The Chairman of the Saint Augustine’s University Board of Trustees, Brian Boulware, has spoken out against the allegations against him and the other seats at the Raleigh, North Carolina, HBCU. According to ABC 11, he responded to the backlash the board received from the SAVE SAU Coalition.
Boulware and the Board of Trustees found themselves the targets of a lawsuit headed by the SAVE SAU Coalition, which is comprised of Saint Augustine University alumni, parents, students, and others who have expressed interest in maintaining the university’s core values and future.
The lawsuit stated that the HBCU “now teeters on the edge of chaos, brought to its knees by the utter neglect of its board of trustees and especially its most recent chairmen, Defendants Brian Boulware and James Perry.”
The lawsuit continued, “It goes on to state that “the board is led by a dictatorial and vindictive chairman who is more concerned with lining his own pockets than leading the university.”
Boulware responded to the accusations in the lawsuit by penning a letter to Falcon Nation. He defended against the allegations and described the lawsuit as being nothing but “lies and deceptions.”
Boulware made another suggestion about why the SAU filed the lawsuit. He accused a group of local business heads of participating in a meeting to try to force the SAU and Shaw University to merge. The merger would allow real estate developers to tear down Shaw’s campus and use the land to build new projects on the property.
He claimed that the owner of a local television station — Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon — said in the meeting: “Raleigh doesn’t need two Black universities. We need the two to merge. I don’t care what you call it. However, we need them both on SAU’s property because we need downtown land to expand the development footprint.”In the letter, Boulware said that the push for the merger has caused all the issues brought about by the SAU and the accreditation problems Saint Augustine University has faced.
Boulware said, “This unwarranted attention has disrupted our operations, leading to delays in meaningful projects and the need for additional resources. It has also jeopardized the trust of our community, with some stakeholders questioning our financial management.”
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