Results tagged “bobkerrey”

At a meeting of the New School’s board of trustees last night, Bob Kerrey announced that he will step down as university president when his contract expires in July 2011. He did not explain the reasons for his decision, but insisted that it had nothing to do with faculty opposition and passionate student protests demanding his resignation. In breaking the news, City Room accurately describes Kerrey as "a decorated war hero," but omits the small matter of his slaughter of more than a dozen Vietnamese women and children in Thanh Phong village in 1969. The massacre is not irrelevant; New School students calling for Kerrey's dismissal say his involvement in the CIA's Operation Phoenix make him unfit to govern a progressive university that was founded by WWII refugees. In other New School news, trustees and faculty members have ordered an inquiry into the events surrounding last month's short-lived student occupation of a New School building, which resulted in 22 arrests. (On GOOD FRIDAY!)

       

More images have come in from the confrontation that took place at the tail end of Friday's student protest and occupation of a university tower at The New School. The debate continues over the NYPD's response caught on tape using tear gas and forcefully arresting protesters who attempted to escape. The 22 demonstrators arrested Friday were in court yesterday where they were released without bail. Court dates have been set for two weeks from now.

After the dust cleared in yesterday's New School building occupation and police confrontation that resulted in 22 arrests, demonstrations continued into the night Friday with around 200 protesters marching south from Union Square towards President Bob Kerrey's house before being blocked off by police officers at 11th Street.

          

It's been over 24 hours since New School students occupied the Graduate Faculty building in protest of school president Bob Kerrey's and other administration figures' action, and it hasn't been without incident. The students, who promised to "inaugurate a wave of occupations in New York City and the United States, a coming wave of occupations, blockades, and strikes in this time of crisis," scuffled with the police when they tried to take over more parts of the building (they were initially just in the dining hall).

It's been an eventful day for New School students occupying a dining hall at the university's Graduate Faculty building at 65 Fifth Avenue. The group, estimated to be between 75-150, has been hurriedly posting blog "communiques" about the situation as it develops. This morning they reported that "a couple of our comrades have been roughed up and a couple arrested." Then, around noon, New School President Bob Kerrey arrived and tried to dialogue with the students, but according to one communique, "we responded by refusing to negotiate with him and repeating our demand that he immediately resign. He left and took his police with him." Now Kerrey's blog is down due to "technical difficulties." Comrades have occupied the Internet! Now the New School Free Press tells us that students are debating about continuing the occupation through Christmas break, which is a month long. One potential snag is that the building will be undergoing asbestos removal next week in preparation for its eventual demolition.

     

A group of New School students, perhaps numbering 75 or more, are continuing their occupation of a dining hall at the university's Graduate Faculty building at 65 Fifth Avenue. Taking over the room last night, the group announced, "We liberate this space for ourselves, and all those who want to join us, for our general autonomous use. We take the university in explicit solidarity with those occupying the universities and streets in Greece, Italy, France and Spain."

Some New School students have gathered to "occupy" the Graduate Faculty building at 65 Fifth Avenue, in protest of New School President Bob Kerrey and Vice President James Murtha and students' lack of voice in the university's direction. According to the New School In Exile website, "The original idea of the University in Exile, and the New School in general, was to be a safe-haven for academic freedom and scholarship free of oppressive political regimes. It was known for its deep thinkers, its innovative academics, and its commitment to social and political justice as a bedrock of all other scholarship. The New School, under its current administration, is no longer able to fulfill that role of critical engagement and dissent." You can get some more info at the Facebook Group "New School Students with NO CONFIDENCE in Kerrey." Additionally, the students occupying 65 Fifth declare it "an open student study space and intent to keep the building open indefinitely" and invite other students to join in.

on Facebook anyway) to open up lines of communication with the school community. The former Senator has been under fire after announcing he would assume the role of provost after the fifth provost in 7 years was let go, which then prompted senior faculty to give him a vote of no-confidence. Kerrey, who is no longer assuming interim provost duties, tells readers, "I look forward to having a direct conversation with you about the future of the New School," but one student writes, "I appreciate that you want to hear, or read, my voice. However, I am a little disappointed that this blog has been setup now after the recent incidents. It seems like this blog is just flimflam for you to claim an active roll in listening to what faculty and students have to say. I would like to remind people that even if you do genuinely interact with this blog, it still is only a product of the situation and should not distract from any current affairs."

months— decided to step down (and work on the Obama transition team). While board of trustees announced their support of him, tensions are running high. Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, who served as provost between 2004 and 2006, told the Times, “I came to the New School largely because I sensed that he was a charismatic, affable, charming person. I found that was one part of the style. But I also found there was another part that was impulsive, autocratic and produced an increasing sense of fear among those who worked for him.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education released its annual salary survey of the heads of educational institutions and the value of a college education is evidenced in the paychecks being cashed by institutions' presidents. More than a dozen heads of private universities took home more than $1 million during the 2005-06 school year. According to the New York Post, the dean of higher earning was Donald Ross, who took home $5.7 million--most in deferred compensation after...

The prominent Democratic party donor and California fugitive Norman Hsu's connection to New York City's New School is examined in the NY Times today. Hsu donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to national Democrats like Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to governors like Eliot Spitzer of NY and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, and NYC politicians like City Council members Christine Quinn and John Liu and City Comptroller William Thompson. Hsu, who had been wanted by California authorities since 1992 for defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme, was going to surrender himself last Wednesday, but ended up on a train to Denver.

Thought Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senator Hilary Clinton appeared at a press conference to discuss health coverage of New York children, they had to answer questions about campaign donations they accepted from fugitive apparel executive Norman Hsu. Clinton received $23,000 from Hsu and announced that she would donate the money to charity after revelations that Hsu has been wanted in California for defrauding California investors since 1991. Hsu has fled to Hong Kong but has been living in New York as a high-profile donor since 2003. Guess when those cases grow cold, they stay cold.

Some readers have been asking about events related to the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Aside from the official city plans, which include moments of silence, reading of victims' names and time for the families to lay flowers at Ground Zero, as well as the lighting of Tribute in Light, a number of organizations and groups have events all weekend and on Monday. For instance, the September 11 Memorial Quilts will be dedicated tomorrow at the Marriott Financial Center, the World Trade Center Survivor's Network will plant a "Survivor Tree" in City Hall Park on Sunday, New York Buddhist Church will have a floating lighted lantern ceremony at Houston and the Hudson River on Monday.

Mothers and fathers, don't just dream about your children being doctors (well, doctors might be passe, given malpractice coverage), lawyers or hedge fund managers: Have them set their sights on being the president of a major university. amNew York has a feature on salaries of NYC college/university presidents. The presidents are mostly charged with fund-raising, hence needing a real "performer" that gets a sweet compensation package, but the money they make can be pretty sick (note: private institutions pay more, natch).

The New School's student speaker who spoke out against Senator John McCain during commencement exercises last Friday says she apologized to McCain afterwards. Jean Sara Rohe, whose speech about McCain drew a standing ovation, has been been in a pissing match on the Huffington Post with one of the McCain aides who wrote the senator's speech. Apparently McCain himself said he understood why Rohe had to make her remarks, and New School president Bob Kerrey noted both McCain's and Rohe's bravery for their speeches at the ceremony. What's funny is that Kerrey makes fun of McCain's friendship with President Bush in this month's Vogue (thank goodness Maureen Dowd is reading Men's Vogue to let us know that).

Today marked the last leg of John McCain's "Commencement Speech Tour '06" - his controversial gig at the New School. His website has the text of his speech already, because it's the same as his speeches at Columbia College and Liberty Unviersity (which is a bit disturbing, because they are somewhat different audiences, in spite of all being graduates). Here's one passage that speaks to different opinions:

We have our disagreements, we Americans. We contend regularly and enthusiastically over many questions: over the size and purposes of our government; over the social responsibilities we accept in accord with the dictates of our conscience and our faithfulness to the God we pray to; over our role in the world and how to defend our security interests and values in places where they are threatened. These are important questions; worth arguing about. We should contend over them with one another. It is more than appropriate, it is necessary that even in times of crisis, especially in times of crisis, we fight among ourselves for the things we believe in. It is not just our right, but our civic and moral obligation.

Senator John McCain is facing a very tough crowd outside of the Beltway. Students and professors alike at the New School are upset over his selection as the commencement speaker. New School president, fellow Vietnam vet, and former McCain colleague Bob Kerrey selected McCain as a commencement speaker because he's "one of the world's most important leaders," as Kerrey explained to the Times. But a lot of the student and faculty population feels differently, as hundreds of people signed a petition arguing that McCain shouldn't speak, noting that his positions on the war and a woman's right to choose, and a bunch of people protested outside the New School office yesterday. However, Kerrey is sticking to the plan and keeping McCain on the speaking list.

- It was draft weekend, and Gothamist Sports will have more tomorrow

During yesterday's Crain's New York sponsored forum, mayoral candidates tried to stake out their positions in the crowded field people who just wanna beat Mayor Mike. To summarize: Representative Anthony Weiner attacked former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer's plan to tax stock transactions; Ferrer attacked the Mayor's rehaul of the school system; City Council Speaker Gifford Miller talked about transit issues; Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields spoke about education and community-police relations. And all candidates attacked Wal-Mart's intentions to move into NYC. Yeah, it's sadly still sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher. The NY Times' also notes that Fields and Ferrer's jabs show that their "non-aggression pact" has fallen to the wayside, which makes sense for Fields, since she probably wants to try to beat Ferrer. In the next month, Gothamist hopes someone will step up.

" Gothamist did like, however, how Newsday pointed out that two of the people grading the mayors (as it were) by Time were consultants to the Bloomberg administration. Newsday has some great mayoral race coverage, with an article about what voters are worried about these days (real estate and taxes) and a compilation of past articles looking at the Bloomberg record.

Mayor Bloomberg goes to Berlin to forward the city's Olympic bid, and what happens? His "friend," former Senator and current New School President Bob Kerry tells the NY Times that he might just run for mayor. Kerrey is annoyed with the Mayor's lack of success in getting Washington D.C. to fork over substantial Homeland Security funds to secure NYC and the Mayor's reluctance to really tangle with the Republican-controlled Congress. Bloomberg had asked Kerrey to head the Democrats for Bloomberg group, and Kerrey reportedly accepted. And Kerrey did credit the Mayor's handling of the school system and trying to calm race relations.