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Volume CXXXI, Number 22 |
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News briefs
Dr. Cornel West, the well-known professor of Afro-American studies
at Harvard, announced last Saturday that he will begin the 2002-2003 academic
year with Princeton University.
West returns to Princeton after eight years at Harvard, having been attracted
to the Cambridge campus by colleague Henry Louis Gates Jr. Though West
has not made public his reasons for leaving Harvard, it is widely believed
that his decision is due in large part to clashes with Harvard president
Lawrence H. Summers.
West's decision to return to Princeton comes in the wake of fellow Harvard colleague K. Anthony Appiah's decision to defect to Princeton. Another recent addition to the Princeton African-American studies program is Bowdoin professor Eddie Glaude.
Having earlier declined to intervene in the American Catholic priest
affairs, the Vatican has called upon American cardinals to journey
to Rome next week to discuss the child sex abuse scandal.
Some of the summoned cardinals are under accusation themselves for mishandling cases of abuse. The Vatican contends, however, that the purpose of this meeting is not to reprimand figures, but rather to discuss the scandal and to set conduct guidelines.
In a 7-to-2 decision on Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected a
federal law which made illegal the possession, creation, or distribution
of pornographic computer images that contain young adults. Some sites
depict pornographic images of legal adults, though they are billed as
children.
The defeated law had met an opposition of 6 to 3 in the Supreme Court,
until justice Sandra Day O'Connor chose to uphold the first amendment
rights of pornographers.
President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela was removed from power
last week by an alliance of military leaders and business officials. Chávez
was detained by the military from last Thursday until last Saturday.
Chávez's reinstatement last Sunday was a result of public outcry,
much of which erupted out of the slums and poor regions of Venezuela.
In the days following Chávez's return to power, the Bush administration's relationship with those who deposed him came under scrutiny. On several occasions senior administrators met with members of the coalition that deposed Chávez, and they are believed to have supported the decision to remove him from the presidency.
Secretary of State Colin Powell left Israel Wednesday, following
several days of meetings with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Powell had aspired to aid in the creation
of a formal cease-fire agreement, though at this time such measures seem
unlikely.
Powell had hoped for Sharon to agree to withdraw Israeli troops from
Palestine, and for Arafat to formally renounce terrorist acts. More American
officials may be sent abroad to encourage the peace process, and an international
peace conference is being considered.
-Compiled by Daniel Jefferson Miller