I love Boston University. My classes and professors have introduced me to a range of subjects and thoughts that I would never have had on my own, and the city of Boston is about the most amazing place to go to school. As far as my education here is concerned, I do not have a lot to complain about.

However, I do get dismayed when the administration of the school acts in a manner that does not consider the students as part of this university. For all the fantastic aspects of this school, namely the stellar faculty, location and academic programs, our fearless leaders sometimes act as if they do not know that we are a school.

The actions of the executive board and the Trustees directly affect the way this university is run and the way prospective students and other institutions look at us. If the board chooses not to accept Goldin, it will have long-term effects for the university. First, no other qualified candidate will want to deal with BU again. Second, Goldin will almost certainly sue BU for breach of contract, and will also almost certainly recover several million dollars from us. This money comes from our endowment.

What worries me, though, is the way the trustees have gone about resolving this issue. BU students can read in the Boston Globe that the executive committee held a vote of no confidence in Goldin, as a result of some temper issues. As if we have not had for a president and chancellor for over 30 years a man famous for his acerbic tongue.

Then we get a vague letter on the BU homepage about the difficulties of the situation. This equates to BU students getting no information. The administration frequently writes off the students as fools who do not understand complex situations.

Several board members have resigned with no reason given for their resignation. If Mr. Katzenberg, who has children at this school, does not feel he belongs on the board, what does that say about the ability or desire of the board to serve the students?

In the past, though, this blowing off of students has played out probably the way Silber and the administration both wanted and expected some students complained in The Daily Free Press, but no real action was taken. When former College of Communication dean Brent Baker was removed from his position at the end of last year, there was no significant student outcry, even though Dean Baker was responsible for a significant portion of COM’s modern expansion.

But we do have power. The student body is not weak here at BU, and not simply because we are the reason this university exists. A group of 15,000 is never negligible and when united in purpose, it becomes a true force for change.

The faculty council has already indicated that it is disgusted with the actions of the board. Most of the students I have talked to feel the same. We are in line with the faculty.

So what types of things can we do? The appropriately named ‘Goldin Day’ (Nov. 17) may not be a holiday if Goldin is not our new president. What would the administration do if the student body refused to go to classes that day? Note, this is not a call to skip classes! I do not condone widespread abandonment of classes, at least not until a unifying body like the Union has a plan for carrying it out. On the other hand, this is a day when many students and faculty may already have plans, because we thought it was a holiday.

More interesting to ponder, what would the administration do if the student body refused to go back to classes until we had a student representative present at all trustee meetings?

We have seen a lot of student concerns in The Daily Free Press. We should see student concerns in the Boston Globe. We should present the trustees with the petition that has circulated campus but it should have 10,000 signatures. That is not such a high number of names for a school with 30,000 students and over 3,000 faculty members. I do not think there is an argument on campus that Dr. Silber has done good things for BU over his tenure here. I also think there is no argument that Dr. Silber has done a lot of things that were not so good for BU.

Most of his actions have not met with the type of student response that they should have. Silber has ruled this school like an authoritarian for a long time. The students and faculty want a change. And we have the power to show the administration that we mean it.

Dave Rini COM ’05