Boston University is closing its Center for Antiracist Research as its founding director, scholar Ibram X. Kendi, leaves for another job. Why it matters: BU's decision, which comes amid a federal backlash to programs related to diversity,

Ibram X. Kendi, the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, will leave the school for a new role at Howard University and BU's center will close.

Historian and writer Ibram X. Kendi, who wrote the bestseller “How to Be an Antiracist” and led a center on the subject at Boston University, will join Howard University’s faculty.

Boston University's Center for Antiracist Research is closing as Ibram X. Kendi starts a new center at Howard University.