Appiah Will Be Missed

To the editors:

Re: “Appiah To Leave Harvard” (Jan. 30)

Caswell Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Philosophy K. Anthony Appiah is just the sort of professor that one hopes to encounter when one comes to Harvard as a bright-eyed first-year. He is wise, cosmopolitan and incisive, and he makes you think that you can be so too. In office hour discussions, he never looks at his watch. He chats thoughtfully and patiently, never trying to impress you, never making you feel like you’re failing to impress. The fact that he gets along with everyone is not reflective of a wariness to take a stand, only that when he does take a stand—in faculty meetings, in decisions about students, in philosophical discussions—he does so with so much politeness, so much humility, that one can not help but welcome his input.

We in the Harvard community should take a moment to reflect with gratitude on all the good work that he has done during his decade here. Appiah has enriched the students and faculty at Harvard for more than 10 years, and as he heads off for Princeton, it is thankfulness, rather than loss, which should be foremost in our hearts and minds.

Daniel B. Baer ’00

Oxford, England

Jan. 30, 2002

The writer was a social studies and Afro-American studies concentrator.