The Boston University Board of Trustees has notoriously been cut off and out of touch with the students and faculty at BU. But their history of isolation may end with the vast reforms the Board made during its spring meeting. These reforms will allow members of the real BU community – faculty and perhaps even students – to have a hand in the most important university decisions.
The Board voted to add a conflict-of-interest clause, a reform that will make tremendous progress in removing controversy and maintaining the integrity of the university. The clause would prohibit financial dealings between the Board and the university. BU can only engage in business with Board members if an audit committee, which oversees the finances of the Trustees, reviews the transaction. The Board has gone even further, requiring an outside auditing firm to review the trustees’ financial dealings every three years, ensuring that the trustees remain honest about their financial dealings.
By appointing Faculty Council Chairman Herbert Voigt to be a member, the Board will connect to the university community in an unprecedented way. Voigt’s membership will enable BU faculty to have a voice in creating university policies, a right they deserve. As a professor of biomedical engineering, Voigt can do much to lessen the void between BU Trustees and BU students. Voigt should set up a student council, which would provide a forum for students to air their concerns and learn about the decisions the trustees make from a member of the Board, rather than non-university sources like The Boston Globe.
The Board will implement a term limit of 14 years on all members, essential for evenly spreading power throughout the Board. Currently, half the trustees were put on the Board in 1975, when the university and its governing body were completely different. In 1975, Silber was at the height of his presidency and the university was an unknown commuter school. Silber has left the presidency since then and the university has made much progress since then, becoming a residential, nationally respected school. The Board of Trustees ought to be connected with the new BU, not the old one. Term limits will ensure a freshness among the Board, keeping the trustees as up to date with the progress of the university as much as possible.
As part of the trustees’ attempt to change with the times, the Board has decided to remove Silber from his office in the School of Management. This is an important symbolic move, because moving his office to another location will remind the administration and university community to focus on BU’s new leaders, not the old ones.
Appointing Alan Leventhal as chairman of the Board, at least on the surface, seems like a good move. Leventhal is CEO of Beacon Capital Partners in Boston and is prominent in the Boston community. At 51, Leventhal is young and will focus on the new developments and leadership of the school. He will be enormously helpful in raising funds for the university and enhancing its reputation in the city and country. As part of the implementation of term limits, Leventhal will only hold his position for six years and will be evaluated after three. His appointment will start a cycle of continuously changing trustees, keeping authority as fresh and updated as possible.
The Board has been surprisingly public in announcing the reforms, unusual for a group known more for surreptitiously shuttling around BU in black limousines than disclosing to the public and even the university community their decisions. Their transparency shows they’re proud of their reforms. It also shows their willingness to trust the BU community they oversee.
Considering the enormous influence the Board of Trustees has on the university, students, faculty and members of the BU community should be more aware of the decisions it makes. The reforms the Board made during its spring meeting are key in spreading this much-needed awareness and keeping the Board honest, transparent and accessible to the university community.