Posted on 04/16/2002 11:21:46 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Black studies scholar likens Harvard chief to Sharon | |
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BOSTON, April 16 (Reuters) - Slamming Harvard president Lawrence Summers as "the Ariel Sharon" of American education, top black studies professor Cornel West said on Tuesday Summers' behavior had led him to quit Harvard for Princeton. The two academics have been publicly feuding for some time but Tuesday's comments by West took the dispute to a new level of acrimony. "Larry Summers strikes me as the Ariel Sharon of American higher education," West told the New York Times in a reference to the Israeli prime minister, demonized by his critics as a military bulldozer responsible for a massacre of Palestinians in Lebanon's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps two decades ago. "He struck me very much as a bull in a china shop, and as a bully, in a very delicate and dangerous situation," West said of Summers. The unusual personal attack culminated a spat between Summers and West that started last autumn when the new president chided West for spending too much time on work that was not scholarly. West and some other professors in the Afro-American Studies department also accused Summers of failing to support affirmative action. Asked to comment on West's remarks, Joe Wrinn, spokesman for Harvard, said, "It's not fruitful to have that conversation at this point." West was not available for comment. West's departure from Harvard and the bitter criticism was a new blow to Summers. His first year leading what many consider to be the nation's most prestigious university has been roiled by the dispute with the black studies faculty and a messy fight over pay for low-wage campus workers. But Summers did not appear to have singled out West for particular attention. Summers also challenged the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government to explain what they do better than the law school or the business school to prepare students for public service. He asked senior faculty at the Graduate School of Education to justify its existence and in a move that has dismayed some faculty, he questioned the practice of favoring older, more established scholars when awarding tenure.
SMALL SNUBS Nevertheless, West's move was cause for concern at Harvard, which over the last decade built a strong black studies program but has lost two of its top teachers. Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah accepted a job at Princeton in January. West described to the New York Times a pattern of small snubs by Summers such as failing to send a get well-message until two months after his surgery for prostate cancer. But the core of the dispute appeared to be West's reaction to Summers's questioning of his work on political campaigns and his recording of a narrative CD. While Summers reportedly tried to mend fences, West said it was too little, too late. In a forthcoming article in Vanity Fair, West also expresses outrage at accusations that he missed three weeks of classes to pursue his political activities. In fact, the magazine says, West is known for his dedication to the classroom and for being easily accessible to students. "Miss three weeks and sneak around and act like I'm there when I'm not there?" he told the magazine. "That's the biggest attack on my integrity, man." Critics have argued politics and speeches do not meet the rigorous standards West, as one of only 17 university professors at Harvard, should maintain. They also say West is overdue to produce a work of scholarship. "He has written some academic volumes in his field -- philosophy -- but he wrote these over a decade ago," University of California Professor John McWhorter wrote in a opinion piece in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal. ((Christopher Noble, Boston newsroom, 617-367-4106; fax 617-248-9563; e-mail boston.newsroom@reuters.com))
David Horowitz has thoroughly exposed West's utter lack of any intellectual rigor.
As opposed to?
My thought exactly. What a nice compliment -- and the dunderhead doesn't even know it.
On the flip side, however, given that it was supposed to be an insult, doesn't the comment constitute hate speech? Tsk, tsk, tsk. What will Princeton do now that they know they've hired a racist? What a quandry.
David Horowitz has thoroughly exposed West's utter lack of any intellectual rigor.
With all due respect to Horowitz, the New Republic's Leon Wieseltier beat him to the punch.
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