University considers creation of new AAS institute for research

Students and faculty may soon be able to take advantage of a University research center for African-American studies. AAS program chair Valerie Smith said Friday such a center is under discussion.

But there is no center yet, and students this year will miss out on studying in AAS courses with Cornel West GS '80 and K. Anthony Appiah, two former Harvard University professors whom Princeton vigorously pursued last year to enhance its AAS program. Both are teaching freshman seminars this term and will not teach courses in the program next semester. However, West and Appiah will teach AAS courses in the future, Smith said.

The campaign to hire them last year received much national attention as race and prestige were featured in a clash between West and Harvard President Lawrence Summers. Summers had criticized West for non-academic pursuits, while West challenged Summers' commitment to diversity.

Last spring, while on medical leave from Harvard, West traveled to Australia to play the new character of "Counselor West" in sequels to the 1999 blockbuster "The Matrix."

Officials said the decision for West and Appiah to teach outside the program does not reflect less University support for AAS. West is officially part of the religion faculty and Appiah part of the philosophy department.

"We have a terrific program in African-American studies," Provost Amy Gutmann said. "We remain strongly committed to building it."

One reason for a center may be to woo the chair of Harvard's AAS department, Henry Louis Gates, whom the University tried and failed to hire last year.

Gates has said he will wait until next summer to decide. The hiring of Gates would probably give the AAS program the most renowned faculty in the country.

Gates heads the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard.

A research center is an "obvious thing" if the University wants Gates and wants to continue to develop its AAS program, Appiah said in an interview Friday.

Even without Gates, West and Appiah's courses are likely to attract many students.

Though they are not teaching AAS courses this term, their current seminars will still bolster the program, Smith said.

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"[The program] benefits indirectly whenever one of the faculty members associated with it teaches for a program like the freshman seminars or the sophomore initiative," she said. "These courses help to attract students to the program."

For now, West is leading discussion on the concept of evil in his seminar, with readings from Plato to Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun."

Appiah's freshmen are examining the concept of individuality, considering texts by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lionel Trilling and others. A third AAS professor hired last year, Eddie Glaude GS '97, is teaching an AAS course on the role of religion in African-American life.

Christopher Principe '06, a student in West's seminar, described the first session as an exciting three hours that lived up to his expectations. West lectured on the ideas of comedy and tragedy for two hours, followed by a student discussion, he said.

"I've never had anybody hold my attention for two hours," Principe said. "[But] he really grabs your attention and doesn't let go."

A lingering question is whether the AAS program will become a department. The University is the only Ivy League school which does not give out degrees in African-American studies.

The program cannot request appointments. Instead it must rely on departments like religion and philosophy to hire new faculty.

For this reason in particular, Appiah said he leans toward the opinion that the AAS program should become a department. Otherwise, he said, it is "always depending on the existing framework."

Smith said no decisions on this question have been made, but that AAS and the University will continue to consider the issue.