Cornel West’s PhD was earned in philosophy at Princeton. Since the other points stand, all I can say is: so much the worse for the Philosophy Department at Princeton. Of course, the University of Texas has the misfortune (during the Silber era, long ago, happily) of having awarded a PhD in philosophy to William “shame on you, now I’ll raise you a thousand” Bennett. And Yale awarded a PhD in philosophy to Judith “I too give bullshit a bad name” Butler. And so it goes. Compiling a list of philosophy PhDs that departments regret awarding might make for an amusing exercise. I welcome additional suggestions.

UPDATE

Distinguished Princeton philosopher Gilbert Harman writes: “Cornel [West] is probably the best person to talk to on the Princeton faculty, in my view. I have no idea why you have a negative impression of him.” Well, I have never talked to him, only read him. And just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, perhaps you can’t judge an intellectual by his written work.