A fixture on YouTube for more than a decade, psychologist Umar Johnson is known as much for his controversial media appearances on radio shows like The Breakfast Club and networks like Fox Soul as he is for his years long campaign to open a private school for African American boys.
First announced online on Facebook on January 6, 2010, the school known formally as the Frederick Douglass Marcus Garvey Academy was conceived as a private academy steeped in Pan African Pedagogy . The projected opening date noted on this Facebook post: September 11, 2013.
That was in 2010. Then nearly a decade later in 2019, Johnson claimed to have acquired a property for his proposed school in Wilmington, Delaware . The deal ostensibly cost Johnson $400,000 . A persistent and highly aggressive fundraiser , Johnson has sought to fund the school from donations solely from Black Americans in communities throughout the country .
As of this writing though, FDMG academy has not opened its door for classes.
While Johnson has been the focus of persistent criticism especially by youtube content creator critics who have made videos to no end analyzing and examining his financial and rhetorical missteps , a more interesting story lies not with Johnson but with a school his name has been linked to.
That. school is St Paul's College, a former Historically Black College ( HBCU) in Virginia that Johnson publically stated he wished to buy several years ago.
An online investigation by this writer finds questions should be raised not only about deals involving this educational institution but its history as well.
This piece will examine the sale of St Paul's College
THE ART OF THE SHADOWY DEAL
First founded in 1888, St Paul's College initially began as a Normal and Industrial School ( Normal signifying teacher training) and grew into a four year college located in Lawrenceville , Virginia .
Known for a unique program that provided child care for single parents studying to get their degrees, St Paul's served students for more than 100 years.
However, the college soon experienced trouble. St Paul's lost its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2012. Though the college went to court and managed to get an injunction to continue operating , St Paul's had seen its student enrollment decrease in a period of at least 4 years.
After an effort to get St Augustine's University, an HBCU in Raleigh, North Carolina tied to the Episcopal Church ( St Paul's also was linked early on to the church) to purchase the Virginia college, the decision was made to finally shut down the college and put it up for sale . It was announced the college would close on June 30, 2013.
The campus including 155 acres and 31 buildings eventually went on the market The asking price? $3,300,000.
By this time, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), a federal agency created to look out for employee pension plans, had essentially taken over the school and it's assets due to the schools employee retirement plan going into default. PBGC presided over the schools eventual sale to XEIC
The college's final President Millard Pete Stith Jr, a former deputy county manager and consultant to another county, was also involved in helping to sell the campus .
St Paul's College was finally sold on November 27, 2017 to a Xinhua Education Investment Corporation (XEIC) for $2.5 million.
Reportedly some local media outlets found it tough sledding at the time to find out much in the way of information about the new owners of St Pauls College
Here's where things get interesting . XEIC was incorporated and set up in the state of Virginia on August 17, 2017. This is more than 2 months before this new firm bought 135 acres and 30 structures of the former college campus
XEICs incorporation documents list 3 names : Dongyuan Liu, Ronghai Liu and David Z Lu.
Lu's name is the one to focus on because David Lu was the Registered Agent involved with the St Paul's sale.
A graduate of Georgetown University Law School, Lu's firm Lu and Associates concentrates on Immigration Law and on consulting on business affairs in Virginia .
XEICs address - 8500 Leesburg Pike, Suite 402 in Vienna, Virgnia - is not just the address of this firm but of a PKup Education Corporation set up on June 21, 2019 by David Lu but which appears to be inactive and a Business & International Consulting Corporation under a Dan Wang.
Apparently this same address in Vienna, Virginia has been used to set up and incorporate new businesses including XEIC which purchased a former college campus.
As if this wasn't intriguing enough , Lu also had a hand in sale of a different college in another state .
An Aviation school named Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire formerly owned by ITT Institutes .
The 50 acre campus was sold to a Chinese buyer named Sui Liu for less than $12 million. Sui Liu's lawyer representing him in the deal ? David Lu.
Daniel Webster College was formally purchased by the firm Xinhua Education Community Services Corporation . Anything about the name of that company sound familiar?
In a piece examining American colleges being bought up by foreign entities , the publication Inside Higher Ed in 2018 actually noted David Lu and his involvement in the sale of both Daniel Webster and St Paul's colleges .
“ The same lawyer with the same business address is listed in both the Virginia business license and on court documents relating to Daniel Webster's sale” notes Inside Higher Ed.
On top of all that , the negotiation and sale of St Paul's to what apparently is a Chinese owned holding company was apparently conducted in secret from county officials .
Local officials were reportedly unaware that XEIC was involved in trying to purchase the school until apparently the deal had been concluded .
Reportedly the new owners of St Pauls College were looking to sell by 2018.
The final.shadowy detail revolves around Umar Johnson . Johnson claimed he was making an effort to buy the school . In 2014, Johnson even shot a video reportedly on the schools campus soliciting donations to help him purchase the school .
The problem is that the college was looking for a buyer ever since its announced closure in 2013. If Johnson was a serious potential buyer on the property than he must have been a secret one not discussed by any parties involved .
In fact, the college’s President Stith was close to concluding a deal with the Federal Government in 2014 to use some of the school facilities to house a few hundred detainee children .
The deal would have brought in over $100,000 a month and was seen as a last ditch effort to resurrect the college . However local outrage and opposition to this plan ended up killing the deal.
Therefore Johnson's claim to be a serious buyer for the school must be treated with an appropriate degree of skepticism . Why would a college clearly in the market for a buyer turn to a psychologist who had at best thousands in donations for a property on sale for over $3 million when they were entertaining an offer that could have brought in over $100,000 per month?
This is clearly a question Johnson will likely never be forced to answer.