Cornel West, an American philosopher and known support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, announced Tuesday that he was resigning from Harvard University, citing the school's opposition to his support for the Palestinians.
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West posted his "candid letter of resignation" on Twitter, in which he claimed that he was denied extended tenure at the school solely due to his pro-Palestinian views.
This is my candid letter of resignation to my Harvard Dean. I try to tell the unvarnished truth about the decadence in our market-driven universities! Let us bear witness against this spiritual rot! pic.twitter.com/hCLAuNSWDu
— Cornel West (@CornelWest) July 13, 2021
"To witness a faculty enthusiastically support a candidate for tenure then timidly defer to a rejection based on the Harvard administration's hostility to the Palestinian cause was disgusting," he wrote. "We all knew the mendacious reasons given had nothing to do with academic standards ... I knew my academic achievements and student teaching meant far less than their political prejudices."
He accused the school of "decline and decay" and wrote that "disarray of a scattered curriculum, the disenchantment of talented yet deferential faculty, and the disorientation of precious students loom large" at the school.
West concluded his letter by saying that Harvard's "narcissistic academic professionalism cowardly deference to the anti-Palestinian prejudices … constitute an intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy of deep depths."
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