n I was chairman of Boston University’s Journalism Department in 1974, when we applied – successfully – to renew our accreditation with the Association for Education in Journalism. (We had to renew accreditation every 10 years.)

President John Silber was immensely supportive of the department throughout the process. I asked him to attend a dinner with the visiting accrediting team from AEJ and to charm them. And he did.

I also asked for his assistance in prodding prominent professors from throughout the university to attend my functions for the AEJ accrediting team. I was determined to have each member of the team seated next to a professor who had known Winston Churchill or other major world figures. Dr. Silber was helpful in this and he was good to the Journalism Department throughout my seven years as chairman (1973 – 1980).

I doubt that he ever had any intention of closing the Journalism Department. He never mentioned it to me, though he did seem to have some qualms about the Public Relations curriculum. He sometimes asked in my early years at the university: “Should a great university be teaching kids how to lie for large corporations?”

James Brann Former Chairman Department of Journalism