[Marxism] War criminal college president to step down

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/05/17750n.htm
Today's News
Friday, May 8, 2009

Embattled President of the New School Says He Will Step Down in 2 Years

By AISHA LABI

New York

Bob Kerrey, president of the New School, said on Thursday that he will 
step down when his current term expires, in July 2011. Mr. Kerrey, a 
former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator, has become a lightning rod 
for disputes and protests at the New York institution.

Mr. Kerrey announced his decision to the New School's trustees at a 
board meeting on Wednesday evening. A university statement said Mr. 
Kerrey's intention had always been to leave when his second five-year 
term expired.

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Kerrey said he wanted to allow the 
Board of Trustees enough time to choose his successor and ensure an 
orderly transition. "Even if you'd asked me six months ago, I would also 
have said then that by 2011 I will have been here ten years, and that is 
a good, long time."

Mr. Kerrey's presidency has been marked by controversy over what critics 
have characterized as his high-handed administrative style. He 
demonstrated little affinity for the culture of academe and, critics 
said, tended to view the New School's faculty as an impediment to his goals.

"He disliked the job so much that he didn't attend to parts of it that 
were really important: for example, like schmoozing with the faculty," 
said Jim Miller, a member of the graduate faculty and one of Mr. 
Kerrey's harshest critics. "Bob saw us as an obstruction, roadblocks in 
the path he wanted to pursue. It dawned on me at one point that maybe he 
thought of us as Senate staffers," Mr. Miller said. "Universities don't 
work like that."

Handling Opposition

"I think that's a fair criticism," Mr. Kerrey said when asked whether, 
after his years on state and national stages, he had found himself 
ill-suited to the intricacies of academic politics. "Coming in here with 
a bachelor's of science in pharmacology from a land-grant institution 
and from 16 years in politics didn't necessarily prepare me to lead a 
university," he said. "Sometimes I enjoy a fight," he added.

There have been numerous opportunities, especially in the past six 
months, for Mr. Kerrey to indulge that propensity. In December, he 
announced that he would serve as acting provost following the abrupt 
departure of Joseph W. Westphal, who had held the post for only a few 
months. The faculty then overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence 
in Mr. Kerrey.

Later that month, protesting students, identifying themselves as the New 
School in Exile, occupied university buildings. Protests again disrupted 
the institution last month after Mr. Kerrey failed to heed an April 1 
deadline for his resignation that had been issued by the more radical of 
the student protesters.

Mr. Kerrey's decision to call in the New York City police, who have been 
accused of using unnecessarily heavy-handed tactics against the 
protesters, further inflamed his critics. The New School board has begun 
an inquiry into the events surrounding the April protest and will issue 
its finding within the next couple of months, said the interim provost. 
Tim Marshall.

Tensions Ease

Mr. Marshall said Mr. Kerrey's announcement at the Wednesday meeting was 
greeted with relief. "Everybody, from all quarters, felt this was the 
best way forward, and a new kind of collegiality and positive energy 
came back into the room. It was very nice to see after a period of time 
when this has been absent."

Mr. Miller said that Mr. Kerrey's legacy at the university—which 
includes music, design, and liberal-arts colleges, as well as the 
storied New School for Social Research—would include many 
accomplishments. "He inherited a mess. The New School was this kind of 
raggedy consortium of different academic institutions," he said. "Bob 
Kerrey's main vision was he wanted to take all these disparate pieces 
and forge a more integrated institution, and he did."

Mr. Kerrey's harshest critics, however, have not backed down. "Many 
people are happy about the announcement but concerned about what is 
going to happen over the course of the next two years while he is still 
in office," said Chris Crews, a first year master's student in politics 
and a spokesman for the New School in Exile student group. "Our primary 
concern is that the issues that were raised about Kerrey and his 
leadership here don't get addressed by the board saying he is leaving in 
two years."

Asked whether Mr. Kerrey's successor is more likely to come to the job 
with a background in university administration, Mr. Marshall, the 
interim provost, said that would probably be viewed as beneficial.

Mr. Kerrey said that the main quality his successor would need to 
possess would be an affinity for urban life. "First and foremost, you've 
got to say, 'I love this city and I want to live in New York.' If you 
don't like noisy, crowded places with people from everywhere on earth, 
it's not for you," he said. "You've got to love what the New School is, 
which is a different kind of university, and you've have got to have all 
the other skills. You've got to love education, you've got to love the 
mission and believe in it, because if you don't, it isn't going to work."

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