Following student protests and a faculty vote of no confidence, Kerrey announces he will leave at the end of his current term. See the more info section below for more coverage of this issue.

by Amanda Kersey
Washington Square News

New School President Bob Kerrey announced last week that he would step down from his position in July 2011 when his second five-year term ends. His announcement came at the last board meeting for the academic year.

The announcement follows several student protests demanding Kerrey’s resignation. The most recent of such protests, an occupation of an academic building, occurred just last month.

The 65-year-old former governor of Nebraska and former U.S. senator said he always planned to serve only two terms as president of The New School.

“There  have been moments when I reached the limit of my willingness to continue serving as your president,” Kerrey said in the statement. “There have been moments when my tendency to fight and to directly engage in confrontation, argument and disputes have been counterproductive.”

A university spokesperson said recent students protests had not influenced the decision or the timing of its announcement.

Last December, after Kerrey announced that he would assume the position of provost after losing his fourth provost in seven years, a huge majority of senior faculty gave Kerrey a vote of no confidence.

At the time, some members on campus said they thought Kerry valued business over academics and that he had shut out faculty from university decisions.

Several New School students reacted to Kerrey’s actions by taking over a New School building on the morning of Dec. 17.

Days later, in response to the criticism, Kerrey retracted his decision to be provost, and with the help of faculty, sought an interim provost.

Then last month, some 30 students from The New School occupied a university building to protest the administration, demanding that Kerrey resign.

New School student Joe Plourde praised Kerrey’s fundraising abilities, but said that as a businessman and politician, he had compromised the school’s academics.

“I just hope this doesn’t incite any more protests or occupations,” he said.

Another student, Jose Morgan, said he didn’t think the protests had influenced Kerrey’s decision, but that he thought Kerry chose the timing of his announcement to quiet critics.

“After the protests, students were asking themselves, ‘What’s next?’ ” he said. “Now, very conveniently, he said that he’s going to step down. It’s his idea of a resolution instead of addressing the problems.”

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The original articles can be found here.

Extensive background is available at the New School in Exile website

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