Cornel West spoke of love, solidarity and spirituality Thursday as the inaugural speaker of the UB Department of Surgerys Beyond the Knife lecture series. The Harvard professor did not touch on his recent threat to depart from his position at the university.

West, 67, is one of the most well-known activists and political authors in the U.S.. West has served as a Harvard professor of law, divinity and African American studies since 2017, according to The Boston Globe.

On Thursday, West told The Boston Globe that his request for tenure had been denied by Harvard and is considering cutting ties with the university.

After being tenured at Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Union Theological Seminary, the recent Harvard denial of a tenure process strikes me as a political decision I reject. Nothing stands in the way of my profound love for and solidarity with oppressed people West said in a statement on Friday.

West claims that his request for tenure was denied for being too controversial of a figure.

What Im told is its too risky. And these are quotes. Its too fraught. And Im too controversial he said

West has drawn criticism in the past for his left-wing critique of Democratic figures such as Barack Obama. In a recent speech for an event hosted by the Western New York Peace Center, West rebuked President-elect Joe Bidens neoliberal policies. West serves as an honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and appeared at rallies supporting Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.

However, Wests spat with the Harvard administration did not arise during his Thursday lecture. Instead, West tackled topics such as systemic racism, recent social movements and their relation to health care.

Slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, white supremacist lies about Black people all try to tell us were less. Less in intelligence, less worthy of access to education, less worthy of access to healthcare. Thats the barbaric dimension of our precious and fragile experiment with democracy, West said. Brother Martin used to tell us that the worst form of inequality is the very fact that we are the richest nation in the history of the world and still have so many people of all colors, disproportionately black and brown, who dont have access to high-quality healthcare.

Wests speech kicked off a soon-to-be-annual lecture series hosted by the Department of Surgery. The departments initiative, formed in response to the death of George Floyd and the COVID-19 pandemic, seeks to mitigate racism and inequality in healthcare, according to Steven Schwaitzberg, president of UBMD. The event was free and open to the public. Over 1,200 people signed up to watch the event live. A recording was made available on the UB Health Sciences YouTube channel.

West also took aim at the alleged mistrust of the COVID-19 vaccination process among some Black communities.

Weve got to realize that Black people are not stupid. Theyve got a history of insights and theyve got memories of violation, West said. Weve got to unflinchingly and candidly confront those insights and those memories and convince them that out of deep care for them that this vaccine is going to be a force for good in their lives.

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West concluded his speech by answering questions from a panel of three residents and medical students at the Jacobs School of Medicine. West praised the UB students discipline in the field.

I think of what you all do as being like jazz musicians. You have to be so disciplined, you do your homework, youre sharp. Yet at the same time you have cultivated the capacity to listen and learn West said.

Brendan Kelly is the assistant news editor and can be reached at brendan.kelly@ubspectrum.com or on Twitter @bpkelly5

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Cornel West speaks at School of Medicine event shortly after threatening to leave Harvard - University at Buffalo The Spectrum