gnat writes: "On Wednesday, December 4, students and community members met to hold Unviersity President, and former US Senator, Bob Kerrey accountable for his outspoken pro-war stance.

After weeks of being ingnored by Kerrey and the administration, students decided it was time to take action in convening a forum. On November 20th, twenty-four students held a sit-in, inside Kerrey's office, refusing to leave unless he agreed to one demand; a public forum addressing his views on Iraq, and how it effects the school. Which after half an hour of negotiating, he did.


Bob Kerrey has in recent months written Op-ed pieces for the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, advocating that the U.S. use military force in overthrowing Saddam Hussein, and replacing him with a "democracy." He also serves as a board member on the newly formed Comittee for the Liberation of Iraq, a right wing Washington insider group featuring such known players as Newt Gingrich, John McCaine, and others with ties to the Bush administration. (For more details on the CLI and Kerrey vist http://www.freensu.org )

Also in researching NSU policies and procedure during Bob Kerrey's tenure at the New School we found out that he has brought blood money into the school through a slew of contracts and donors. For example this fall several new trustees were named, one of which is a major player in Gross Oil Corporation, and oil exploration company, another trustee, former vice-president of Allied Signal, a subsidiary of Honeywell, a top 15 defense contractor. Other links to defense contractors are; the switching of faculty insurance policies to HealthNet, who also specializes in bombs. And an honor dinner being held for George David, CEO of United technology, number 4 defense contractor, and proud producer of Blackhawk and Comanche helicopters (also sold to Israel). It should also be mentioned here that the CEO of Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor, is also on the CLI.

So it was time for the students to hold his feet to the fire, and confront him on the fact that his use of his title as a University President was misrepresenting the school, and was against the principles upon which the school was founded.

New School was founded by pacifists who left Columbia during the WWI, because the school would not allow them to be vocally against the war. This anti-war tradition continued into WWII where the university offered Visas, and became a home for persecuted progressive Europeans, it then became known as the University in Exile.

In the weeks after the sit-in, Bob Kerrey was unwilling to meet with students to plan the event, and argued that what he meant by agreeing to a public forum was "public to the University community." We negotiated the format of the forum towards something agreeable to both sides, but remained clear that it would be open to the public beyond the school. That was won, only one hour before the forum was to begin.

The forum happened with mixed results. Students held their ground, stating that the President was giving the school a bad name, and voicing our demand for his resignation. However, it also became a right wing, and wingnut spew hole. During the Q & A, time was wasted, and ideas were brought out that had nothing to do with the topics at hand, and time was wasted. Not to mention that the administration decided to shorten the forum by half an hour.

Overall, despite the mixed results of forum itself, it has served several important roles for the activist community on the campus. First it is the largist most broad-based organizing group that any faculty member can remember. This new energy will help with future organizing on the campus. Secondly it showed us that the University is frightened and confused by our organizing tactics, having locked down the administrative floor, and given in to every demand made. Third, the forum itself came as a powerful object lesson in power dynamics, watching the rich white male head of the University flaunt his position, and wonder why we as students were questioning issues of systemic power and representation. It seems to us that this is the most important point right now, giving us an idea to come up with new ways to teach students about systemic power, and why it is different when he writes as the University President than when we write as students.

While not accomplishing all of the goals intended, New School Univerty students feel that this is an important step in forging a political community among the student body, and appreciate the solidarity already shown among those involved in the forum.