BOSTON —- Tension is mounting in a dispute over the pending closure of a Boston University multicultural center, pitting university officials against the initiative’s founder.
The Boston Globe reports that the former US ambassador to Tanzania and founder of BU’s African Presidential Center says the closure is part of a pattern of marginalizing the black community on campus. The Rev. Charles R. Stith says that he and BU’s president, Robert Brown, have been at odds for years.
BU spokesman Colin Riley says the center’s closing is based solely on the inability to raise enough cash to keep it open, despite a year of warnings.
The center, opened in 2001, has been host to former African presidents, participated in conferences and sponsored research to further understand African policy and economics.
