Save Saint Augustine's: Demonstrators rally in hopes of keeping university open

Around 50 demonstrators marched at Saint Augustine’s University on Monday morning as part of a Love, Hope and Unity walk.

The rally started at 10 a.m. on Oakwood Avenue and ended with a news conference at the Tarboro Road Community Center. Organizers say they want to bring awareness to the school’s current issues while shedding light on its legacy and what it means to the community.

“We can show our presence and unite in love and togetherness for this university,” Capital City Hope Foundation founder Crystal Smith said.

They said they also want answers from the school.

"I'd like to get to the truth, and I think the truth will come out," St. Augustine's alum Angie Parker said.

Many of the school’s students and alumni are facing the possibility that the school may close its doors for good as it faces accreditation and financial issues.

“I'm walking today to keep my school on the map,” student Isaiah Rozier said. “It doesn't deserve to close. I feel like we can do better.”

Save SAU members reiterated their demands for the university, including their calls for the Board of Trustees to resign, with the exception of the student and the Episcopal church trustees.

WRAL asked the group how the board members would be replaced and how to ensure more oversight of the board going forward.

“I think we would try to set up an interim board made up of some former board members who have a proven track record of helping raise money and making good decisions,” said former board member and Save SAU member John Larkins. “We want to have coalition of alum, faculty and members from the St. Aug community…we need to change the bylaws, so it isn’t an autonomous group that doesn’t report to anybody.”

The school sent students home at the beginning of April and switched to virtual learning for the rest of the semester after an appeal to maintain their accreditation was denied.

The school has faced several financial problems since the end of 2023, including a $7.9 million lien placed on the school by the IRS.

As donations from around the state, country and world continue pouring in, students hope more awareness will increase the likelihood the university will remain open.

“[We] gotta keep the hopes up,” Rozier said. “That's the only thing that matters.”

Legendary track and field coach George Williams led the group on its march outside the campus.

"We’re here to make a difference. We know we have things to do. We have bills to pay. We have academics to look at. We have a lot of things we need to do. That’s why we’re here," said Williams. He's one of four former, high-ranking employees who filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the school, targeting members of the Board of Trustees in 2020.

In that lawsuit, Williams and the other plaintiffs claim that three members of the Board of Trustees – Brian Boulware, James Perry and Maria Lumpkin – "operate the University in a bad-faith manner designed to create fear and intimidation amongst University employees" and held grudges against the plaintiffs which intensified when they reported unlawful conduct.

Williams told WRAL that Monday’s rally was the first time he returned to campus for the first time in years.

“It's just like going home. When you leave home, you always want to come back. It's nothing like home… To be put out of your home, it worries you, but it's still your home,” he said. "To save this university, I would do anything to help these young people.”

The coalition also encourages alumni and others interested in donating to do so with the National Alumni Association. They said that money often goes towards supporting students and faculty, and they can be specifically designated.

“I promise you, in a few months, a few years, it will be a difference,” Williams said.

“We are resilient [and] we will continue … we just need more support and help,” co-organizer and Save SAU coalition member Devaron Benjamin said.