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GAY CITY NEWS 1/18/12
New York City's LGBT newspaper is also America's largest.
BY LINCOLN ANDERSONAND JEFFERSON SIEGEL
After a tumultuous year at The NewSchool that saw students twice occu-py a campus building and clash withpolice, increasingly strident calls forBob Kerrey to resign as president andan overwhelming vote of no confidencein Kerrey by the school’s faculty, theuniversity’s commencement last Fridaywas surprisingly placid. There were noprotests and nary a negative placard tobe seen at the ceremony, at MadisonSquare Garden’s WaMu Theater.In fact, after all this year’s uproar,The New School had decided to barall press from the commencement.A school spokesperson said, after allthe controversy, they just wanted a“quiet event for the students.” But TheVillager called a pair of New Schoolspokespersons on their cell phones atthe commencement, and, with somepersistence, after earlier having turnedaway a Villager reporter/photographerat the door, they ultimately relentedand let him in to cover the graduation.The mood inside was in marked con-trast to the open rebellion and catcallsthat marked commencement three yearsago when Senator John McCain was thekeynote speaker, having been personallyinvited by his friend Kerrey.Perhaps contributing to the com-
BY BONNIE ROSENSTOCK
When the two wardensand vestry of St. Mark’sChurch in the Bowery choseReverend Winnie Vargheseto be their new pastor andpriest in charge, they got afull complement of creden-tials: a chaplain, a communi-ty organizer, a self-describedsystematic thinker who likesto finish what she starts,and a gay woman of color.In other words, a perfect fit
New St. Mark’s pastor brings lots to the pulpit
After Kerrey says he’ll leaveby ’11, a calm commencement
Villager photo by Jefferson Siegel
Graduates of Parsons The New School for Design celebrated at the end of The New School’s commencement cer-emonies last week.
BY ALBERT AMATEAU
Village parents whofeared there would be noseats in their two zonedschools for their childrenentering kindergarten inSeptember can breathe easier.The Department of Educationreached a lease agreementFri., May 22, with GreenwichHouse for space at 27 BarrowSt., providing a short-termsolution to the over-enroll-ment at P.S. 41 and P.S. 3.The agreement calls forspace at Greenwich Housefor three classrooms of pre-kindergarten children, there-by making room in the twoVillage schools for most of the children on the incomingkindergarten waiting list.City Council SpeakerChristine Quinn, who orga-nized the task force of elect-ed officials, D.O.E. staff andparents that searched forspace for the overcrowdedschools, called the leaseagreement a great victory.“Having reached theagreement, we are able toguarantee space for 4-year-olds to attend pre-kindergar-ten in the neighborhood nextyear and provide all thoseon the kindergarten wait-ing list with a seat,” Quinnsaid in a prepared statement.“This doesn’t answer all of our overcrowding problemsin Greenwich Village or inNew York City. But it is astep in the right direction anda real example of what can beaccomplished when the com-munity comes together.”Manhattan Borough
Deal is sealed for pre-K classes at 27 Barrow St.
Continued on page 3
145 SIXTH AVENUE • NYC 10013 • COPYRIGHT © 2009 COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC
Continued on page 16 Continued on page 9
EDITORIAL,LETTERS
PAGE 18
SUMMER ARTSGUIDE
PAGES 21-24
Volume 78, Number 51
$1.00
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side,
Since 1933
May 27 - June 2, 2009
School parentssue, p. 6
2
May 27 - June 2, 2009
AND THE WINNERS ARE...:
Downtown politicalclubs have been busy weighing in with their endorsementsfor the upcoming primary elections. In the Third CityCouncil District, Village Independent Democrats backedCouncil Speaker
Christine Quinn
with 29 votes;
YettaKurland
got 12 votes, V.I.D.’er
Jim Fouratt
7 and
MariaPassannate Derr
2. V.I.D. backed
Bill Thompson
formayor,
John Liu
for comptroller and
Norman Siegel
forpublic advocate. In the Manhattan district attorney race,
Richard Aborn
beat
Leslie Crocker-Snyder
in a runoff.V.I.D. backed
Scott Stringer
for re-election as boroughpresident and Councilmembers
Alan Gerson
and
RosieMendez
for re-election in Districts 1 and 3, respectively.... At Village Reform Democratic Club, the First Districtvote was surprisingly close, with Gerson barely squeakingout a win over challenger
Pete Gleason
on the second bal-lot — despite the fact that V.R.D.C. is Gerson’s home club;the first ballot was deadlocked at 16-16. V.R.D.C. backedanother fellow club member, Derr, in the Third District,and Mendez in the Second District. V.R.D.C. endorsedThompson for mayor, Siegel for public advocate, Liu forcomptroller, but differing from V.I.D., they endorsed
CyrusVance
for district attorney. ...
Sean Sweeney
, president of Downtown Independent Democrats, is raring for D.I.D.’supcoming endorsements, which will play a pivotal — manythink decisive — role in the First District race. SayingGerson “must be running scared,” Sweeney said, “PeteGleason is considered the favorite son, and — althoughGerson has been packing the club for the past month —club insiders feel, like many things that Gerson has done,it’s too little, too late.” ... On the East Side, Coalition fora District Alternative backed Thompson for mayor, Liufor comptroller,
Bill de Blasio
for public advocate, Abornfor D.A. and
Margaret Chin
in the First Council District.... Not surprisingly, Chelsea Reform Democratic Club wentwith their own club member, Quinn, in the Third Districtrace versus Derr and Kurland.
GLEASON JUST ‘SHOWBOATING’:
After Gleason’srecent cross-country jaunt to San Diego to personallyhand Vice President
Joe Biden
a copy of the Hudson Risecommunity-alternative Sanitation garage plan (which wereported last week), Gleason declared, “This is what AlanGerson should be doing.” But
Ray Cline
, a Gerson campaignhandler, said the Council wannabe is just lots of flash butlittle substance. “Alan’s campaign is in New York City,” Clinesaid. “I love Pete, he does these showboating things. Most of what Gleason does is grandstanding.” Of Gleason’s hand-off to the V.P. of the award-winning Hudson Rise plan, whichis being backed by hundreds of Downtown residents andthe likes of celebs
James Gandolfini
,
Lou Reed
and
LaurieAnderson
, Cline scoffed, “Truly meaningless — that’s goingto get anything done in this district?”
‘GOOD TIMES’ FOR DISCO DEVELOPER:
“The judgehas thrown their petition out of court. I have won the peti-tion,”
Novac Noury
declared after a State Supreme Courtspecial referee ruled on May 11 that
Andre Balazs
and hispartners in the Standard Hotel can’t affix an aluminumwater gutter to Noury’s 51 Little West 12th St. building.Noury argued, and the referee agreed, that the “scupper,”as Noury called it, represented an illegal encroachmentonto his property. The ruling now clears the way forNoury — a.k.a. the Arrow Keyboard Man and the Phantomof the Organ™ of the 1970s and ’80s disco days — to“Do The Hustle” and move ahead with plans for his owndevelopment on a lot abutting Balazs’s swank, new, HighLine-spanning hotel. Noury said the scupper would haveblocked his use of his own air rights, and that, as a result,potential development partners were previously put off.One builder who notably bailed was
Henry Hay
of CentaurProperties, who Noury knows back from when they used toboth hang at Studio 54. “We were about to go contract,”Noury said, “but he backed out of the triple-net leasebecause he did not want to be involved in a lawsuit.” Hayis currently building the project at Eighth Ave. and 15th
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May 27 - June 2, 2009
3
mencement’s “normal” nature in a protest-filled year was Kerrey’s surprising announce-ment two weeks before. On May 6, Kerrey— the school’s president for nearly the lastnine years — told The New School boardof trustees meeting that he would stepdown “no later than” the expiration of hiscurrent contract at the end of June 2011.Some took Kerrey’s wording to mean that hemight be leaving his options open and couldpossibly be departing even sooner.“To understate the case, this has been achallenging semester for the university andmy family,” Kerrey said in his statement tothe trustees. “There have been momentswhen I reached the limit of my willingnessto continue serving as your president. Therehave been moments when my tendency tofight and to directly engage in confrontation,argument and disputes have been counter-productive. ...“To be clear with all of you: I do notintend to ask for an extension beyond thatdate,” Kerrey told the trustees, referringto the end of his current contract in twoyears. “At some appropriate time in the nearfuture, you and I need to begin the processof a search for a new president and transi-tion to new presidential leadership. I willdo all in my power to make certain that thistransition is successful.”In addition to an “orderly transition,”Kerrey said, during his remaining time, hewill continue to focus on several importantprojects.“The first involves the planning, fundrais-ing and implementation of the Fifth Avenuebuilding, now fully supported by our provostand the other academic leaders, and calledUniversity Center,” Kerrey continued. “Thisproject has as its objective constructing abuilding at 65 Fifth Avenue that will replacethe existing building at that location and theSeventh Avenue building that houses ourfashion program.”In a May 8 letter, Kerrey assured that anewly formed facilities committee under theguidance of the new provost, Tim Marshall,and Executive Vice President Jim Murtha,and including faculty, students and adminis-trators, “has been charged with ensuring fac-ulty and student participation in the designof future facilities, including the building at65 Fifth Avenue.” A previous, 350-foot-talldesign to replace the existing three-storybuilding was scrapped earlier this year in theface of community opposition and the eco-nomic downturn. The New School recentlywent back to the drawing board to come upwith a more scaled-back project. In April,Kerrey said the new design for the buildingwould be “as of right,” meaning no zoningvariances will be needed.Another area Kerrey said he will concen-trate on in his remaining time is building theProvost’s Office so that Marshall “can usethe new authorities of this office to bettermanage the hiring of faculty, the review of faculty, the development of new curriculaand the review of existing programs.”Kerrey concluded his statement on anoptimistic note, saying the university is mov-ing forward on solid footing.“This has been an important year forthe New School,” he told the trustees. “Weare stronger than we were last fall and bet-ter prepared to meet the challenges of thefuture. ... We have raised a quarter of a bil-lion dollars of private money for academicinitiatives and facilities improvements. Wehave more than tripled the number of full-time faculty. We are in strong financialcondition. We are continuing to hire facultywhile others are not. We have extended ten-ure beyond a single division. And we havetransformed ourselves from a holding com-pany into a real university. That said, thereis much more to do. I remain enthusiasticabout doing my share.”Jane Crotty, a New School spokesperson,said Kerrey will continue working towardhis big-picture goal for the school, whichincludes 65 Fifth Ave.“He had a vision, and he’s close to achiev-ing that vision,” Crotty said, “to unify theuniversity from 16th St. to 12th St. He’sgiven it a sense of place. The new buildingis part of that.”Faculty reaction right after Kerrey’sannouncement was basically surprise, fol-lowed by efforts to gauge what happensnext.“Trying to figure out what it means. Kindof sudden,” was the immediate responseof Joel Schlemowitz, president of theschool’s part-time faculty union.Marie Dormuth, the union’s unit chair-person, said of Kerrey’s pledge to leave nolater than in two years, “To me, as the headof the union, it’s a long way off.”Requesting anonymity, a graduate studentwho may or may not have participated in theoccupations of 65 Fifth Ave. — he didn’twant that to say for legal reasons — but whois part of the student opposition to Kerrey,said of Kerrey’s announcement, “Sure, we’rehappy about it. It’s two full years to go. Justlike when Bush was president — we kneweventually he would leave. It’s never been just about Kerrey, but he symbolized a lot of deeper problems [at The New School].”Asked if he felt their militant tactics,including occupying 65 Fifth Ave. inDecember for 32 hours and then again morebriefly in April, influenced Kerrey’s decision,he said, “It seemed like direct action waseffective — and all the negative P.R. that fol-lowed after every event.”Asked beforehand if any protests wereplanned for last week’s commencement, thegrad student said if anyone was going to doanything it would have been undergraduates,since the graduate student protesters werestill facing charges from the second occupa-tion, and couldn’t risk another arrest.As for the commencement, honorarydegrees were conferred on five individuals;playwright Eve Ensler; opera singer ReginaResnik; philosophy professor Kwame AnthonyAppiah; John Whitehead, former LowerManhattan Development Corporation chair-person; and Harold Hongju Koh, Yale LawSchool dean, who was the keynote speaker.Koh, a human-rights advocate, has beennominated by President Barack Obama tobe legal adviser to the State Department,though he still needs to be confirmed.As opposed to the jeers and hurled insultsthat greeted McCain’s remarks three yearsago, Koh’s commencement address resultedin a standing ovation. The theme of hisspeech was respect for the rule of law.In talking about the issue of torture, Kohrecalled a recent visit to Washington, duringwhich a senator confronted him.“Professor,” the senator began — Kohnoted the term “professor” is not wellrespected inside the Beltway — “the lasttime I checked, the terrorists had not signedthe Geneva Convention.”“Senator,” Koh replied, “the last timeI checked, the whales hadn’t signed the
A calm commencement following Kerrey’s announcement
Villager photos by Jefferson Siegel
Playwright Eve Ensler received an honorary doctor of fine arts degree fromNew School President Bob Kerrey last Friday at the university’s commencementceremony at the WaMu Theater.As Kerrey listened, law professor Harold Hongju Koh delivered his commencementspeech. Koh was also awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree.
Continued from page 1Continued on page 4
‘My term as president will end no later than July 1,2011. ... I do not intendto ask for an extensionbeyond that date.’
Bob Kerrey
of 00
The Villager, May 27, 2009
The Villager, May 27, 2009
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