May 2, 2021
By Brandon Hogan and Jacoby Adeshei Carter
Dr. Hogan is the director of undergraduate studies and Dr. Carter is the chairman of the philosophy department at Howard. They are both H.B.C.U. graduates.
Cornel West and his co-author made a common mistake when they wrote a recent essay in The Washington Post chastising Howard University for eliminating its classics department. Reducing the decision to a âspiritual catastrophe,â they overlooked a deeper and more urgent problem: the financial constraints facing historically Black colleges and universities, and the inequality that underlies them.
Our approach to this issue is based in our perspective as philosophy professors at Howard who have reverence for the classics. Our department offers seminars on Plato and Aristotle alongside mandatory courses on the history of Africana philosophy. Classical texts have left an indelible mark on modern philosophy and thereâs no question that, in an ideal world, Howard would have a large, thriving classics department.