John Silber

John Robert Silber (born August 15, 1926) is an American academic and politician. He had a controversial career serving as the president of Boston University and unsuccessfully ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of Massachusetts in the 1990 election, with a conservative platform and lost to the moderate Republican William Weld.

He was born in San Antonio, Texas and is the author of two books: one part memoir and part political prescription, entitled "Straight Shooting"; the second a denunciation of the work of certain contemporary architects, entitled "Architecture of the Absurd".

On May 14, 2008, the City of Boston renamed Sherborn St., which bisects the main Boston University Campus from Commonwealth Ave. through Bay State Rd. ending at Back St., "John R. Silber Way." According to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who oversaw the renaming ceremony, the new name for Sherborn St. was "fitting" as an honor for Silber. "Was there any other way?" Menino quipped, referring to Silber's four decades of influence on the B.U. campus the street was located on.

John Silber reportedly frowned at the mayor's attempt at jocularity. [ [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/05/15/doing_it_my_way/ Boston Globe, 15 May 2008] 'Doing it my way']

Education and early academic career

Silber graduated from Trinity University in 1947 and spent a year at Yale Divinity School and a semester at the University of Texas School of Law before returning to study philosophy at Yale University. He studied Kant and issues on the philosophy of education.

Silber received his M.A. in 1952 and his Ph.D. He worked as a teaching assistant while doing graduate work. [http://www.pragmatism.org/genealogy/hare.htm Peter H. Hare] , Philosophy Professor Emeritus, at SUNY State University of New York at Buffalo remembers Silber as a teaching assistant at Yale in the mid-1950s when he was an undergraduate. Hare wrote, "George Schrader was the lecturer in the introductory course where John Silber was the TA leading my discussion section. Silber, a rabid Kantian, was the person with whom I had my first heated philosophical arguments as an adult. [ [http://www.pragmatism.org/library/falling_for_pragmatism.htm A PHILOSOPHICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY] by the late Peter H. Hare, Professor Emeritus, SUNY at Buffalo] "

Silber's first faculty job was at University of Texas at Austin where he chaired the Philosophy department from 1962-1967. While he was a student in philosophy at UT, Larry Hickman, Director, Center for Dewey Studies, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale said, "The department chairs during those years, John Silber and Irwin C. Lieb, were busy using Texas oil money to collect the very best faculty and graduate students they could find. [ [http://www.pragmatism.org/library/falling_for_pragmatism.htm A PHILOSOPHICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY] by Larry Hickman] "

In 1967, Silber became Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UT. He was removed as Dean in 1970 by UT Regents Chairman Frank Erwin, ostensibly for his opposition to the division of the College into three units - a College of Humanities, a College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and a College of Natural Sciences. However, Erwin was widely believed to have regarded Silber as too independent of Erwin's control. Fact|date=July 2007 Silber left UT in 1971.

Boston University

Silber became the seventh president of Boston University in 1971, and in 1996 became chancellor after stepping down as president. With an annual salary that reached $800,000, Silber ranked as one of the highest paid college presidents in the country. That same year he was appointed by William Weld to serve as head of the Massachusetts Board of Education.

Under Silber, Boston University increased in size and stature but questions about his leadership style caused splits among faculty and alumni. In 1976, Silber survived an attempted ouster that was supported by ten deans. He remained president until 1989, when he took a leave of absence to run for governor of Massachusetts as a Democrat. He returned to BU after losing to William Weld.

Controversies

His tenure at Boston University was not without controversy. In addition to policies that directly impact student life, Silber also made other controversial decisions that impacted Boston University's image. For example, he disbanded the football team during his tenure as president, citing financial losses, although the real reason likely was to avoid being bound by Title IX, which mandated gender equity between the sexes in sports scholarships. Silber was quoted by "Sports Illustrated" as saying that the University of Paris doesn't have a football team, with SI's writer noting that B.U. was not the Sorbonne.

Most controversial of all, and alienating to students, faculty and alumni alike, were his actions related to denying tenure or promotion to particular faculty perceived as not sharing his views,Fact|date=July 2008 resulting in public feuding and lawsuits.

"Sale" of honorary degrees and seats in professional schools

In the early 1980s, he courted conservative German publisher Axel Springer, the founder and owner of the Axel Springer AG publishing company and publisher of the tabloid newspaper Bild. The most popular newspaper in all of Europe, the conservative Bild was at the forefront of the Cold War-era cultural wars against the Soviet Union and collectivist ideology. Springer, a target of the student radicals of the 1960s who had been denounced by such German intellectuals as Heinrich Böll, was awarded an honorary doctorate from B.U. in 1981. [ [http://www.axelspringer.com/englisch/geschich/inhalte/as/auszeich/auszeich.htm Honours of Axel Springer] , retrieved 14 March 2008] .

At the time of Springer's investiture, the primary (independent) student newspaper at B.U., the "Daily Free Press", as well as the unofficial student newspaper that had proved a gadfly during the Silber administration (whose staff members were featured on Mike Wallace's January 1980 60 Minutes piece on Silber), the "b.u. exposure", obtained and published university documentation about the marketing of honorary degrees. A list of potential honorees had been drawn up, based not on their merit but on their likely propensity to seek public honors and their ability or willingness to pay for it. Prominently mentioned in the documents was independent movie producer Joseph E. Levine, who had been born in Boston. Staff were instructed to make feelers to Levine, with the ultimate award to be on a sliding-scale system depending on his generosity to the university. A seven-figure donation to B.U. would garner the ultimate accolade, an honorary doctorate. (Levine never was awarded a degree from B.U.) In March 1978, the "b.u. exposure" also broke the story of the "sale" of seats in the university's law and medical schools. The "exposure" story revealed that the university had accepted "advanced payments from Law and Medical School applicants as a precondition to admission".

Attack on Leftist Faculty

The Springer doctorate came after a decade long battle that Silber had waged against leftists on the B.U. faculty, which had included vetoing the hiring of Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse and a war of wills with political science professor Howard Zinn. Silber also fired the renowned black journalist, William Worthy, Jr., who served as head of the B.U. African American journalism program, after Worthy spoke out in support of workers who attempted to unionize against the Silber administration. Silber's actions lead to a climate where other notable leftist scholars left B.U. to take positions at other universities, including Fritz Ringer and Henry Giroux. The latter took a position at the University of Miami (OH) and later Penn State.

Along these same lines in 1975 the faculty of B.U. voted to unionize, but Silber refused to recognize their union.

Real estate scandal and connections with organized crime

Contemporaneous with a real estate scandal broken by the Boston Globe, it was claimed that B.U. was buying properties in the Kenmore Square area of Boston from organized crime figures with ties to directors on the B.U. board. These charges resulted in several protests and possibly contributed to a lower rate of alumni giving.

Allegations of homophobia

A conservative on many issues, Silber refused to add "sexual orientation," within which term he included "pedophilia, incest and bestiality" as well as homosexuality and heterosexuality [ [http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2004/12/10/Opinion/Letter.To.The.Editor.Silber.Speaks.Out.On.NonDiscrimination.Stance-827602.shtml Silber speaks out on non-discrimination stance] , Daily Free Press, 12 October 2004] to the university's non-discrimination clause.

In 2000-2001, Silber upheld a campus-wide guest visitor policy for Boston University's housing system which was much stricter than other area universities. He justified the policy by arguing that lax visitor's policies would lead to students bringing "their sexual partners to the room for sessions of fun and games", according to an interview he conducted with the "Daily Free Press", B.U.'s student newspaper. [ [http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2002/03/18/Opinion/Silber.Speaks.On.The.Guest.Policy-218549.shtml Silber Speaks On The Guest Policy] , Daily Free Press, 18 March 2002]

In 2002, Silber ordered that a B.U.-affiliated high school academy disband its gay-straight alliance. The alliance was a student club that staged demonstrations against homophobia. Silber dismissed the stated purpose of the club, that of serving as a support group for gay students that also sought to promote tolerance and understanding between gay and straight students, and accused it of being a vehicle for "homosexual recruitment".Fact|date=July 2008 At the time, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts funded gay-straight student clubs in 156 schools. The move was a highly controversial one and engendered a great deal of criticism from the gay, progressive communities, including public condemnation by U.S. Representative Barney Frank in the "Daily News". (Ironically, Silber's own son had died of AIDS in 1996.) [ [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0242,goldstein,39204,1.html "The Last Candid Man,] A Homophobe Hides Behind His Right to Discriminate," by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 15 October 2002 ] Though his son may have been gay, Silber may be in denial, as he said in a 1992 interview in Newsday, "Decent parents don't even discuss [with their children] the possibility that there are homosexuals." [ [http://www.qrd.org/qrd/media/print/1993/coverage.of.glb.in.media-11.23.93 "Gay column leads to 475 cancellations"] by Louis I. Gelfand, Nieman Reports v47, n3 (Fall, 1993):82 (2 pages)]

Adelphi University

Silber was on the board of trustees of Adelphi University in 1996 when the New York State Board of Regents dismissed seventeen of the trustees along with the president amidst charges of corruption made by the faculty union.

The reputation of Boston University and its alumni giving rate

During Silber's tenure, Boston University's reputation improved, ranking consistently since 1970 as one of the top universities in the United States. He was directly responsible for the hiring of four Nobel Prize winners in science, as well as the recruiting of Nobel Literature Laureate Saul Bellow and the hiring of Elie Wiesel as a professor in the School of Religion in the 1970s, before he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Fact|date=April 2008

In 2002, "U.S. News and World Report", whose rankings of colleges and universities is among the most respected in the country, ranked B.U. as a "second tier" national university, not in the top 52 institutions. "Seventeen Magazine", in its rankings of "The 100 Coolest Colleges", ranked B.U. 72nd. [ [http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2002/09/20/News/Bu.Receives.Low.Marks.From.U.s.News.Seventeen-278438.shtml "BU receives low marks from U.S. News, Seventeen"] , The Daily Free Press, 20 September 2002]

For at least 30 years, Silber's controversies and his acidulous personality have been cited as the root cause of B.U.'s unusually low rate of alumni giving. In 2004, "U.S. News and World Report" reported that only 11% of B.U. alumni made contributions to their alma mater, a low rate for a national university. [ [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/11/16/bu_critics_decide_its_time_to_speak_up/ "BU critics decide it's time to speak up"] , Boston Globe, 16 Nov 2003] (The alumni giving rates at Princeton University and Harvard University, the top two national schools in the 2008 survey, were 60% and 40%, respectively. [ [http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php "America's Best Colleges 2008 - National Universities: Top Schools"] , US News & World Report] However, it is in line with national averages for all schools of higher learning as the "Boston Globe" reports that the alumni giving rate nationally was 11.8% in 2006, representing a significant drop off in the past decade, as the rate was 16.8% in 1996. [ [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/07/09/colleges_fear_debt_puts_damper_on_donations/?page=2 "Colleges fear debt puts damper on donations"] Boston Globe, 9 July 2007] )

The low alumni giving rate is considered by some to have adversely impacted B.U.'s national rankings as a top school. In the 2008 "U.S. News and World Report", B.U. did not make the top 50, being ranked #60, far behind comparable Boston-area schools Tufts University (#28), Brandeis University (#31), and Boston College (#34). It also ranked behind #33 New York University, which the Silber administration had used as the yardstick for B.U. during the 1980s.Fact|date=April 2008

While the rankings of Tufts and Brandeis remained static between 2007 and 2008 and Boston College actually improved a notch (moving from #35 to #34 in the rankings), B.U. declined three slots, having ranked #57 in 2007. [http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/national-search/page+3] B.U.'s cross-river rival Harvard University was ranked #1 among national universities in 2008. [http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/national-search/page+1] B.U. scored 50 points in the survey, whereas Harvard scored a full 100 points.

ilber's "Deferred Compensation Package"

On May 10, 2006, the "New York Times" reported that the trustees of Boston University had given Silber an unprecedented compensation package worth $6.1 million in 2005 [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/10/education/10silber.html New Yrok Times, 10 May 2006] 'Boston University Gave Ex-Chief $6.1 Million, Officials Disclose'] , which critics contend is more akin to a golden parachute, bonus, or gift given to a corporate chief executive officer. Academic sources say it is three times higher than the normal payout and is the highest such payout in over 30 years. The announcement of Silber's windfall, which was revealed due to tax filings by B.U., reportedly has engendered outrage in the academic community.

Political activities

Silber was the first chair of the Texas Society to Abolish Capital Punishment and a leader in the integration of the University of Texas. He was involved in the creation of Operation Head Start.

In 1990 Silber ran for Governor of Massachusetts as a Democrat. His outsider status as well as his outspoken and combative style were at first seen as advantages in a year in which voters were disenchanted with the Democratic party establishment. After winning the Democratic nomination, Silber faced Republican William Weld. Silber's angry personality, which appalled many voters, coupled with Weld's socially liberal views helped Weld in the race. During the gubernatorial race, Silber regularly overreacted to seemingly standard questions from the press. These overreactions came to be known as "Silber shockers". Ultimately, Weld was able to hold on to a significant portion of the Republican base while appealing to large numbers of Democrats and left-of-center independents, enabling him to defeat Silber by four points. Weld became the first Republican to serve as governor since 1974. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,971285,00.html "Throw Some of the Bums Out!"] Time Magazine, 1 October 1990]

In 1998 Silber took on the cause of Benjamin LaGuer, an inmate proclaiming his innocence for a 1983 rape and who had earned a bachelor's degree magna cum laude through the Boston University prison education program. Silber continued to support LaGuer even after a 2002 DNA test which seemed to link him to the crime. In 2003 Silber testified to the parole board alleging "irregularities" in how the evidence was handled raising the possibility that the test was botched.

ocial Criticism

Silber has written two books. "Straight Shooting: What's wrong with America and How to Fix It" (Harper & Row, 1989), and "Architecture of the Absurd: How "Genius" Disfigured a Practical Art" (Quantuck Lane, 2007).

"Straight Shooting" embodies Silber's concern the America has experienced a decline in moral and spiritual values. He considers this has led to excessive avarice and materialism. He also faults society with an excessive reliance of litigation to settle disputes.

"Architecture of the Absurd" discusses Silber's view that certain "celebrity" architects frequently fail to meet the needs of their clients because they consider themselves primarily sculptors and do not adequately consider financial constraints, the physical needs of building occupants or the urban environment. The architects he names include Josep Lluís Sert, Le Corbusier, Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind and Steven Holl. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/opinion/l22architect.html?ref=opinion Silber, J. "Celebrity Architects" Letter to the editor, New York Times, December 22, 2007.] ] One example cited by Silber is Le Corbusier's megalomaniacal 1930s plan for Algiers, which called for the demolition of the entire city. A more recent example is Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall which, before it was modified at additional expense, made rooms of nearby condominiums unbearably warm causing their air-conditioning costs to skyrocket and created hot spots on adjacent sidewalks of as much as 140 degrees Fahrenheit. [Wikipedia article: "Walt Disney Concert Hall".] The book is evocative of another polemic against modern architecture, "From Bauhaus to Our House", published by Tom Wolfe, an admirer of Silber who reportedly used him as a model for a character in his 1998 novel "A Man in Full".

Earlier, BU published a 32-page article by Silber, called "Democracy: Its Counterfeits and Its Promise" (1976). Other of his articles have been published in "Philosophical Quarterly", "Philosophical Review" and "Kant-Studien" where he served as editor.

Further reading

* Allis, Sam, "The Ivory Tower Triggerman", Time Magazine, August 28, 1989, 69.

References

External links

* [http://www.bu.edu/philo/faculty/silber.html Boston University's biography of Silber]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070816065938/http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/interviews/86-silber.html Debate between Silber and Noam Chomsky over the Nicaraguan Contras]
* [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0242,goldstein,39204,1.html Village Voice article accusing Silber of bigotry and homophobia]
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2002_Nov_26/ai_95263251" The Boston bully: Boston U. chancellor John Silber had a gay son who died of AIDS. So why is he such a dedicated homophobe?" The Advocate (Nov 26, 2002)]
*New York Review of Books sequence of letters:
** [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/7376 Letter from professors at Boston University accusing Silber of violating academic freedom]
** [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/7272 Response to the letter by the Boston University professors from a Silber supporter]
** [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/7258 Rebuttal by the Boston University professors to the response by the Silber supporter]