BOSTON It seems everyone in Boston knows Dr. J. Keith Motley. The list of schools and civic organizations he helps run or founded himself, like the Roxbury Preparatory Charter School and Concerned Black Men of Massachusetts Inc., is extensive. Hearing a former student talk about how Motley, though responsible for thousands, made him feel like the only one is a clue into why many erupted in outrage in 2005 when University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson declined to appoint Motley as chancellor of UMass Boston after he had been serving in an interim role for two years.
When Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino heard Motley was being passed over for the permanent UMass Boston post, he turned his back on his alma mater in protest, refusing to attend an awards breakfast at which he was slated to be honored. City council members and state lawmakers issued harsh denunciations of Wilson’s decision. Leonard Atkins, president of the NAACP’s Boston chapter, said the decision had set back race relations in Boston 100 years. Atkins, state and city lawmakers, UMass Boston students and faculty staged a protest rally outside of Wilson’s office, calling for Wilson to choose Motley for the UMass Boston chancellorship.
Wilson stood firm however, pointing out the substantial executive experience and fund-raising prowess of his choice to lead UMass Boston, Dr. Michael F. Collins, a medical doctor who was the CEO of Caritas Christi Health Care and formerly a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Through it all, Motley remained dignified, calling for calm, and ended up accepting an offer from Wilson to be vice president for business and public affairs for the entire UMass system. Gracefully, Motley showed Collins around campus, made sure he was settled into his new office — Motley even affixed a gold UMass pin to Collins’ jacket after his appointment was official.
“Keith Motley and Michael Collins were both very gracious in a politically difficult situation,” says Dr. Celia Moore, chair of UMass Boston’s psychology department and head of the faculty council at that time. Moore adds that in particular, Motley’s “demeanor and behavior under these trying circumstances really helped us with the community, because he has so many local connections.”
