Boston University chancellor John Silber will address students tonight in the Metcalf Science Center, during an open question and answer session for the second time this year.
The session, which will also be aired on radio station WTBU, will start at 8 p.m. and last approximately an hour and a half, according to Senate chairman and event organizer Joel Fajardo.
Doors will open for the event at 7:10 p.m. and close at 7:50 p.m. to ensure an on-time start to the event, Fajardo said. Students will also be directed on where to sit in the auditorium, he added. Silber will address campus cable policy and obscenities at hockey games during his opening comments, according to Fajardo.
After Silber’s comments, students will be allowed to ask questions live during the event, instead of writing questions and handing them to a moderator for reading, as was required for Silber’s first student event in December, Fajardo said. He said the change is the result of student feedback from Silber’s first session, when many students thought questions were screened because they were funneled through a moderator, though Fajardo denied they were.
Fajardo said he is confident students will remain respectful to the chancellor, despite the more open format.
‘Though many have objections to what he’s done, I think many have respect for his contributions to the university,’ Fajardo said. ‘I think that respect outweighs their concerns.’
Fajardo said he is expecting the same types of questions as were asked at the first Silber address. He said the event is important because it will allow students personal contact with Silber and allow them to overcome popular stereotypes of the chancellor.
‘There are stereotypes that circumscribe Dr. Silber’s character,’ Fajardo said. ‘It’s important for people to overcome those stereotypes.’
Several students said they hope to hear Silber talk about why he forced the Boston University Academy to close its Gay-Straight Alliance in September and the school’s new guest policy.
College of Arts and Sciences senior Alice Kabwe said Silber has never convincingly addressed his decision to close the BUA GSA.
‘I would ask him about the GSA and why he canceled it,’ she said. ‘And I’d ask him to get mad specific.’
She said the more open question format will allow students to press him for specific answers to important questions.
College of Communication senior Adrienne McIlvaine said though she was not planning to attend the event, she hoped the students would address administrators’ seemingly cold attitude toward BU’s student body.
‘I want to know why he feels student input isn’t really that important and why he’s so adversarial toward us,’ she said. ‘It’s a vicious cycle the more he’s distant toward us, the more we’re not going to care.’
Several students said they would not be attending the event because it was scheduled the night before a midterm. The event was scheduled for today because it was the only date of those presented to Silber that he could attend, Fajardo said.
The event was moved from the School of Management Auditorium, where the December event was held, because the room was already reserved for today before Union officials were able to reserve the auditorium, Fajardo said. The room holds approximately 60 fewer people than the previous Silber question-and-answer session, according to Fajardo. Those who arrive after the room is filled will be turned away, he said.