A group of alumni and community members gathered last week to protest a $7 million loan agreement between Saint Augustine’s University and a local venture capital firm, WUNC, a North Carolina public radio station, reported.
Protesters claim the loan from the firm Gothic Ventures is predatory and puts the historically Black university at risk; it has a 24 percent interest rate, plus a 2 percent loan management fee. In addition, the agreement was secured with a deed of trust, which puts the university’s real estate holdings on the line if Saint Augustine’s can’t pay back the loan.
University leaders celebrated the loan as a respite from financial troubles and an opportunity to get back on track. Board of Trustees chairman Brian Boulware said in an announcement in August that the partnership with Gothic Ventures “will be crucial to our journey toward excellence.”
“This funding secures our immediate needs while allowing us to implement our long-term vision,” Boulware said.
But some members of the campus community aren’t buying it, WUNC reported. The protesters who gathered to speak out about the loan included representatives from the Save SAU coalition, a group of alumni and others who have called for university trustees to step down over fiscal issues, and the Center for Responsible Lending, a research and advocacy organization dedicated to curbing predatory lending.
“If for any reasons, Saint Augustine’s is unable to repay Gothic Ventures, the land will be lost and the university as we know it will cease to be,” said alum Clarence Laney at the protest.
Saint Augustine’s has had its share of financial troubles. Officials sent students home and switched to remote learning in the middle of the spring semester amid accreditation struggles; the university lost accreditation in December 2023 and submitted an appeal in February before regaining it this summer. The university has also struggled to pay expenses and been hit with a multimillion-dollar tax lien by the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid taxes this year.
University leaders say the loan is intended to fund an external audit, settle outstanding payments to employees and cover other operating costs.
“This loan represents a significant affirmation of our commitment to our students and staff,” Marcus H. Burgess, Saint Augustine’s interim president, said in the announcement of the agreement.
