The Undergraduate Council voted to endorse a pair of statements during its Sunday night meeting â one supporting a petition to grant tenure to Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy Cornel R. West â74, and another to condemn statements made by Harvard Law professor J. Mark Ramseyer. The first piece of legislation demands the University âreopen pathways for Professor Westâs tenure and further commit to advancing racial justice in substantive ways.â West recently threatened to leave Harvard for the second time after he said the University dismissed his request to be considered for tenure. He held Harvardâs highest faculty rank, University Professor, before leaving Harvard in 2002 following a high-profile spat with then-University president Lawrence H. âLarryâ Summers. West returned as a Professor of the Practice in 2017, a position that lacks tenure.