The New York Times reports that (Really Big Deal Public Intellectual) Cornel West will join the Union Theological Seminary in 2012, and step down from his post at Princeton, which he revealed today while speaking at Occupy Seattle. Unlike his highly publicized split from Harvard in 2002, Dr. West will remain an emeritus professor at Princeton.

This is homecoming of sorts for West, who got his start in academia at UTS in 1977 as an assistant professor. He plans on seeing out the rest of his teaching career at the Seminary and reportedly took a sizable pay cut in order to take up his upcoming position as a professor of philosophy and Christian practices.

Cornel West via Wikimedia Commons