Former Nebraska governor, senator Bob Kerrey receives no-confidence vote from faculty

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska governor and senator, earned an overwhelming vote of no-confidence Wednesday from the senior faculty at the New School, the Greenwich Village university he has run since 2001.

While the vote has no practical impact, its organizers said their goal is to pressure the New School’s board of trustees — which was meeting Wednesday afternoon — to fire Kerrey for what they contend is a failure to safeguard and defend the academic values of the institution.

Kerrey has clashed with some faculty leaders since the day of his appointment as the New School’s president, with complaints that he lacked academic credentials and that his politics — particularly his early support for the Iraq war — were too moderate for the unabashedly liberal campus.


Former senator and governor Bob Kerrey.

But the underlying controversies became an open uprising after Kerrey announced Monday that he would serve temporarily as provost as well president after cycling through five provosts in seven years. A provost generally is seen as a university’s chief academic officer.



Read more: Former Nebraska governor, senator Bob Kerrey receives no-confidence vote from faculty