Academic Tiff

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Victoria Rainert, Sora Song, Deirdre VanDyk

Six months into the job, HARVARD president Lawrence Summers is finding he still has much to learn. He offended black professor CORNEL WEST during an October meeting by criticizing West's nonacademic activities--reportedly including his support of the Rev. AL SHARPTON--and drew fire from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others who questioned Summers' commitment to affirmative action. West and two colleagues in Harvard's renowned AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES department threatened a move to Princeton. But Summers made peace with West last week and reaffirmed Harvard's commitment to diversity. End of lesson.