Cornel West, an activist and professor, is parting ways with Harvard University once again. In a resignation letter shared on social media, West cited "superficial diversity" and "political prejudices" as reasons for leaving the Ivy League school.
On Monday night, West published his one-page letter, claiming that after 15 years teaching at Harvard, his tenure application was rejected. The letter was dated June 30.
“We all knew the mendacious reasons given had nothing to do with academic standards. When my committee recommended a tenure review — also rejected by the Harvard administration — I knew my academic achievements and student teaching meant far less than their political prejudices," West wrote.
West, who taught at Harvard’s law and divinity schools, as well as in its department of African and African American studies, said his colleagues were "paralyzed" by the university's rejection of his tenure.
West tweeted he previously has been tenured at Yale, Princeton and Union Theological Seminary.
Over the years, West has had a history of disagreeing with Harvard administrators. In 1993 he was offered tenure, but then left the university in 2002 after a public spat with then-president Lawrence Summers.
West claimed Summers monitored his research, requested to examine his course records and questioned the merit of his scholarship. West then took a position at Princeton University where he received tenure and taught for 14 years.
In spring 2016, West returned to Harvard as a professor in philosophy, and in 2019, he also returned to teaching African and African American studies.
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West's recent fight for tenure at Harvard started in February, when he said the university rejected his request and offered him a 10-year contract for an endowed chair position and a corresponding pay raise.
Since starting at Harvard in the 90's, West said he's only seen a decline in the university's culture and treatment of students and staff.
“How sad it is to see our beloved Harvard Divinity School in such decline and decay,” West wrote in the letter. “The disarray of a scattered curriculum, the disenchantment of talented yet deferential faculty, and the disorientation of precious students loom large.”
His resignation comes after controversy regarding the University of North Carolina rejection of Nikole Hannah-Jones' request for tenure. The original decision was then reversed, and UNC Chapel Hill trustees offered Hannah-Jones tenure.
Ultimately, she declined the offer, announcing she would accept a position at Howard University.
In West's resignation letter, he claims part of the rejection was based on the university's 'hostility' toward Palestinians. West has been outspoken about Palestine in the past.
"And to witness a faculty enthusiastically support a candidate for tenure then timidly defer to rejection based on the Harvard administration's hostility toward the Palestinian cause was disgusting," West wrote.
In his letter, West also called out his colleagues and Harvard's administration for their lack of support following his mother's death.
"This kind of narcissistic academic professionalism, cowardly deference to the anti-Palestinian prejudices of the Harvard administration, and indifference to my Mother's death constitute an intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy of deep depths," he wrote.
On July 1, West started at Union Theological Seminary and will teach courses in philosophy of religion, African American critical thought, cultural theory, literature, and practice.
“I am honored to return back home to Union, to a place with brilliant faculty and moral tenacity and that provides an opportunity to continue to work with students who are eager to put their faith into practice while striving for justice and seeking of truth,” West said in a press release.
Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda
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