Princeton Professor Emeritus Cornel West *80 Is Running for President

The philosopher and political activist announced his candidacy with the independent People’s Party

Cornel West speaks at Harvard when W.E.B. Dubois Medals were awarded in 2019 for contributions to Black history and culture

Cornel West speaks at Harvard University when W.E.B. Dubois Medals were awarded in 2019 for contributions to Black history and culture.

AP Photo/Elise Amendola

By Elisabeth H. Daugherty

Published June 5, 2023

2 min read

Princeton professor emeritus Cornel West *80 announced Monday he will run for president against Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Joe Biden in 2024, saying his campaign for “truth and justice” will be a “movement for priceless poor and working people of all colors here and abroad.”

“We’re not talking about hating anybody,” he said. “We’re talking about loving. We’re talking about affirming. We’re talking about empowering those who have been pushed to the margins.”

West earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard and came to Princeton in 1973, earning a Ph.D. in philosophy and writing his dissertation on “Ethics, Historicism and the Marxist Tradition,” according to a biography kept by the dean of the faculty. He has since gone back and forth among colleges, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Union Theological Seminary, where he’s currently a philosophy professor.

The Dean of the Faculty biography calls West’s 1992 book, Race Matters — one of many books he’s published — “seminal,” saying it “firmly established Cornel” as the country’s premiere Black public intellectual.

At Princeton, West was the Class of 1943 University Professor in the Center for African American Studies. He left in 2012 but has maintained some Princeton ties, including friendships with professor Eddie Glaude Jr. *97 in the Department of African American Studies and James Madison Program director Robert George.

West is considered a far-left progressive, while George is often considered the face of Princeton’s conservative side. In 2016, the two spoke with PAW about their support of intellectual diversity on campus.

“…The most important thing about a university has to do with that high-quality, diverse dialogue in which people are questing for truth, knowledge, beauty, and hope,” West said at the time.

When West announced his candidacy, The New York Times immediately noted his famous criticism of President Barack Obama, and that the People’s Party he’s running with was founded by Nick Brana, who for a while worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.

“Do we have what it takes?” West asked in his campaign video. “We shall see. But some of us are going to go down fighting.”

1980 Politics & Public Affairs

1 Response

Nina Biddle

10 Months Ago

Dr. West, I had the honor and privilege of meeting you and shaking your hand when you visited the Sacramento Public Library while home for the holidays during the pandemic. You spoke to a SRO crowd, eager to hear you, and so appreciative of your charisma and absolute brilliance. We all could listen to you for hours. Such love and adulation from those of us there that day. You are a wonder.

I'm taking the time now to beseech you to drop the challenge to Joe Biden. In entering the race, you are handing Trump a victory.

You are a philosopher. I would love to hear your justification for undermining the critical 2024 election. I am 68 years old. In 1980 I voted for John B. Anderson for president because I was an idealistic 25-year-old and wanted to make a “statement” (to no one, ultimately), assert my right to protest what the Democrats and Republicans had to offer. And God Bless America that each and every one of us has that right. But after all these years, practicality rules.

Please drop out and endorse Joe Biden, for the sake of our country. Thank you for considering.