summers refused to comment on the details of his conversation with west, except to express hope that west would remain at harvard. soon after, west was hospitalized for prostate cancer. west complained that summers failed to send him get-well wishes until weeks after his surgery, whereas newly installed princeton president shirley tilghman had contacted him frequently before and after his treatment. in 2002 west left harvard university to return to princeton. west lashed out at summers in public interviews, calling him "the ariel sharon of higher education" on npr's "tavis smiley show". in response to these remarks, five princeton faculty members, led by professor of molecular biology jacques robert fresco, said they looked with "strong disfavor upon his characterization" of summers and that "such an analogy carries innuendoes and implications... that many on the princeton faculty find highly inappropriate, indeed repugnant and intolerable."