Blogging Presidents

As you might expect, being in the NY-NJ Metro area, I've followed this story. It's not clear how this will all play out and what the final outcome or resolution will be, but a vote of no confidence is not a good thing. This blog Kerrey has started is just in it's infancy. It will be interesting to watch the blog and the comments to see what effect this new form of communication has on the dialogue between the two parties. Clearly, the community has taken notice of the blog, as just 4 posts have generated 94 comments. I expect that more college presidents and senior administrators will begin blogging - at least I hope so - to provide some mechanism of communication to the campus community. Wired Campus: Blogging: A Balm for Faculty-President Discord?

At the New School, faculty members have been exceedingly unhappy with President Bob Kerrey. Earlier this week, full-time faculty members hit him with a “no confidence” vote that passed by a margin of 269 to 8 (with 10 abstentions), as Audrey Williams June reported for The Chronicle. They don’t like his management style and feel he doesn’t listen to them. So Mr. Kerrey, to open up communication, has started a blog, Blogging with President Bob Kerrey.

“Welcome to my blog. I look forward to having a direct conversation with you about the future of the New School. Thanks. Bob,” Mr. Kerrey wrote in his first post.

His second post, in which he thanked faculty members for their frankness and said he would not serve as interim chief academic officer while the institution looked for a new provost—he originally said he would, which rankled professors worried about a consolidation of power by the president—got 40 comments in response.

They were divided.