Posted on 04/02/2002 4:18:13 PM PST by Pharmboy
BOSTON (AP) - A prominent Harvard University black studies professor will soon decide whether to return to Princeton University over a feud with Harvard's administration, a colleague said Tuesday. Cornel West has not yet decided whether to make the move, said Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, who has been representing West.
"He's a very close colleague and friend and a client, so I'm hoping - my personal and professional hope - is that Cornel West and Harvard find a mutual way to solve their differences," Ogletree said.
Several members of Harvard's department have been at odds with Harvard President Lawrence Summers, who took over the post last year.
Summers reportedly rebuked West for recording a rap CD and leading a political committee for the Rev. Al Sharpton's possible presidential campaign. He also reportedly accused West of allowing grade inflation in his introductory black studies course.
West, who has cancer and is currently on leave from Harvard, has said he was "dishonored," and threatened to leave for Princeton, where he taught religion and led the African-American studies department until 1994.
On Tuesday, Princeton's Program in African American Studies inadvertently released a statement congratulating West for deciding to return.
"We salute Prof. West on his wise decision to return to Princeton," the statement said. Princeton spokesman Robert Durkee said Tuesday that West had not acted upon the offer, and that the statement, issued in error, had been prepared in case West accepted. West did not return a call for comment.
This week, Harvard students circulated a petition urging West to remain a part of Harvard's prestigious group of black scholars, led by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
In January, K. Anthony Appiah accepted an offer from Princeton, becoming the first member of Harvard's prominent circle of black scholars to leave. He cited personal reasons, not differences with Summers.
"Scholar" and "Cornell West" do not belong in the same sentence.
Thank you. As for Ms. Morrison...I cannot even see one of her books in a bookstore without suffering a gag reflex. I sometimes have the feeling that frauds like her and West go home at night, triple lock their doors, make sure all the windows are closed...then just fall down on the floor laughing their asses off at how many people actually take their tripe seriously.
One additional note on Morrison: she behaves on campus in a Hillary-like manner, i.e., she will not look at anyone and does not return "hellos." Walks around like the queen. I bet you are not surprised.
I am not surprised at all. But what campus is this? These people are just astonishing to me. I have seen this sort of behavior, and of course heard of it. Who do they think they are!
saw him on H&Cs. Dude remindes me of nothing more than a 2 bit street hustler on crack potificating all sorts of ridiculous nonsense.
She is a resident scholar at Princeton (Robert F. Goheen Professor)...and does some teaching.
Freepers are so clever...:)
"As for the professional standards in his work: He is slipshod, lazy, and not much of a writer. He is very undisciplined as a communicator. He is heavily weighted down, ironically by his incredibly lofty opinions...of himself. And he truly needs an editor. Yes, he publishes a lot. So does Sidney Sheldon. It's guys like these who make me feel sorry even for trees raised for pulp."
Well as one who actually has read some of his stuff (unlike the great majority of those here who are giving an opinion on something they've never read) I do agree that his language is at times dense (it's the way a lot of people in the humanities write today specially in literary criticism, for instance). However Race Matters reads very well, and I'd say is accessible to anybody in college. As far as his marxism, well I love reading Miton Friedman although he's to my right.
"And there's another reason for West's success: Traditional academic rigors are not applied to him because he is a ... Black Liberal. Academe went south about 30 years ago, and took Common Sense and professional standards with it, and most of it hasn't recovered. In the humanities, at any rate. The loonier the premise, the more prolix the impenetrable prose to explicate it. Liberals writing for liberals edited by liberals. Yeah, tough standards. Libs get a pass. Black libs get a bigger one. Every campus wanted at least one Black star. West became a superstar in the Ivies. "
Look he graduated with honors in Harvard, and did very well in Princeton, so he has good credentials. You might not agree with what he says and that's fine. However he is an intellectual of caliber. Let us give merit where merit is due. You don't graduate from Harvard and get a Ph.D. from Princeton if you're incompetent. I have met Cornell West. He's very kind and friendly. He makes it a point to talk to students and shake everybody's hand. He's an incredible orator. He was in the dissertation commitee of a friend at Princeton recently. The guy was able to make a dull thesis defense into an exciting event. I'm telling you the guy has extraordinary rhetorical ability. I'd love to see him in the pulpit of my synagogue or in any church. THE GUY CAN PREACH! On another note, all these other (white ivy league professors) in the dissertation committee were far less knowledgeable when push came to shove Cornell West asked the most relevant questions in the commitee. He is just as competent as his colleagues are, and possibly more.
"Before you misread me: I think he's brilliant. But fatally infected, thus useless."
I agree with the brilliant part.
"I truly don't know why you brought up something two-and-a-half years old, when we're all busy stoking this hurtling train of a presidential election express, but something tells me you're looking to provoke...and be provoked."
Well I guess I just don't think he was getting a fair shake in the board however I see that you've been more just with Cornell than most on the board.
"Let me oblige, by dissing another Black writer. Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize for literature, one of the biggest jokes in the history of the printed word."
Well, I don't want to change horses but try reading some of the other noble laureates from the past. Pearl S. Buck comes to mind, or Joseph Brodsky....Toni is a far better writer than any of these two. If there is a current american author that you think deserves it more than she does go ahead and name one. What I'm saying is that there are worse writers that have won in the past and the only reason people mention her is because she's black while they are oblivious to the past. On another note consider other languages that have almost never won. What I'm saying is that if you're not writing in english,French, german, spanish etc, your changes are already diminished. There's a lot of good literature in other places where non european languages are spoken.
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