FEATURED
After almost two full semesters, Ibram Kendi begins hiring for new center
More than a year and a half after being announced, Ibram Kendi’s new antiracism center at Howard University is set to launch this fall.
Howard hired Kendi in January 2025 to direct the Institute for Advanced Study, a think tank that will address “deep and persisting inequities in areas including, but not limited to, technology, the environment, healthcare, the economy, governance, education, and the criminal legal system.”
Kendi officially began in August and joined the history department faculty, but progress at the institute and affiliated publication the Emancipator has been slow. In December, a spokesman for Kendi told The College Fix, “We look forward to launching The Emancipator and the Institute’s website at the beginning of next year.”
Those plans apparently changed, as Kendi announced the institute started hiring in April, nearly two full semesters after he began.
In a post on Facebook, Kendi wrote, “After months of careful envisioning, incubating, and planning, we are beginning to build our team at the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study.” He said the “formal launch of our Institute” is “set for the fall” and listed multiple positions at the Institute and the Emancipator.
As of May 18, the institute was hiring for an administrative assistant, a breaking news correspondent, an investigative correspondent, and a video editor.
However, the institute is not yet listed on Howard’s “Centers & Institutes” or “Research Centers & Institutes” pages. It is listed at the top of the “Centers & Programs” fundraising page and Kendi’s personal website takes visitors to a donation link when they click on the “Howard Institute” button.
A spokesman for Kendi said, “We won’t be commenting,” in response to an email from The College Fix sent on May 11. The Fix inquired about the planned staff size for the institute, the planned launch date for the Emancipator, and whether the institute had established a governing board, bylaws, or a tentative mission statement.
The Howard University media relations office did not respond to similar questions sent via email. The Fix called on May 14, but the office did not answer and did not have a voicemail box.
Kendi has spent much of the last two months on a book tour promoting his latest work, “Chain of Ideas.” The book argues that “great replacement theory,” or the idea that elites are importing foreigners into countries to change their politics, is behind the ascent of “authoritarian” leaders.
Stops on that tour included appearances alongside former Missouri Rep. Cori Bush, Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, rapper Vic Mensa, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
In February, the school named Kendi the inaugural Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History for the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard. That position is “underwritten by $3 million in gifts from several key benefactors including donations from the Stupski Foundation.”
The Emancipator was initially set to launch last November, but it did not hire a managing editor until December. In February, Kendi said the Emancipator was “more or less theoretical at this point.”
Howard alumna: Kendi’s work ‘is fundamentally built on grievances’
Kendi’s work and viewpoints drew criticism from a Howard alumna who spoke to The College Fix.
“Dr. Kendi is a gifted writer and provocateur, but his framework is fundamentally built on grievance, which tends to deepen racial division rather than build the bridges our communities desperately need,” Charisma Peoples told The Fix.
She is a Project 21 Ambassador through the National Center for Public Policy Research, a think tank that promotes conservative values, especially in the black community. She is also an HHS Roy Wilkins Fellow.
“While reporting indicates that Dr. Kendi managed his center’s funds appropriately during his tenure at Boston University, the broader record of the Center for Antiracist Research raises legitimate questions about operational effectiveness and institutional stewardship,” Peoples told The Fix via email.
Kendi served as the director of Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research from 2020 until 2025. He raised more than $50 million for it, but it failed to accomplish much. In September 2023, it laid off more than half of its staff and was mostly inactive by 2024. Kendi faced criticism for his leadership style, but an internal audit ultimately “found no issues with how CAR’s finances were handled.”
“There is legitimate academic value in examining how systemic barriers have historically impacted Black communities, and honest scholarship should never shy away from uncomfortable truths about America’s racial past,” Peoples said “The danger is that much of what passes for antiracism research today pathologizes Black people as permanent victims and deflects accountability in ways that ultimately disempower the very communities it claims to serve.”
Kendi has argued that there is a link between slavery and the “freedom to have guns,” said the phrases “legal vote” and “race neutral” were racist, and accused white parents who adopt black children of being “colonizers.” Kendi believes “most organizations and institutions are racist,” and by his definition of racism, that included his own think tank.
Howard University, meanwhile, is not open to diversity of viewpoints, People said.
“Howard University is a crown jewel of Black intellectual achievement and has produced some of the most consequential leaders in American history — and as an alumna, I carry that legacy with deep pride,” Peoples told The Fix. However, “Intellectual diversity is not something the university has consistently welcomed, particularly for those of us who hold conservative values.”
Besides Kendi, recent hires at Howard have included The 1619 Project’s Nikole Hannah-Jones and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. More than 99 percent of political donations from Howard employees go to Democrats.
According to Peoples, “True diversity of thought means welcoming the conservative Black voice that says we deserve better than loyalty without accountability. Until Howard creates genuine space for that conversation, it is practicing a selective diversity that ultimately limits the full genius of its students.”
MORE: Targeting gangs is part of ‘great replacement theory,’ Kendi says
