About 75 New School students staged a sit-in Wednesday night and "occupied" a dining hall to protest the leadership of university President Bob Kerrey. Kerrey, the former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator who has led the school since 2001, received a vote of no-confidence from senior faculty, which was then endorsed overwhelmingly by full-time staff.
Faculty members have expressed concern over Kerrey's lack of background in academe, his management style, the concentration of power in the president's office, and the high turnover rate in the provost's office (five since Kerrey's tenure began).
The students' demands can be found at the dissenters' website, "New School in Exile." They include the ouster of Executive Vice President James Murtha and more transparency and student participation in large university decisions.
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