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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