CORNEL WEST UPDATE: The New Republic says good riddance:

What’s lost on this career track of posturing and self-aggrandizement, of course, is any learned and original and rigorous contribution to human knowledge or human thought. In West’s case, the omission is particularly tragic. The fragile discipline of African American Studies badly needs high standards and serious scholarship. Instead, one of its preeminent practitioners offers tossed-off books, rap CDs, and shallow public disputes over the respect due to him. Congratulations, Princeton. You have your public intellectual.

Ouch.