What Bob Kerrey Didn’t (Quite) Say

May 8, 2009 in Administration, Campus Press, Campus Protests, Media, Student Power | by | Leave a comment

The New School Free Press has the transcript of the Wednesday night speech in which Bob Kerrey told the New School Board of Trustees that he wouldn’t be seeking a contract extension. As I was reading it over just now, a passage from near the end leaped out at me:

“My term as President will end no later than July 1, 2011.”

No later than. Huh.

Like lots of other people, I reported yesterday that Kerrey had announced he would be leaving the New School at the end of his current contract — but that’s not actually what he said. He said he would be leaving by then, and he was careful to leave the door open for an earlier departure.

Now, to be fair, he did say earlier in the speech that he had “confidence I can continue to lead this university through June 30, 2011 when my current contract ends.” And he has said in the past that if he ever lost the support of the New School’s trustees, he’d resign. But still.

Look what else he said, near the top of the speech: “To understate the case, this has been a challenging semester for the university and my family. There have been moments when I reached the limit of my willingness to continue serving as your president.”

It’s been clear for a long time that Kerrey has been ambivalent about continuing on as president of the New School. It doesn’t look to me like he’s completely put that ambivalence behind him, even now.

Bob Kerrey to Leave New School in 2011

May 7, 2009 in Students | by | Leave a comment

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.

Bucknell Nixes Affirmative Action Bake Sale

May 7, 2009 in Access, Administration, Campus Protests, Civil Liberties, Gender, History, Politics, Race, Student vs. Student, Students | by | Leave a comment

Bucknell University’s administration has denied a conservative student group permission to hold an affirmative action bake sale.

Such sales, in which cupcakes and cookies are offered at full price to white male students and cheaper for women and students of color, have become a common attention-grabbing tactic for right-wing campus groups in recent years. Clashes with administrators over the sales have been common too, with sponsors claiming that they’re protected speech and universities noting that they’re — by design — a discriminatory practice.

Wikipedia has a pretty extensive article on affirmative action bake sales, including mention of a nice move by the Graduate and Professional Students of Color student organization at the University of Illinois, which responded to one such sale by holding a white privilege popcorn giveaway in which white white men were given a full bag of popcorn, while women and people of color got a mostly-empty bag.

Campus Carry Advocates Cheer Student Shooting, But Does It Add Up?

May 6, 2009 in Civil Liberties, Guns, Media, Police, Politics, Students, Town and Gown | by | 2 comments

Late last Saturday night, at about 3 am, there was a shootout at a Georgia college student’s apartment.

Charles Bailey, who was present but apparently not one of the shooters, says that two masked men burst into a party, intent on robbery and rape, and that one of the partygoers fought them off with a gun he had in his backpack. By the end of the altercation, one of the outsiders, a man named Calvin Lavant, was dead and one of the women at the party had been shot several times.

Although the incident did not take place on campus property, supporters of campus concealed carry legislation are trumpeting it as evidence of the effectiveness of armed self-defense among students.

Others aren’t convinced. A lot of Pandagon commenters, for instance, think the story doesn’t quite make sense. 

Was this a massacre averted? Maybe. A drug deal gone wrong? Perhaps. Could be either, could be something else. But I have a hunch we’re all going to be hearing more about this story.

8 am Thursday update: Pandagon has been down since last night, so that link above doesn’t work.

8:30 am update: Police have arrested a man named Jamal Hill who is suspected of being the other perpetrator of the home invasion. An article on that arrest identifies Charles Bailey as living in the apartment.

USSA Calls Federal Budget “Sweet Victory for Students”

May 6, 2009 in Access, Finances, Financial Aid, Student Power, Students | by | Leave a comment

Congress passed the federal budget last week, and though there are still some issues to be hammered out before final approval, the United States Student Association is celebrating.

In its latest Legislative Update, USSA calls the budget “a sweet victory for students,” as it contains provisions that would eliminate student loan program subsidies to private lenders and convert Pell Grants to an entitlement program — both of which mean more support for students in need. The budget also includes $89.4 billion in discretionary spending for education.

For updates on the implementation of these budget provisions and info on how you can get involved, reach out to USSA at their website or check out their new blog — the newest addition to the Student Activism blogroll.

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StudentActivism.net is the work of Angus Johnston, a historian and advocate of American student organizing.

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