Civil rights activist Dr. Cornel West has resigned from Harvard University for a second time, citing discrimination.
Dr. West was previously a tenured Ivy League professor at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. After leaving Harvard in 2002, he returned to the Harvard Divinity School in 2017 to take a non-tenured position, which he says compensated him less than what he was paid 15 years prior.
In his resignation letter submitted on Monday, the professor detailed several grievances with the school, which he says is in “decline and decay.”
“The shadow of Jim Crow was cast in its new glittering form expressed in the language of superficial diversity,” the letter read. West said that the lack of summer salary and the “lowest increase possible every year” were just examples of discrimination.
The beloved philosopher also pointed out the lack of personal empathy from colleagues, which was blatantly put on display when he only received two condolences following the passing of his mother, which was publicized in a newsletter.
West said that he is stepping away from his position with “absolutely no regrets.”
Harvard has not commented publicly on Dr. West’s departure.
