President emeritus John Silber said he plans to spend some of his free time, now that he has left Boston University’s chancellorship and Board of Trustees, doing what he loves sculpting. ‘I did a large bas-relief of Elie Wiesel,’ Silber said on Oct. 18. ‘I haven’t had time to finish the casting … I want to do a good deal more sculpture.’ Though Silber has resigned from all of his administrative posts, he will continue to teach in the University Professors Program and the International Relations, Law and Philosophy departments, according to Joachim Maitre, the director of the Center for Defense Journalism. Maitre also said Silber will teach a course specifically on Plato. ‘I think he would be delighted to have a chance to teach philosophy,’ Trustee Esther A.H. Hopkins said. University Professor Elie Wiesel also said Silber plans to do more writing. ‘He told me a few months ago that he wanted to leave the administration to write more books,’ Wiesel said. ‘He wants to go back to what he really is which is a teacher and a writer.’ Silber is currently working on at least one book, but Wiesel said ‘no writer works on just one book.’ However, teaching is probably not going to be the first thing Silber does now that he has resigned, Hopkins said. ‘I imagine he plans to do some rest and unwinding before getting into other things,’ Hopkins said. Hopkins also said family will be another focus for Silber. ‘I’m sure he will be devoting a large part of his time to caring for his wife,’ Hopkins said. ‘He will spend a lot of time just being with her … He’s a very devoted family man.’ Yet Silber, 77, is also leaving because he is getting older, Hopkins said. ‘When one reaches a certain age, you kind of desire to wind things up,’ Hopkins said. ‘When all your professional colleagues get younger and younger you tend to say ‘let someone else handle this.” Hopkins said she hopes Silber takes care of himself physically now that he has left the university. ‘Remember that the body is weak, and it can stand but so much,’ Hopkins said. Maitre said he hopes that Silber will ‘take a rejuvenation course’ now that he’s left the university. Silber will be able to relax at the chancellor’s residence in Brookline, as he is allowed to stay there indefinitely, according to Hopkins. Yet all three agreed that even though Silber is no longer president, his influence will be felt throughout the school. ‘The students who take his courses will be the luckiest of all the students at the university,’ Wiesel said. ‘He is a superb teacher.’ Silber’s ‘sheer presence’ will still influence BU, Maitre said. ‘He’s still very much a part of the soul of the university,’ Hopkins said. ‘But he will have no official role in what’s going on.’ Hopkins regretted that Silber will not remain with the Trustees because he would have been on the Committee of Academic Affairs that Hopkins chairs. Hopkins also said she hopes that leaving BU’s administration will not change the man Silber is. ‘I’d like him to keep on being John,’ Hopkins said. ‘You know he’s feisty, he’s thoughtful and although he doesn’t like to admit it, he’s sensitive. I hope he doesn’t become isolated or embittered.’