to the alumni

I would like to address the Boston University alumni. I know many of you read this paper and I did not know how else to address you. Hopefully by now you have all read the letter from Chancellor Silber to this newspaper. Though the subject of the letter is not of great importance to alumni please do not assume that the letter is not important to you. What is important in that letter is John Silber’s tone. He proves his critics right. Though my opinion of our administration had been deteriorating since I entered the university it had never sunk as low as it did this Monday when I read Silber’s letter. The fact that Silber disagrees with the student body is not cause for concern. What is cause for concern is his refusal to listen to the student body and the lack of interest in the concerns of students. Sadly, Chancellor Silber is not the only culprit. No member of the administration has ever actually spoken with the student body. They have made some sad attempts recently. The first was a luncheon but this luncheon was only for a few select students. Listening to a few members of student union is not contacting the student body. There are 30,000 students at BU not 50. Since that luncheon nothing has changed. Though it is not realistic to have John Silber walk down the halls of the CAS he does have many staff members who could occasionally ask random students what their concerns are. The second attempt was a written survey sent to every student via e-mail. This was progress so I gladly filled out the survey but the survey was quite lengthy and repetitive. Its length led many students to be frustrated especially because there was no assurance that they survey would do anything. Years of mistrust of the administration led to student apathy towards the survey. A good comparison is voter apathy in our country. But voters are only asked to answer a few questions not a 100 or so. The administration should have known about this student apathy. The survey either shows how little the administration really knows about students or it was another half-hearted attempt to look as though they care about student body.

You may still be wondering how this affects you, the alumni. It affects you because Silber’s intolerance to the student body will lead to, at the very least, a sharp decrease in the already low alumni giving rate. Giving needed to improve the university. It can and very likely will lead to a lowering of the academic ranking and reputation of our university. I hope not, but Silber’s action could even lead to more organized protests. Some of you might remember that students protested last spring in response to administration’s mishandling of a professional women’s soccer game on Nickerson Field. You should also be concerned because you are the only ones that can help the student body and can keep them from protesting. John Silber listens to you. Please be our voice because he obviously refuses to listen to us. If you support the students our apathy will decrease because we will be empowered, we will have hope of having Silber listen to us. With your support we may be able to make this University better, we can save it from protest and bad press, and in the end we will all benefit.

Tim Hartnett CAS 03