader societal bias, according to a previous Campus Reform report.
Despite the center’s closure, Kendi expressed gratitude for the new position at Howard, calling it a “momentous honor” and noting that Woodson’s scholarship has significantly influenced his work.
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Racial grift pays and pays well.
He should be grateful. The typical useful idiot is usually “rewarded” in quite a different manner.
The day is young.
Howard has appointed someone that has the same high ethical standards as Saint Al Sharpton.
The fatigue is real.
Kendi gets a $3m endowed chair position? I reckon Howard will soon find out it would have gotten more value for its $3m if it had just flushed it down the toilet.
The typical minimum donation to create an endowed chair at Cornell is $5 million, although it is currently offering some special deals at a $3 million entry fee.
It is not surprising that an endowed chair at Howard would require a $3 million gift. What is surprising is how few endowed chairs have been funded at Howard.
I understand that Kendi has a tenured position at Howard. I am not aware of any policy that would prevent Howard from giving the chair to someone else if Kendi does not prove to be a productive scholar.
If Kendi wants to supervise a pack of graduate students and post-docs to further his research, he will need to get further grants and to demonstrate that he can be a productive scholar. Writing children’s books does not qualify.
On a related note for those of you who are trying to track how Howard prioritizes its expenditures, the accreditation of Howard Medical School is in a probationary status until February 2028: https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/howard-university-statement-regarding-college-medicine-accreditation-status