New York — If Bob Kerrey’s recent comments on his blog are any indication, the New School’s president evidently feels that, with the new year, a new era of improved “communication and shared governance” has begun at the university.
The New York institution, which Mr. Kerrey, a former U.S. senator from Nebraska, has headed since 2001, was roiled late last year by protests stemming from his handling of the abrupt departure of the institution’s provost, who had served just three months in the post, and Mr. Kerrey’s announcement that he would fill the office on a temporary basis himself. The protests featured a no-confidence vote and a sit-in.
If the comments and questions at an emergency faculty meeting here today were any indication, however, Mr. Kerrey’s attempts at smoothing over his differences with faculty members and students have failed. But it was also clear that, as long as Mr. Kerrey retains the support of the Board of Trustees, there is little the protesters can do to oust him before his contract ends, in 2011.
Although the meeting was intended as a forum for faculty members, a student representative was allowed to briefly address the gathering. She read from a prepared statement announcing that student activists were calling for the resignation of Mr. Kerrey and the New School’s vice president, James Murtha, by April 1. “If, on that day, the current leadership remains in place, we will shut down the functions of the university,” she said. “We will bring it to a halt. We will make it stop.” The assembled faculty members warmly applauded her comments.
During the two-hour session, a succession of speakers made clear that relations between Mr. Kerrey and the academic staff have irretrievably soured. Neal Gordon, dean of the New School’s Lang College, for example, spoke of the “profound degradation of relations between the administration and the academic side of the institution.”
On his blog, Mr. Kerrey wrote of his efforts to mend fences with academics, including scheduling “a series of dinners with smaller groups of faculty.” Julia Foulkes, an associate professor of history who spoke on behalf of faculty members in the New School for General Studies, sarcastically noted the “joy” of “things like dinner with Bob” and asserted that Mr. Kerrey was not up the challenges of his job.
Among the many sources of faculty discontent are Mr. Kerrey’s apparent refusal to disclose the size of the university’s endowment. Mr. Kerrey’s compensation package, totaling nearly $1-million with his expense account, also drew fire.
Richard Boukas, who spoke on behalf of faculty members in the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, referred to the “fundamental disconnect between academic values and the leadership” of the institution. Alluding to what he called “chaos” at the university, he told the packed auditorium, “We need change. Period. End of story.” —Aisha Labi
