Gates Will Stay, Declining Offer From Princeton

Ending a year of uncertainty over the future of Harvard’s Afro-American studies department, DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. announced yesterday that he will permanently remain at the University.

Gates had spent nearly a year considering an offer to join the faculty at Princeton University, a move that many at Harvard feared he would make.

But the chair of Afro-American studies said yesterday he will remain in Cambridge to lay the groundwork for the department’s future.

“I thought it was best, given the departures of my dear friends Anthony Appiah and Cornel West, that I remain behind to maintain stability as the department attempts to rebuild,” he said in an interview. “Part of my legacy as an academic will be this department, and I want it not only to survive but to thrive.”

Gates said he aims to recruit five new professors, building on the recent appointments of Michael C. Dawson in government and Afro-American studies and Evelynn Hammonds in Afro-American studies and history of science. He said that the searches have already begun and that he hopes to make one or two appointments by the end of this year.

Bolstering the department’s ranks is a goal widely shared goal by its faculty and University administrators.

“There’s a sense that we’ll never fully recover from losing people like Cornel West and Anthony Appiah,” said Lawrence D. Bobo, Tishman and Diker professor of sociology and of Afro-American studies. “I think now we need to set about the business of rebuilding.”

University President Lawrence H. Summers also alluded to future appointments in a written statement released yesterday.

“I look forward to working with Skip and his colleagues and with those who will join the department and the DuBois Institute in the months and years ahead,” Summers said. “The important issues surrounding the African-American experience deserve Harvard’s fullest attention.”

Gates said he is also concerned with strengthening the department’s fledgling doctoral program, which he said is “still quite vulnerable.”

Yesterday’s announcement brought to an end a year-long period of anxiety over Gates’ academic future.

His colleagues used words such as “delighted” and “thrilled” to express their reaction to his decision.

“I hugged him when he first told me he was going to stay and we hugged one another again today when he said word was official,” Bobo said. “A strong department has just retained the charismatic leader that built it.”

Gates had been publicly considering an offer to join Princeton’s faculty since the last winter’s conflict between Summers and former Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74, a conflict that Gates has said made him question the University’s commitment to the department.

That doubt, Gates said, has now been laid to rest. He said yesterday he is “more than persuaded” that “Afro-American studies is central to President Summers’ conception of the liberal arts university and to Dean Kirby’s mission as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.”

Summers pledged his continued support for the department and for the field in yesterday’s statement.

“Harvard University is committed to remaining preeminent in Afro-American studies,” he said. “I am delighted that Professor Gates will continue his leadership of our Department of Afro-American Studies and of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research.”

But concerns about Summers’ actions toward the department linger for members of the department.

Professor of Anthropology and of Afro-American Studies J. Loran Matory said he is “concerned there has been pressure from the president’s office to make appointments favorable to his political opinions.”

“I’d like to make sure the integrity of the process by which the most excellent scholars of Af-Am are selected is preserved and supported,” Matory said.

Another major factor in Gates’ decision was his close scholarly relationship with former Carswell Professor of Philosophy K. Anthony Appiah.

The two have been close friends, colleagues and collaborators on scholarly projects since they met as students at Cambridge University in 1973. They have spent most of their academic careers working at the same institutions. Appiah’s departure for Princeton was an incentive for Gates to migrate south.

But Gates said yesterday he had come to realize that the physical distance was not an insurmountable obstacle to their friendship.

“Anthony and I are best friends, and we will remain best friends no matter where we’re living,” he said.

The two will continue to work together on scholarly endeavors, including the second edition of Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, which they will begin work on this year.

The View from Princeton

Harvard’s avoided loss is Princeton’s missed gain.

Princeton has pledged to build up a stronger program in African-American studies. Their coups of Appiah and West last year were huge additions, and snagging Gates would have seriously called into question Harvard’s place as a leading center of black studies in the country.

Gates had nothing but flattering words for Princeton yesterday.

“There is no doubt that Princeton has emerged as a major center of Afro-American studies,” he said in a written statement. “We need multiple centers of excellence in our field, and Princeton is one of these.”

Princeton spokesperson Lauren Robinson-Brown said yesterday that those at the university were disappointed Gates wouldn’t be joining their faculty but were grateful for his support.

“Of course we would have been pleased if [Gates] had decided to come to Princeton, as have so many exceptional faculty members, including in African-American studies,” Robinson-Brown said. “We do appreciate his reasoning, and we very much appreciate his kind words about Princeton.”

She said Gates notified Princeton of his decision within the past few days.

A Sigh of Relief

Yesterday’s announcement inspired more than a few sighs of relief at the University. Up until very recently, rumors that Gates was leaning towards leaving for Princeton circulated widely among academic circles both inside and outside of Cambridge.

Those rumors were furthered by published accounts of Gates’ house-hunting activities last summer in the Princeton area.

In efforts to convince him to stay, professors, students and other members of the Harvard community flooded him with an outpouring of support.

“We did it all,” Bobo said. “We sent the man flowers, cards, letters, gave him hugs and endless praise and pleading, telling him again and again how valued his leadership has been and continues to be.”

Among other things, colleagues gave Gates an African sculpture that “symbolizes the many qualities that make him a great leader,” according to Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies and English and American Literature and Language Glenda R. Carpio.

These efforts were not in vain. Gates said he was touched by the support and that it was a significant factor in his decision.

“The expression of support from the president, the dean, the Faculty, my colleagues and students, all of that meant a lot to me,” he said.

The outpouring of support reflects the perception that he is a widely influential figure at Harvard.

“His charisma, leadership and unbounded energy have touched the lives of faculty and students across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and, indeed, the entire University,” Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby said in a written statement.

And Charles M. Moore ’04, president of the Black Students Association (BSA), said that in addition to being a crucial figure for the stability of the department, Gates’ presence is important for black students on campus.

“What he means to black students is strong advice for the BSA and a stronger faculty advocate for the issues that we think are important,” he said.

Moore said he feels Gates is a resource to students of all backgrounds.

Gates said yesterday that his plans to remain at Harvard are long-term, though he will be going on academic leave next year.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.