Dr. Cornel West, in His Own Words
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 did — 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 1912? 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?
