Yale's Carby Resigns, Then Decides to Stay After All
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Dr. Hazel V. Carby, the head of Yale University's African American Studies Program, reversed field last month and decided not to resign her post. Earlier in February, she had said that she was leaving Yale because she was offended when her institution's president's lavished praise on Harvard University's Dr. Henry Louis Gates.
Yale's president, Dr. Richard C. Levin, last month held a ceremony honoring Gates, the head of the Afro-American studies department at Harvard. Although she didn't attend the dinner, Carby says she heard about it from colleagues.
In her letter of resignation, Carby said that Levin's comments at the dinner ceremony for Gates had damaged her program's reputation, according to The Yale Daily News. Apparently Carby's anger boiled over after hearing that Levin said: "We have watched with interest and admiration, and a little jealousy, as you have followed in your [undergraduate] mentor's footsteps — building an extraordinary program in African American studies at Harvard."
But she changed her mind about resigning after a show of support by Levin and by the program's graduate students and faculty members.
Levin sent a letter to faculty members and graduate students in the program, saying, "It appears I have unintentionally caused great consternation, and for this I sincerely apologize." He expressed gratitude for Carby's "outstanding leadership," and called the program "a vital enterprise, growing stronger with each passing year."
Carby has been critical of the administration in the past for not giving her program departmental status. The newspaper said that she repeated the charge in the letter of resignation.
It also was reported that Carby's letter said  Levin's comments at the ceremony fueled speculation that Gates is being courted to lead Yale's program.
Calling it an "unfortunate rumor," Gates says: "I'm not interested in going to Yale, and Yale's not interested in having me there."