Cornell William BrooksNational President & CEONAACP4805 Mt. Hope DriveBaltimore, MD 21215

Dear Mr. Brooks,

I understand that the President of Boston University has invited you to speak at the Boston University commencement. This is an invitation you need to reconsider and likewise contact nationally syndicated talk show host Meredith Vieira to insist that she do the same.

In extending this invitation I doubt if BU President Robert Brown shared that in December 2014 a subpoena was required to get him to testify before the Boston City Council regarding the state of diversity at Boston University. He refused to appear voluntarily and was reluctant to testify because of Boston Universitys abysmal record on diversity and African Americans. The Brown Administration has fostered a climate of hostility and discrimination against African Americans that is among the worst in the nation:

Among BU's self-identified peers BU ranks 14 of 15 in terms of African American students In 1976,2.4% of BU's faculty was African American, it is less than that today There are only 2 full-time faculty in the African American Studies Program (one of whom is black) Today only one member of the BU Board of Trustees is African American, from a high of three None of BUs senior administrators is African American This month the Brown Administration confirmed that it is closing the highly successful and internationally renowned African Presidential Center BU spends $250 million per year on contracts, goods, and services, with no policy or strategy for doing business with African Americans vendors, despite the fact that the majority of people in Boston are people of color

The irony of this state of affairs is that at its founding the university saw educating African Americans as central to its mission. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., BUs most distinguished alumni, was attracted here for that reason. I am sure he would be ashamed of the university and the current situation.The effort to get the university to address its shortcomings in a systematic way came to a head with the announcement of its decision to close the African Presidential Center, which I head. I have challenged the university to deal with these issues for a number of years. Rather than embracing the opportunity to negotiate and develop a plan to address this problem, the BU Presidents response has been to close to the Center and try to silence my voice. The effort to change this situation has been covered by the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the Associated Press, Diversity in Higher Education, among other media outlets. (Attached are copies of the stories on this issue as well as links to the websites.) Unless BU President Robert Brown has conferred with you on these matters and committed to a comprehensive plan to address the universitys shortcomings in this area, you should interpret his invitation to you to speak as the height of hypocrisy and cynicism. This invitation to you (and Ms. Vieira) is nothing more than an attempt by the university to use your presence to validate an administration that has been callous in its disregard of African American concerns. Your appearance at BUs graduation could be as embarrassing for the NAACP as the Donald Sterling incident. Our challenge to the university in this regard has been prompted by a broader concern than the circumstances on this campus. The three primary growth areas of the Boston (and US) economy are high tech, health care, and higher education. African Americans are all but absent in all three. Unless we get diversity right in these areas African Americans will be shut out of the mainstream of the American economy for the next generation. With that comes the hopelessness reflected in cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, and Boston. I am currently in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I will be back in Boston on May 13th. Should care to talk then (or now) I can be reached at 617-794-4601.I am a life member and supporter of the NAACP. As one of the most venerable and historic civil rights organizations in the world, I hope you would use your office and this occasion to stand on the side of justice and opportunity for African Americans. Given that the university has publically announced your presence, you should publically decline the invitation to speak unless the university commits to a plan that addresses the issues outlined above before the graduation on May 17th.My continued best wishes and highest regards.

Ambassador Charles R. Stith

cc: William Lucy Michael Curry