August 8 — Associate Dean of Students and Boston University vice president Herbert A. Ross will resign from his position next week, Ross said in a phone interview Friday afternoon.
Ross said he would resign because of “personal reasons” and because he felt it was “time to move on.”
“I enjoyed the university and thought it was a great place,” Ross said, when reached at his home in Marshfield. “There’s a community spirit and an exciting atmosphere, which is unique.”
Ross said there was no pressure from any upper-level administrators to tender his resignation.
Ross had spent 27 years at the university, having served in the Dean of Students Office for 16 years. He said he would miss being in the office, calling it a “very special place.”
The resignation of Ross leaves the Dean of Students Office without their two top administrators. Dean of Students and Vice President W. Norman Johnson resigned earlier this summer. Ross said the office had an “outstanding staff” to help with the transitional period, and the university would probably fill the two spots soon.
“I’m sure things will be taken care of in short order, but I think … they’ll do well,” Ross said of his co-workers.
Several administrators have resigned this summer, including Johnson, Ross and former College of Communication dean Brent Baker. Additionally, Bill Lawson was fired from his position as film and television chairman within COM after referring to Chancellor John Silber and journalism professors Keith Botsford and Joachim Maitre as a “cabal of misfits,” according to The Boston Globe.
Mary Ellen Osburn, the assistant director of the George Sherman Union, said she was shocked when she heard the news from Ross on Friday.
“Having worked with him for almost 14 years, it is a huge loss personally and professionally,” Osburn said.
Osburn said she was still confident in her job security following all the administrative changes at BU this summer.
“I’m pretty confident that what we do here in the GSU administration is well taken care of,” Osburn said. “We have pretty vital resources that we provide to the University.”
Only one dean — Assistant Dean of Students for Campus Life J. Allen Ward — remains at the Student Activties Office. Assistant Dean of students Andrew Klein resigned earlier this summer. Ward was unavailable for comment Friday.
“We’re kind of short on deans right now,” said the receptionist at his office.
Multiple calls to the home and office of Executive Vice President Joseph Mercurio went unreturned yesterday.
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