Appiah To Leave Harvard for Princeton

Noted philosopher K. Anthony Appiah turned in his resignation to University officials yesterday and will depart Harvard for Princeton next fall.

Princeton’s board of trustees voted this morning to officially approve Appiah’s appointment to their faculty.

Appiah’s decision renews speculation that two stars of Harvard’s Afro-American Studies “Dream Team”—DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74—will also leave for Princeton. That possibility was widely discussed earlier this month after a rift between West and University President Lawrence H. Summers was reported in the national media.

Neither Gates nor West could be reached for comment today.

In an interview with The Crimson today, Appiah said his departure had nothing to do with the highly-publicized dispute.

“I’m happy to say that I have the most cordial relations with everybody at Harvard both on the Faculty and on the administration and that any decisions I’ve made about moving are entirely positive,” Appiah said.

Appiah, who is currently the Carswell Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Philosophy, declined further comment on the reasons for his departure. But in a Jan. 2 interview with The Crimson, he said that any career move would have complex motivations.

“It’s always a mixture of personal and academic things, it’s never just one thing,” Appiah said.

Appiah has spent a number of years commuting weekly from Cambridge to his home in New York City.

He will remain at Harvard for the spring semester and will begin his tenure as Princeton’s Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values next fall.

The renowned philosopher has been a member of the Harvard Faculty since 1991, shortly after his friend and colleague Gates took the helm of the Afro-American Studies department. He is also Chair of the African Studies Committee.

University officials said they are saddened by Appiah’s departure.

“Professor Appiah is a scholar and a friend, and he has been a splendid colleague. We shall miss him greatly,” Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles wrote in an e-mail.

“Professor Appiah has made important contributions at Harvard through his work in African American Studies and in Philosophy,” Summers said in a statement. “We wish him every success in the future.”

Prior to Appiah’s decision to accept Princeton’s offer of a full professorship, students launched a last-ditch e-mail effort to keep him at Harvard.

Ryan L. White ’04, who took a philosophy course with Appiah this fall, e-mailed various lists asking students to e-mail Appiah to urge him to remain at Harvard.

White said Appiah’s departure is “unfortunate” for students interested in studying the intersection between philosophy and race relations.

“He’s so brilliant, but there are a few other people here involved in the same field,” White said.

At Princeton, Appiah will join his close friend and academic collaborator Princeton Provost Amy Gutmann ’71, who founded its Center for Human Values. In 1996, Appiah and Gutmann co-authored the critically acclaimed “Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race.”

In a statement released today, Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman said she was “delighted” to bring Appiah to Princeton.

“Anthony Appiah brings even greater distinction to our philosophy department, to our Center for Human Values, and to our distinguished and growing work in African-American studies,” Tilghman said.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.