Summers, West Conflict Close To Resolution

The conflict between University President Lawrence H. Summers and Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74 has been resolved, according to senior members of the Afro-American Studies department.

The two met at Summers’ Massachusetts Hall office Thursday evening after media reports circulated that West was considering departing Harvard for Princeton.

“It went very well,” DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. said Friday. “[Professor West] told me they had a really good dialogue and Summers apologized graciously. As far as I’m concerned the issue is resolved.”

“They had a good meeting, they cleared the air, they left with a feeling of mutual respect,” said University spokesperson Joe Wrinn.

In an interview with National Public Radio that was taped prior to Thursday’s meeting, West discussed the details of his October meeting with Summers—the meeting that sparked the current controversy—and said that Summers attacked his “popular” versus “pure” academic work.

“I have never been attacked and insulted in that particular way,” West said in the interview, which will air today on NPR on the inaugural edition of the Tavis Smiley Show.

West also acknowledged in the interview that he is considering a move to Princeton, saying, “It’s not simply a sense of turning away from Harvard, it’s also a turning toward something that is positive, something that is visionary, something that is appreciative.”

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles said Friday that Harvard would fight to keep West—and any other members of his department considering a departure—in Cambridge.

“We have a distinguished group of colleagues in Afro-American Studies at Harvard—no wonder Princeton would like it,” Knowles said. “The President and I will certainly want to avoid any southern migration of our splendid Faculty.”

President of the Black Students Association Brandon A. Gayle ’03 said Thursday that he would be “extremely disappointed” if any of the senior Faculty members of the Afro-American Studies department left Harvard, especially West.

“Professor West is an outstanding teacher,” Gayle said. “He is one of the top scholars of the world...period. That’s something we try to tell our incoming freshman. [Af-Am 10] is the best class I’ve taken since I’ve been here.”

But Gates said Friday he was hopeful that West would remain at Harvard.

“All of us have built this up together, and it would be very difficult to imagine leaving,” Gates said.

Gates said Friday he would like to see this conflict resolved as quickly as possible for the sake of West, who is scheduled for prostate cancer surgery at the end of the month.

“I think that it is important that we all now rally around West at this time of medical crisis in his life and let this issue pass,” he said.

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