Center for African and African American Studies (CAAAS) receives $2M pledge from CU

Reported by Don Davis.

At Tuesday night’s fifth anniversary celebration of the Center for African and African American Studies (CAAAS) at the University of Colorado Boulder, the CU Board of Regents and CU administration pledged $1 million each to the continuation of the program. Funding for the center, which is nicknamed “the cause,” would’ve ended this year. Chancellor Justin Schwartz addressed the crowd of around 300 attendees.

“ We are excited to share that both my office and the president’s office are here today to make a commitment,” Schwartz said. “For a million dollars each over the next five years to continue the support for ‘the cause ‘ to continue to work, to continue to see the impact, to continue to see them build this beloved community in Boulder.”  The continued funding means the center can continue its work well into the future.

The center supports academic studies, research, and a student gathering place. Dr. Reiland Rabaka is the founder and director of the center. Rabaka spoke about what the center’s goals are for the next five years. “ We are building a bridge from the Boulder campus to the Boulder community, and we wanna have a transformative impact on both,” Rabaka said. “This is not just a campus center.”

As this year is the 150th anniversary of the university itself, Chancellor Schwartz said it is time to celebrate, but also to look back honestly at CU’s history.

“We stand today on the shoulders of Black students who were enrolled at CU when it was just not easy,” Schwartz said. “They were not made to feel welcome. They were not allowed to walk at graduation despite earning their degrees. On the shoulders of Black faculty who fought hard to be hired and then worked tirelessly to ensure the door of opportunity did not close behind them, who organized and advocated and demanded that this institution live up to its ideals.”

Students in attendance at  the dinner celebration in the Benny Goodman Ballroom of the CU Student Center described finding CAAAS to be a place of celebration and recognition under an administration that has put people of color down.

“My great-great-grandfather, Sam Garland, ran from slavery and joined the Union Army and then became a Buffalo soldier. And I think to uplift those voices and those who have stood on their shoulders, I think, is the most important part of Black history for me,”  Ellington Garland, an evolutionary biology major, said.

This feature aired on Wednesday, Feb. 4, on KGNU’s morning show, The Morning Magazine, featuring local news and amplifying community voices. Listen to full episodes of The Morning Magazine here.