When former Sen.Bob Kerrey was tapped last week to replace current MPAA chief Dan Glickman, one of the selling points was his stint running prominent research university the New School.
Turns out his resumé isn't one you'd exactly want to bring home to mother.
During his nine-year tenure, Kerrey's propensity to fire provosts and his often abrasive management style resulted in a vote of "no confidence" on the part of the faculty and brought about an occupation of the cafeteria by students.
Even admirers of the former senator from Nebraska, decorated war veteran and one-time Democratic presidential hopeful admit that that his volatile leadership of the New School call into question whether he has the temperament to play a key role in the entertainment industry at a time when the movie business is undergoing a wide array of threats, involving everything from online piracy to a cratering DVD market.
TheWrap broke the story on Friday that Kerrey would be Hollywood's top lobbyist, and with studio chiefs signing off on his appointment, the job is his to lose. A deal is expected this week with an announcement expected shortly thereafter.
"I don't want to say anything that might mess up his chances of a new job. I'm desperate to get rid of him," Andrew Arato, professor of political and social theory at the New School, told TheWrap. "Not everything bad that happened while he was here can be blamed on him, but a lot of it bears his fingerprints."
Faculty members such as Arato complain that Kerrey has been aloof and autocratic during his time at the university. He has gone through five provosts, often dismissing them unceremoniously over managerial differences. 
"Given his career, you would think Kerrey would have a political persona, but he has a military persona and he's proud of that," Arato said. "He's hierarchical, not collegial. I've seen him remove deans and provosts without any real process or deliberation. I mean, these are distinguished men."
"The big riddle is, How could someone who was such an outstanding politician provoke such opposition in a university setting?" Jim Miller, professor of political science at the New School, told TheWrap.
However, Miller added, "Many of the traits that served him well as governor and senator -- and could serve him well out in Hollywood, particularly a tendency to unguardedly say what's on his mind -- caused a culture clash."
And to be sure, Kerrey's boosters have pointed to his ambitious plans for the New School's campus and his skills at fundraising.
Kerrey doubled the number of full-time faculty to 351 over his first eight years and saw the number of undergraduates swell to more than 6,000. Despite the recession, the endowment now stands at $214 million, down slightly from 2008, but up substantially from the $179 million it had banked at the close of 2006.
