71–80 of 108 posts
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…
> I mean what difference does it make if you're at Princeton or Harvard, they are both great schools. Why do we tell academics they have to stay in one place forever once they get tenure? Don't they want to move around as much as anyone else? Maybe his reason was just that he wanted a change.
We don't tell them that. Tenured academics do move between universities, and rarely if ever have to regain tenure -- because they negotiate with the new university to immediately be at the same status they had at the old university.
If West couldn't swing that, that's on him. West definitely seems to be more interested in playing the outspoken celebrity intellectual / activist than being a serious academic, and Harvard probably didn't want to risk a replay of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornel_West#Dispute_with_Lawre....
I'm not a fan of West's politics (look up my comment history, because it's pretty clear what my politics are), but the comments here making light of West's objections seem completely off the mark. Reading the letter I see a few extremely salient complaints: 1. His first complaint is that he was a token diversity hire. Instead of his courses being placed in the general coursework section, his courses were put under 'A…
... that's because no one would dare dream to have a 'European American studies' program in the first place.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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".
Spiritually bankrupt? Not sure. It’s not great though.
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 h…
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.
I'm not a fan of West's politics (look up my comment history, because it's pretty clear what my politics are), but the comments here making light of West's objections seem completely off the mark. Reading the letter I see a few extremely salient complaints: 1. His first complaint is that he was a token diversity hire. Instead of his courses being placed in the general coursework section, his courses were put under 'A…
> No one would dare dream put a history class taught by a white professor under the 'European American studies' ... that's because no one would dare dream to have a 'European American studies' program in the first place.
His resignation letter chastises the school for not giving enough attention to his mother's death-- he only got two condolences. Does this strike anyone else as a really strange thing to bring up a tally of condolences in a resignation letter?
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it is one thing to "bring that to work" and another to expect condolences. Weren't there truly any better reasons to resign? If no, then I think Harvard is really a good place to work.
For an academic in a Divinity school, an uncaring but professional environment is a dead canary. It means something much worse than the lack of sympathy in that moment. But, if that doesn't make sense to you, how about being systematically passed over for a promotion because of your political views? It's hard not to see this as being a crappy place to work if you put yourself in his shoes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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".