Dr. Cornel West, in his own words - Interview

Black Issues in Higher Education, May 23, 2002 by Kendra Hamilton

Before giving the keynote address at the conference "The State of the African American Professoriate," held at Ramapo College in Mahwah, N.J., Dr. Cornel West spoke with reporters, primarily about the circumstances surrounding his much-publicized departure from Harvard University.

A lot of people may feel, given your recent experience at Harvard, "If it can happen to him, what hope do I have?" What lesson can aspiring academics take from your recent experience?

WEST: I've been in the academy almost 30 years, and it's been challenging, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of fun. So as I see it, this particular incident should not serve as a moment that overshadows other more positive moments. Young people have to see that, wherever they are in American society, there are going to be some impediments. And so in that regard it's like anywhere else in America--being a doctor, lawyer, even a journalist. The point is not to get discouraged and not to think that any negative experience has the last word.

Do you have any words of advice for African American intellectuals who may be facing pressure--as you recently dial--to produce a particular type of scholarship?

WEST: I think people should just be themselves--and by that I mean take seriously the Shakespearean imperative "To thine own self be true." And if in being true to oneself, you write popular books, that's fine; if you write academic books, that's fine, too. While the jargon of academia is labeled irrelevant in some circles, I don't think that speaking in a certain specialized language is precisely irrelevant; it may just have less relevance for a larger public. There can be very salutary developments that come out of that jargon; there might be a need for it. But it has to be translated--at that point you need your translators. As I said in the lecture, I support the specialists, the technicians and the analysts. They have a very important role to play. The fact that William Julius Wilson's work isn't on the best-seller lists doesn't mean that he hasn't made a major contribution. I just think one has to be true to oneself. This attempt to shape everyone into one mold is something that I just resist.

As far as what you have to do to achieve tenure there, it's a matter of jumping through the hoops of the system. But when you think of it, Ralph Waldo Emerson would never have received tenure in the philosophy department at Harvard University in the 19th century. And yet who were the tenured professors of his day? Nobody knows. DuBois could never receive a job at Harvard, Yale, Princeton--and yet 150 years from now when they talk about sociology and its relation to race or about Black Reconstruction, who will they be talking about? Dr. DuBois. Who were the tenured members of the Harvard sociology department in 19127 It's hard to recall one.

Were you surprised that your dispute with Dr. Lawrence Summers became so public, so quickly? What do you think fueled the media frenzy?

WEST: I think from the very beginning when Brother Skip (Dr. Henry Louis Gates) talked about a dream team, the press ran with that. And Harvard is, in many ways, the national institution of higher education in the American empire, so it does solicit a certain kind of attention from journalists--many of whom are themselves part of Ivy League networks, so that they tend to cover those in that particular slice of the chattering classes that they're a part of. But I have to admit that it took off in a way that surprised me. You had Chinese newspapers, journalists from Berlin, Paris. I said, "Oh, my God. There are some other issues that you can think of that deserve some serious attention. AIDS in the Black community, AIDS in Africa ..." Ah, well. C'est la vie.

Are you disturbed that certain people are using your experience to question the role of Black studies in higher education more generally?

WEST: In certain circles, there are pundits and commentators who don't understand the intellectual legitimacy of the study of the experience of people of African descent and what a challenge it poses in terms of our understanding of what it means to be human, what it means to be modern, what it means to be American. I don't expect folk from "Crossfire" to get into this. I wish they would, but I don't expect it. We're going to always have those naysayers out there. But our point of reference should always be those persons who are willing to think hard and long about those existential questions that are painful and difficult rather than those who have an a priori approach to the Negro.

What are your feelings on leaving Harvard for Princeton?

WEST: I didn't really want to leave. If Larry Summers were not the president of Harvard, I'd probably still be there. We were having a great time, involved in a grand project. But there's both the pull of Princeton and the push of Harvard. And the push of Harvard was very much my dear brother, Larry Summers.

Basically, I'm leaving Harvard with a tear and arriving at Princeton with a smile. But I do want to say that Harvard is a great place; It's a great tradition; and that tradition is much bigger than any faculty member, any president, any one person. The question is trying to keep the best of it alive. Thirty years from now we'll all be dead and gone and Harvard will be marching on. The question will be whether the best of Harvard is still alive. That tradition has some ugly aspects to it as far as its White supremacist legacy, male supremacist legacy, but it's made some strides. Princeton's the same way. It has deeply White and male supremacist notions at the core of its identity. But leadership has made a difference. (Dr.) Harold Shapiro came in and made it a different place.