TRENTON, N.J. ? The head of Harvard University’s black studies department said he would not join two colleagues leaving for Princeton in the coming academic year.

But Henry Louis Gates did not rule out such a move altogether, telling The Harvard Crimson and The Star-Ledger of Newark that he would make a final decision on Princeton’s standing offer this summer.

“It would be devastating to Afro-American studies to leave now, and I want to start rebuilding the department with my friends and colleagues,” he told the Crimson, which broke the story on its Web site Friday.

Gates did not immediately return a message left at his office Saturday by The Associated Press.

By delaying a final decision, Gates extends a drama that has played out since late last year on the rival Ivy League campuses.

Two members of Harvard’s Afro-American studies department, regarded as one of the nation’s best, accepted offers from Princeton earlier this year after a dispute with Harvard’s new president, Lawrence Summers.

Summers was criticized for not making a strong statement in support of affirmative action at an early meeting with department members.

He also reportedly accused professor Cornel West of allowing grade inflation and rebuked him for recording a rap CD and leading a political committee for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s possible presidential campaign.

West said he had been “dishonored,” and accepted an offer from Princeton in April.

Another professor, K. Anthony Appiah, was appointed to Princeton’s faculty in January. He cited personal reasons, not the dispute with Summers.

On Friday, Gates told the Crimson that “What I have to figure out is if I can live without Anthony Appiah, and only time will tell.”

Harvard spokesman Alan Stone described Gates as “a very valued member of the faculty and the larger Harvard community. We look forward to his continuing presence at our university.”

A Princeton spokeswoman said the university’s interest in Gates has not waned.