Cornel West GS '80 will begin teaching typical courses at the University in the fall, but his journey back to Princeton — where he attended graduate school and taught from 1988 to 1994 — was anything but ordinary. His appointment to the faculty on April 13 ended the most publicized academic drama in several years, one that spurred intense speculation over whether West would leave Harvard University and rattled the highest levels of academia in the country.
As part of an effort to bolster its African-American studies program, which awards certificates — but not degrees — to students, Princeton had extended an offer to West before President Tilghman came to office last summer. When Tilghman and Provost Amy Gutmann took control at Princeton, they set the deadline of April 13 for West to make his decision.
West remained neutral to the offer until an ordinary meeting with new Harvard president Lawrence Summers last fall reportedly became hostile. Sources say Summers questioned West's contributions to academia, his creation of a "spoken-word" compact disk and his serving on several presidential exploratory committees. West was on leave last year for cancer treatment.
In the ensuing months, Summers tried to mollify tensions between him and West, though West recently said Summers did not expend much effort to keep him.
Meanwhile, Gutmann successfully orchestrated the hiring of another prominent Harvard African-American studies professor, K. Anthony Appiah, who cited personal reasons — not Summers — as the driving motive behind his moving to Princeton. At the same time, Gutmann and Tilghman intensely pursued West, calling him weekly to urge him to return to Princeton, West noted after his appointment was officially announced. West characterized his decision as both a "pull" from Princeton and a "push" from Harvard.
Some University professors questioned the intensity of the offer. "Anybody who recruits [West] is going to get dragged into the eye of his media storm," professor of Italian Robert Holland '55 said. "You can't blame the Princeton administration for the media storm. You can wonder what they thought they were doing."
The weeks preceding his appointment featured uncertainty about West's ultimate decision. The African-American studies program inadvertently released a statement two weeks before the appointment congratulating West on joining the University's ranks. Then, in the days before the announcement, West said he had made a decision while his spokesman, Harvard Law professor Charles Olgetree, said he had not. University officials declined to discuss West's appointment before the trustees acted April 13.
However, early on April 12 Olgetree apparently telephoned a New York Times reporter, Pam Belluck '86, and confirmed West's intentions to leave Harvard, an assertion Olgetree disputes. Belluck called University spokeswoman Marilyn Marks GS '86 and said The Times would print a story with or without University comment. The University wanted its perspective represented in the article and released the information, Marks said.
Upon making his official announcement, West said he was "excited to return to the greatest center for humanistic study in the country.
"I look forward to being a part of President Tilghman's vision that promotes high quality intellectual conversation mediated with respect," he added.
Tilghman said she was pleased West had decided to return to the University.
"[West] was a popular and dedicated teacher during his previous tenure at Princeton," she said.
Five Princeton professors subsequently wrote a letter to the Times calling West's comments highly inappropriate.
The University has extended a standing offer to Henry Louis Gates, the chair of Harvard's African-American studies department. Gates said he will make a decision about whether to stay at Harvard during the summer, but West said Gates is "leaning" toward leaving.
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