Board of Trustees and/or David Coleman
College Board National Office
250 Vesey Street
New York, NY 10281
United States
February 2023
Re: The Resignation of the College Board’s President, David Coleman
To Whom it May Concern,
The undersigned 30 civil and human rights, educational equity, and gender equality organizations write to express our demand that David Coleman, the President of the College Board, resigns.
The public rollout of the College Board’s long-awaited Advanced Placement Black Studies Course has been a public relations and brand disaster for your institution causing pain, division, and turmoil for the community it sought to celebrate. Several lies and a belated campaign to tell the truth from your President, David Coleman, regarding the pilot and revision process of the curriculum played a role in the growing mistrust the public, students, and educators have for your institution and the content of the class.
Recent news reports reveal that the College Board coordinated and met with Florida officials multiple times before the release of its revisions to the AP African American Studies course while obfuscating this fact in recent public interviews. The meetings with Florida officials were about removing the depth, breadth, and recency of Black history in its study of Black life – including the removal of Black feminist and queer life and history, the movements for reparations and Black lives, and more. After the Florida Department of Education released documentation of letters and meetings, the College Board deleted that press release and admitted that “certain terms and concepts were removed because they were politicized in several states.” The College Board maintains that the AP African American Studies curriculum does not violate Florida law – which it doesn’t. There was never a legal requirement for the College Board to change the curriculum.
New leadership is required if the College Board lacks the courage and character to advocate for students and academic freedom; and against the DeSantis regime’s book banning, censorship, and surveillance agenda. Without the courageous leadership needed for this moment in history, the College Board will continue to be a pawn in the political games of governors and other elected officials advancing a white nationalist, anti-democratic agenda.
The undersigned believe that the decision to make learning about fundamental parts of Black studies optional due to partisan political pressure is a tremendous error on the part of the College Board and warrants the immediate removal or resignation of David Coleman, the President of your institution.
National Black Justice Coalition
Human Rights Campaign
Equality Florida
Antioch College
GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality Florida Rising
EducateUS: SIECUS In Action
Antioch College
MWRD LLC
Equal Ground Education Fund
National LGBT Cancer Network
COLAGE
GLSEN
National Center for Transgender Equality
Teachers College, Columbia University
Institute Of The Black World 21st Century
Equality Federation
SRWaite Consulting, Inc.
University of Denver
Equality Ohio
National Charter Collaborative
OutFront Minnesota
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
America & Moore, LLC
UltraViolet
SWIFT – Indivisible
LULAC
Diversity Talks
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
Family Equality
Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance