What started as a private disagreement between a controversial black professor and a university president prompted a national debate about the validity of African-American studies and a professor's responsibility to that field.
Former Harvard Department of Afro-American Studies Chairman Cornel West left the school in April after a disagreement with President Lawrence Summers and has since accepted a teaching position at Princeton University.
West has appeared with a number of controversial black figures such as Louis Farrakhan and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and is part of a presidential exploratory committee for the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Summers reportedly told West that he was too involved in political activities and as a result was neglecting his students.
When The Boston Globe reported the details of the Summers-West altercation, scholars and commentators rallied to either support or criticize West.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke on West's behalf, and many of his colleagues at Harvard continued to defend him.
However, Shelby Steele, a conservative black professor at Stanford University, criticized West, saying that he had little credibility as an academic.
Shortly after the controversy erupted, the City University of New York asked four noted intellectuals to sit on a panel about philosopher Sidney Hook. Each refused to participate if West was asked to join them.
The group claimed that West was not an expert in the field -- though he had written a 1989 book that reviewed 20 of Hook's works.
Ultimately, however, the four consented to join the panel along with West.
In addition to personal attacks on West's credibility, many scholars questioned the legitimacy of African-American studies as a discipline.
John Derbyshire of the National Review Online wrote that African-American studies is a way for elite institutions to give jobs to blacks.
After the media frenzy quelled, West announced that he would abandon his post at Harvard to take a lower position as Religious Studies professor at Princeton.
In a statement, Summers expressed appreciation for West's contributions -- including the inspiration he gave to students -- and wished him well.
And as other institutions seek to strengthen their African-American studies programs, West and what he accomplishes at Princeton will be a focus of much attention.
Princeton's African-American Studies Department Acting Director Colin Palmer said that West is "certain to make a fine contribution to the intellectual life of the program."
Palmer added that he looks forward to working with his new colleague.
At the meeting of Princeton's Board of Trustees, West -- who received his masters degree and Ph.D. from the school -- expressed his excitement in returning to Princeton.
"I look forward to being a part of President [Shirley] Tilghman's vision that promotes high quality intellectual conversation mediated with respect," he said.
