SLAP AT CORNEL WEST MAKES SOME RECOIL
Harsh rejection of the principles of academic freedom
May 30, 2011
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YOUR EDITORIAL praising Harvard for getting rid of Cornel West — in fact, West resigned to go to Princeton University — was the sort of yellow journalism one expects from a tabloid, and not commentary from a paper one respects (“Cornel West: Summers was right,’’ May 24). West is an outstanding thinker and, I can say as one who has known him for 40 years, a fine human being. I agree that his remarks about President Obama were unfair, but we all have friends with whom we disagree.
There was not one word in your editorial concerning West’s professional qualifications or any allegation of turpitude on his part as a teacher and scholar, and yet you believe a university should have “sent [him] packing