May 8 update: As I noted in this follow-up, Kerrey actually told the trustees that he will end his term as New School president “no later than” the end of his current contract. So the title of this post should really read “Bob Kerrey to Leave New School BY 2011.” 

Bob Kerrey has told the New School Board of Trustees that he will step down as the university’s president when his contract expires twenty-six months from now.

He made the announcement last night at the final board meeting of the academic year.

Kerrey’s eight-year tenure at the New School has been a stormy one, with students and faculty expressing broad and deep opposition to many of his policies.

In recent months the activist group The New School In Exile has waged an ongoing campaign to force his resignation. But he told a campus newspaper just last month that he would remain as long as he had the confidence of the trustees.

1:30 pm update: Twitterer @dodijoyce wonders “why must I hear that Kerrey will leave The New School in 2011 from NYT & not #thenewschool itself?”

It’s a good question. Kerrey told the trustees he was stepping down last night, but neither he nor any of them appear to have made any public statement on the decision until Kerrey tipped off the Times late this morning. The manner in which he made this announcement isn’t going to win him any new friends among New School students and faculty, and twenty-six months is a long time to be running a university as a lame duck.