This is news.
So in the past four years, Anthony Appiah, Cornel West, and now Bobo are gone. Bobo works closely with Michael Dawson. I expect Dawson to leave also--perhaps back to Chicago. I expect Gates to leave to head up Princeton. He may take Wilson with him.
The repercussions of this for black academics at high tier schools will be significant. And not at all negative. I've long believed that Harvard needed a social science driven counter-weight, and that having humanities scholars weigh in on political and economic issues of the day was a bad bad bad idea. Hopefully Bobo at Stanford (and Dawson where he winds up) will be able to be more of a force in that area--their Dubois Review is already making waves.
Gates and his crew had a good run.
Some said that Larry Summers would take Afro-American Studies out. They were right...but it wasn't on sound footing to begin with.
Your point regarding Harvard's president, Larry Summers, is on point. I remember back during the debacle over Dr. Cornel West and some very troubling comments that were attributed to him regarding his opinions of black people. It's not surprising, therefore, that folks would now be jumping ship at Harvard. Perhaps, as long as he is in charge, it may be best to do so. I suspect the only program he, among others, has a problem with is the black studies group. H-E-L-L-O!
GDAWG
Posted by: GDAWG at September 22, 2004 07:58 AM