Rally supports embattled Motley
Hints at race as factor in his departure
Supporters of embattled UMass Boston Chancellor J. Keith Motley, who recently announced he’s leaving the school after 10 years at the helm, rallied outside of the State House yesterday to call on other state leaders to take responsibility for the plummeting enrollment numbers and crippling debt that proceeded his departure.
Motley’s decision to leave the University of Massachusetts Boston at the end of the academic year comes as the university is grappling with more than $30 million in debt brought on by a recent building boom that he pushed. The expansion has left the campus peppered with unsightly delayed construction projects and forced school officials to lay off professors and cut classes. His departure also comes as the university struggles with a decline in fundraising and amid a more than 5 percent tuition increase.
Motley, who raked in $422,000 last year, announced his resignation last week. After a one-year sabbatical, he plans to return as a tenured faculty member making $240,000 a year.
Deputy Chancellor Barry Mills, who was brought on recently to manage the school’s mounting debt, will serve as interim head of the school, beginning July 1, until finances are stabilized.
And despite the campus’ precarious predicament, Motley backers who gathered yesterday said he was being scapegoated and claimed race may have played a role in his departure.
“Let’s be real. This is starting to feel like systemic attack on black leadership and we have to take a stand,” NAACP Boston President Tanisha Sullivan said.
“We will resist. The Boston NAACP stands ready.”
City Councilor Ayanna Pressley echoed Sullivan’s sentiments, saying: “This has become an alltoo-familiar play. This is not how you repay someone who has done the good work that Chancellor Motley has done. I am tired ... Our leaders of color, that our men of color continue to be demoralized, defamed, emasculated and we won’t stand for it.”
The Rev. Liz Walker of the Roxbury Presbyterian Church hailed Motley as “one of the heroes of our community.”
“We believe the UMass board has pushed out Dr. Keith Motley without fully understanding his impact on the university and this region,” she said. “To President Marty Meehan, we want to have a word with you. To the board of trustees — we’d like to have a word with you.”
The rally, organized by the Friends of UMass Boston, drew a small crowd of students, teachers and city and state leaders, including Pressley, mayoral candidate City Councilor Tito Jackson and state Rep. Russell E. Holmes. Motley’s supporters called on state and city officials to reject Motley’s resignation and ensure that UMass Boston remains affordable and accessible and that the university’s board of trustees becomes more culturally and racially diverse to reflect the student population.