Cornel West is threatening to leave his position at Harvard University following a decision by university officials to not honor his request that he be considered for tenure, according to The Boston Globe.
West’s current position is as a nontenured professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy, with appointments in the Harvard Divinity School and the Harvard Department of African and African American Studies.
West’s current appointment at Harvard began in 2017. He had a position at Harvard previously but left the position in 2002 following a dispute with then-president Larry Summers. In the intervening years he held positions at Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary.
According to The Globe, West said Harvard offered him an endowed chair with a 10-year contract and a pay raise, but that the failure to consider him for tenure is a dealbreaker. “It is once again this issue of just not putting up with being disrespected,” he told The Globe.
UPDATE (3/8/21): West today announced that he is leaving Harvard to take up a position at Union Theological Seminary in New York, according to The Boston Globe.
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