Boston University has had eight presidents, two chancellors and one president-elect who refused the job one day before taking office, and it is currently operating under a president ad interim while it searches for its ninth president.
Dating back to 1873, BU has spent more than 130 years with only eight presidents, and each made his own impression on the university.
William Fairfield Warren: 1873-1903
Upon hearing the name William Fairfield Warren, students usually think of the mostly freshman residence hall known as Warren Towers. But Warren left a much greater impact. As the university’s founding president, he transformed BU from a Methodist theological school without much of an identity to a remarkably accepting liberal arts university.
Born in 1833 in Williamsburg, Warren attended Wesleyan University and Andover Theological School. Under Warren, the College of Liberal Arts was created and about 200 students enrolled, paying only $125 each. Because of its relatively cheap tuition fees, the classes were mostly female because women often did not have parental support to pay for college.
In fact, BU was the first university to award a doctorate in philosophy to a woman, according to Kathleen Kilmore’s book ‘Transformations: A History of Boston University.’
Students generally liked Warren, who was called the ‘intellectual father’ of BU by a faculty member of the time. Students also considered Warren’s BU a school with ‘no rules,’ according to Kilmore.
William Huntington: 1904-1911
After Warren, another William rose to power, and like his predecessor, William Huntington was also a Methodist born on a farm. Huntington worked his way up through the BU administration, beginning as a student in the School of Theology and rising to dean of CLA immediately after his graduation. He finally assumed the presidency in 1904.
Huntington attempted to attract more men to the university, since ‘the 1909 graduating class consisted of 84 women and 14 men,’ Kilmore said.
To solve this problem, he launched a ‘More Men Movement’ in 1910, according to the BU website.
Huntington was ‘well-liked, gregarious and addicted to punning,’ according a memoir by his colleague Borden Bowne.
Lemuel Murlin: 1911-1924
Lemuel Murlin was another Methodist preacher, but not as influential as his predecessors. He tried to make BU a university ‘in the heart of the city, in the service of the city,’ according to BU’s website, so he bought a large tract of land between the Charles River and Commonwealth Avenue.
However, his campaign for raising funds fell short, so he resigned and became president of Indiana’s DePauw University, his alma mater. Many other administrators disliked him, and he called the fundraising campaign a ‘futile and hopeless endeavor’ when he resigned.
Daniel Marsh: 1926-1951
Immediately after Daniel Marsh was offered the presidency, he ordered all of Murlin’s files destroyed and began his reign as a ‘benevolent dictator’ in 1926, according to one dean.
Marsh also faced financial problems, but ended up succeeding in building the ‘futile endeavor’ into what is now the core structure of the Charles River Campus.
He also founded several schools, including the College of Public Relations, which later became the College of Communication.
Also during Marsh’s reign, the terrier became the university’s mascot beating out the bull moose in a student poll and BU sports began to flourish. Nearly 300 students attended the university at the time and BU began housing students on Bay State Road, but with rather strict restrictions.
One of the rules stated ‘underclassmen may go out in groups of not less than three after 6 p.m.; otherwise they must be accompanied by a chaperone, or an escort or an upperclassman.’
When Marsh retired in 1951, he assumed the specially created position of chancellor, setting a precedent that John Silber would follow in later years.
Harold Case: 1951-1967
Harold Case came to the university at a tough time, when anti-Communist sentiments were very strong and ‘universities around the country were being investigated by the government,’ said Kilmore.
Case was formally a Methodist pastor like all of the presidents before him and a former STH student.
Soft-spoken but strong in his convictions, Case was determined to ‘deal with an enrollment that was shrinking as the number of student veterans declined, a limited endowment and a massive building program,’ according to Kilmore.
He encouraged a quiet religious atmosphere on campus by holding the ‘University at Home project’ with his wife, where they invited students to his home to read the Bible.
Arland Christ-Janer: 1967-1970
Assuming the presidency in the late 1960s was not an easy job, so much so that Arland Christ-Janer only lasted three years. During his presidency, sit-ins and other protests occurred, including a ‘smell-in,’ in which students argued against the banning of incense in dorms.
Students fought for birth control advocate Bill Baird, who handed out contraceptives and was arrested by the BU Police Department. Christ-Janer tried to cater to students’ growing demands, but resigned in 1970 amid controversy. That same year, no commencement ceremony occurred because of violence on campus.
John Silber: 1971-1996, interim president 2002-2003
Perhaps the most influential of BU presidents, John Silber came to BU in 1971, after being fired from his position as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Texas.
Immediately after being hired, Silber began to address problems that plagued his predecessors. Tuition rose, distinguished faculty members arrived, protesters faced arrests, the campus expanded and order took hold.
Often elusive and unwilling to deal with students’ requests, Silber oversaw the implementation of a tough Guest Policy, which still exists after recent modification in spring 2003. He began the successful Prison Education program and oversaw the construction of the Metcalf Science Building, the School of Management building and numerous other buildings.
Jon Westling: 1997-2002
Beginning his presidency in 1997, Jon Westling listened to student concerns. Unlike Silber, who said Guest Policy changes would not occur because of students’ chronic tendency toward exhibitionist sex, Westling said in a letter to The Daily Free Press that changes were ‘not impossible.’ However, Westling never made any changes to it during his tenure.
He invited Bob Dylan to campus in 2000 and let loose with the students, but also got entangled in an ugly lawsuit involving students with disabilities in 1997, according to reports from the Free Press. BU was held responsible for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and ordered to pay $30,000 dollars to each student that filed in the suit.
BU also received a boom in biomedical research under Westling. In July 2002, Westling resigned under pressure from the Board of Trustees, making Silber both the chancellor and acting president until the appointment of Aram Chobanian as president ad interim Friday.