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WEB POSTED 01-15-2002

 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Harvard prof responds to attack

(FinalCall.com)Until Jan. 7, the controversy surrounding Harvard University�s President Lawrence Summers and his meeting with Dr. Cornel West included the voices of everyone but him. All that changed during a National Public Radio debut program featuring Tavis Smiley.

"It began with an attack on my integrity and an insult on my work," explained Dr. West in the interview.

The attack began with an accusation that Dr. West had cancelled three classes during the Bill Bradley 2000 presidential campaign. It then moved to a debate over Dr. West�s new CD, "Sketches of My Culture," which is a spoken word, musical tribute to the Black experience. Mr. Summers also questioned whether or not Dr. West does enough "pure academic" work versus "popular" work.

"I have only missed one class in 26 years of teaching when I gave a keynote in Ethiopia for an AIDS conference," Dr. West said. "I have a profound loyalty to my students."

"One of the things I don�t tolerate is disrespect, being dishonest and being disvalued," he added. "In 26 years of teaching, this is unprecedented for me. I�ve never been attacked or assaulted in that particular way."

Dr. West is no ordinary Harvard University professor. He�s authored numerous books, including bestseller, "Race Matters." His scholarly work distinguished him with the recognition as a "University Professor," a prominent designation awarded to only 14 of the more than 2,000 professors at Harvard. His classes are some of the most popular on campus. He�s also Black�a 1960s bush-wearing "Black power" Black.

"This was an attack on his personal integrity," said Dr. Leonard Jefferies, noted Black Studies Professor at City University of New York. "It definitely has racial overtones that must be solved within the context of Harvard University. But it also raises larger questions about the integrity of all Black professors, the discipline of Black Studies and how these programs relate to the real world."

"Dr. West�s CD is a modern version of writing a letter from the Harvard jail instead of Dr. King�s letter from a Birmingham jail," said Dr. Ray Winbush of Fisk University�s Race Relations Institute. "There is a bad atmosphere in this country right now for Black Studies programs. We had a renaissance in the �90s but now we�re in the dark ages where programs have to prove their success. There�s also a chilling affect of telling people they can�t say things unpatriotic."

President Summers, former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, claims all the hoopla about the meeting with Dr. West and Dr. Summers� commitment to affirmative action is "a very unfortunate misunderstanding.�� He issued a statement in the campus newspaper Harvard Crimson saying he was proud of the school�s diversity and saw it as necessary to "create an ever more open and inclusive environment that draws on the widest possible range of talents."

This Harvard controversy has grown to include the issue of grade inflation where half of all grades given are "A" or "A minus," and possible defections by Dr. West and other Black colleagues Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Dr. Kwame Anthony Appiah, William Julius Wilson and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham to neighboring Princeton.

On the possibility of leaving Harvard for Princeton, Dr. West says, "It�s not simply a sense of turning away from Harvard � it�s also a turning towards something that is positive, something that is visionary, something that is appreciative.

"In a deep sense I weep for Harvard, because Harvard has meant much to me," he said.

The bout of West vs. Summers has drawn Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton to the defense of Dr. West. Rev. Jackson explained that he is requesting a meeting with the Harvard president. Rev. Sharpton is threatening a lawsuit.

But Dr. West wants the focus to be on the threat against academic freedom and not just him.

"I�m privileged. I can move. The focus needs to be on the thousands of academics that don�t have the privileges I do," said Dr. West. "To simply adjust and adapt to a certain kind of abuse, I�m not that kind of man. For me the bottom line is about respect, that is so necessary."

Dr. West is currently on leave from Harvard as he heals from prostate cancer surgery.

�Nisa Islam Muhammad

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