Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard • Hacker News Board

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#61

Post by threatofrain » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:58 PM UTC

whymauri wrote: post #20

pradn wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He means that his colleagues at the Divinity School don't seem to care enough about him to send him a condolence for his mother's death. It's about the apathetic work environment at the school. That would be a problem for me, too, at my company if I chose to disclose that via a public email. Hell, I have several colleagues that wish me well when I have a cold.

Especially for a Divinity School, his point is that it marks a fundamental departure from the spirituality and community that made the school special at some point.

What does it mean to send condolences to a colleague when you don't know much about their mother? That carries the intimacy of sending someone a life event message because FB told you so.

I really don't see that as "spiritually bankrupt".

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#62

Post by failwhaleshark » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:58 PM UTC

endisneigh wrote: post #56

keel1o wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He didn't hold tenure at any prestigious university he held professorship. There's a lot of nobodies who get associate at these institutions especially in the fields of philosophy and social science. UTS is an absolute nobody school. It's like graduating from ASU - no one will ever take you seriously. He's just an old bigot going home to roost.

idk why I'm even wasting my time responding to obviously wrong things - just go look it up, he's been tenured before. he was actually offered tenure in 1993 but left because he disagreed with Larry Summers, then president of Harvard, at the time.

Yep. Sigh.

Haters gonna...

Sigh.

He's done a lot of good as a civically-involved public intellectual and debater than most academics do writing research papers few people read to "move the needle" towards where many things need to go. I sometimes say about sales and influence: You can build a viable fusion reactor, but if no one knows about it, it may as well not even exist.

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#63

Post by whymauri » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:59 PM UTC

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #32

I think some are focusing on his mother's death; it's the straw the broke the camel's back but the root cause is apathy towards him. They are however, ignoring the part where he was declined tenure for no good reason, and despite being a professor at other prestigious universities. He was also paid badly and was treated poorly when it came to sabbaticals. In other words he was sidelined for no good reason. This is sa…

Exactly. At nearly 20 years of membership and collective service to the Divinity School and Harvard College, he's been a fixture (from undergrad, to postdoc, to lecturer, to professor, to joint appointee, to commencement speaker) for nearly as long as I have been alive, and certainly for longer than current undergrads have been alive.

If I devoted half that amount of time to an institution and received this treatment in return, I would struggle to contain my composure. I think the letter insinuates that his service to Harvard stems from a love/appreciation for what the institution stood for 20, 30, perhaps even 40-50 years ago. Who here doesn't feel similarly about their undergrad? Of those who feel that way, who else would feel irate if they were treated this way in return?

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#64

Post by dmos62 » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:59 PM UTC

x86_64Ubuntu wrote: post #30

freshdonut wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the resignation letter? I thought it was pretty obvious that corruption - maybe in a less sinister form - was the underlying reason for the issues he brought up.

He spoke about Palestine and not getting enough condolences for his mother's death. Neither of those subjects jump out as "corruption".

Apathy and politicaly-motivated administration is corruption of a collegial environment and academic responsibilities.

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#65

Post by AnimalMuppet » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

elefanten wrote: post #10

He's a celebrity public intellectual. He hasn't pioneered any ideas or theories. He builds departments and plays a ton of politics (both internally at academic institutions and publicly in the American media ecosystem.) He's a PR intellectual. He gets way too much air time for his contributions to humanity. A boring figure.

I don't know about that. He's someone I disagree with on many points, but he still speaks in a way that I understand. I may still disagree, but I find myself thinking that many of his points are interesting and/or at least somewhat valid.

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#66

Post by derbOac » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

robotresearcher wrote: post #41

'no possible summer salary' Summer salaries are usually paid for by research funding raised by the professor from outside sources. Typically you make sure your students are supported, then travel and operating costs for your group, then if any funding is left over, you can pay yourself summer salary. Is the university preventing him from raising funds? If he is not raising funds, then the expenses above could be unme…

Where I was at, in an entirely different field, it wasn't uncommon for faculty to obtain summer salary through summer teaching. Usually that was reserved for graduate students, but it was a normal thing for some faculty to have.

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#67

Post by chadash » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 9:04 PM UTC

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #32

I think some are focusing on his mother's death; it's the straw the broke the camel's back but the root cause is apathy towards him. They are however, ignoring the part where he was declined tenure for no good reason, and despite being a professor at other prestigious universities. He was also paid badly and was treated poorly when it came to sabbaticals. In other words he was sidelined for no good reason. This is sa…

> "he was declined tenure for no good reason"

Usually you get tenure for a good reason. Plenty of very talented people are denied it for no good reason. I'm not saying that his accusations are untrue, but denial of tenure happens all of the time, so the onus is really on him to say why he should have gotten it.

I feel like i'm missing some pieces of this story though. Why did a previously tenured academic well into his career agree to take a poorly paid job without tenure in the first place?

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#68

Post by robotresearcher » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

robotresearcher wrote: post #41

'no possible summer salary' Summer salaries are usually paid for by research funding raised by the professor from outside sources. Typically you make sure your students are supported, then travel and operating costs for your group, then if any funding is left over, you can pay yourself summer salary. Is the university preventing him from raising funds? If he is not raising funds, then the expenses above could be unme…

backgrounder:

It's not obvious to outsiders that being a successful researcher is expensive, and the university does not pay for it after a short startup period. Harvard is unusual in that they have much more internal student scholarship money than most, which helps a lot. That subsidy, and the Harvard brand, means that Harvard faculty have a good advantage over the field when raising money.

On the other hand, a lot is expected of them. The university is considering the opportunity cost, and the opportunity is very valuable.

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#69

Post by endisneigh » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

whymauri wrote: post #63

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #32

I think some are focusing on his mother's death; it's the straw the broke the camel's back but the root cause is apathy towards him. They are however, ignoring the part where he was declined tenure for no good reason, and despite being a professor at other prestigious universities. He was also paid badly and was treated poorly when it came to sabbaticals. In other words he was sidelined for no good reason. This is sa…

Exactly. At nearly 20 years of membership and collective service to the Divinity School and Harvard College, he's been a fixture (from undergrad, to postdoc, to lecturer, to professor, to joint appointee, to commencement speaker) for nearly as long as I have been alive, and certainly for longer than current undergrads have been alive. If I devoted half that amount of time to an institution and received this treatment…

To add to this, ironically the only reason he even went back to Harvard (IIRC) is because he has strong feelings for Harvard. He was actually tenured at Princeton when he went to Harvard. So I can't blame him lol

Re: Cornel West Releases Resignation Letter from Harvard

#70

Post by mark_l_watson » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

I am really sorry he was not treated well. He is one of those people who I am grateful to have in the world because they push back against untrue “accepted narratives.” There is so much bullshit in the world, from corporations, governments, and almost all news media. I look to West, Chomsky, Tulsa Gabbard and a few others who I think really say and do what is right.

I have never seen Cornel West talk live - I need to fix that.