While the himself has taken "visible publicstands against the excesses of the Afrocentricmovement," Gates says he "doesn't expect everyonein the department to agree with him."

West will fit in well with the department'soutlook, Gates says. West's own doctrine includesa central call for "cultural synthesis" in hisrecent book Race Matters. People of allraces can find commonality, west writes.

"To establish a new framework, we need to beginwith a frank acknowledgement of the basichumanness and Americanness of each of us" because"If we go down, we go down together," he writes inRace Matters.

The Harvard department is seen by many ashostile to Afrocentrism, a form of study thatemphasizes the central importance of Africa inworld history. Afrocentrism has been accused ofdistorting historical truth in its effort to focustoo exclusively on African contributions tosociety.

But many students have called for anacknowledgement that Afrocentrism can be alegitimate form of study--one which they say isignored in Harvard's department.

Afro-American Studies concentrator Zaheer R.Ali '94 says West's open mind may allow him to seemore value in the discipline of Afrocentrism thando many of West's future colleagues.

"I think that comes from his approach of tryingto find insight wherever it may be, while I thinkthat many of his colleagues try to outrightdismiss Afrocentricity," Ali says.

West finds insight in places many traditionalscholars fail to look, students say.

For instance, popular culture and music.

"When he was speaking he wasn't just speakingin a completely academic tone," says Afro-AmericanStudies concentrator Ann L. Chang '96, who hasheard West speak. "He would refer to black cultureand he was able to incorporate so many things intowhat he was saying that he was able to get manymore people interested in [his message]."

But where some see broad-mindedness, criticssee a celebrity's shallow appeal to the masses andperhaps a dearth of serious scholarly thought.

West is a regular on talk-show and lecturecircuits and can usually be contacted only througha press agent.

Two years ago, political scientist Adolph Reedwas quoted by the writer Robert Boynton as saying:"Cornel's work tends to be about a thousand mileswide and two inches deep."

Professional philosophers are sharply dividedin their estimate of West's intellectual purity.His message is much too accessible to nonacademicconstituencies, they say.

"West's fellow philosophers usually regardhim... as someone who has wandered so far out ofhis academic discipline that he no longer counts amember of it," says Richard Rorty, a formerphilosophy professor at Princeton.