Highlights from the Fall 2005 semester of campus news

BROWN NAMED PRESIDENT

Robert Brown formally took office Sept. 1 as the 10th president of Boston University. The Board of Trustees named the former Massachusetts Institute of Technology provost as President emeritus Aram Chobanian’s replacement June 4 after a yearlong search that included more than 200 candidates.

In early September, Brown told The Daily Free Press he hoped to create a “culture of collaboration and discourse” at BU.

BLOGGING BLUNDER

In July, the College of Communication fired former Boston Herald sports columnist Michael Gee for writing inappropriate comments about a female student on the internet.

In the online posting on sportsjournalists.com, Gee wrote the student was “incredibly hot” and had “the sloe eyes and bitchin’ bod of the true Sabra.” Shortly after reading the adjunct professor’s comments, COM Associate Dean Tobe Berkowitz said he and Journalism Department Chairman Robert Zelnick fired Gee.

KATRINA AFFECTS NATION, UNIVERSITY

After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in late August, BU opened its doors to students from Tulane University left without a place to study. More than 300 students from the New Orleans school took BU up on the offer to study in Boston for the first semester.

Although Tulane students said they enjoyed their semester at BU, most plan to return to New Orleans for the spring 2006 semester when the university reopens its campus in January.

THIRD-FITTEST COLLEGE

In its October issue, Men’s Fitness magazine named BU the third-fittest college in the nation, behind Brigham Young University and the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Many students attributed the opening of the Fitness and Recreation Center to an increased interest in working out.

COPS BUST ALLSTON STUDENT PARTIES

Boston Police arrested five College of Arts and Sciences students in September after a party in their off-campus Glenville Avenue apartment reportedly became out of control. Community Relations Director Joseph Walsh of the BU Office of Government and Community Affairs was present at the time of the arrest, leading some students to question exactly how involved the university is in off-campus matters.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said the Office of Government and Community Affairs has worked with the Boston Police for 20 years and students are informed during summer orientation that any altercations with the law off campus are reported to the university and may require university sanctions.

POLICE STEP UP VISIBILITY

In September, the Boston Police began to dispatch police on horseback, motorcycles and bicycles to try to curb out-of-control parties. In October, an ordinance was passed that requires liquor stores to report the names and information of all keg-buyers to the Boston Police. Both initiatives were launched in part to curtail underage drinking problems in the city.

CAMPBELL NAMED PROVOST

President Brown and the Board of Trustees named Provost ad interim David Campbell the permanent provost of the university Sept. 22. Campbell previously served as College of Engineering dean.

After taking office the first week of September, Brown said finding a permanent provost would be one of his top priorities.

Campbell told The Daily Free Press in September that he hoped to continue working with the 14 schools within BU to develop the “consensus and shared vision that President Brown wants to see emerge from communications across all levels of the campus.”

EISENBERG NAMED TEMPORARY ENG DEAN

Two weeks after Campbell left his post as College of Engineering dean to become the new provost of the university, he announced that Solomon Eisenberg would serve as ENG dean ad interim. A permanent dean will be appointed in early 2006, Campbell said.

Eisenberg formerly served as the school’s associate dean, where he was active in establishing international programs for ENG students and helped the school achieve new standards established by the Accreditation Board of Engineering Technology.

RIAA CONTINUES CRUSADE

The Recording Industry Association of America sued eight more BU students this semester. These were the second and third rounds of lawsuits to hit BU this year. The RIAA suits targeted college students who used the popular internet service i2hub, which has since been shut down.

Many of the 25 BU students sued last year chose to settle their cases out of court for thousands of dollars.

WBUR-FM APPOINTS NEW GM

In the wake of controversy surrounding the mismanagement of funds, BU’s National Public Radio station, WBUR-FM, appointed Paul LaCamera as the new general manager.

La Camera replaced interim General Manager Peter Fiedler and was approved unanimously by a six-person university selection committee headed by Fiedler as well as a hired executive recruiting firm before his appointment.

SALARY GAP

The results of a salary study presented by the BU Faculty Council in October revealed a pay gap between male and female professors at the university and between professors at BU and at comparable institutions.

Council Chairman Roscoe Giles said the Council began to compile salary data in 2004 to participate in the American Association of University Professors salary survey. An official report of the BU study’s results will be completed by early 2006, Giles said. In the meantime, Brown and Campbell announced they would make an investigation into the survey results a top priority.

ABUSE COMPLAINT AGAINST BU PROF.

Two 20-year-old twins filed a lawsuit Nov. 14 against BU professor Rev. Lucien Richard alleging sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The complaint also said Richard did not acknowledge the twins as his daughters.

Richard, a University Professors Program professor, works for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Lowell, which was also named in the complaint.

CONGRESS CUTS

The U.S. Congress proposed billions of dollars in federal financial aid cuts, prompting outcry from students’ rights groups. The Senate bill that passed cut $10 billion and the House would cut an additional $14 billion.

Students said they were worried about the funding, because many rely on financial aid to attend BU.

STUDENT DIES SUDDENLY

School of Management junior Andrew Lawrence died in his apartment Nov. 18 of unknown causes. He was 20. Lawrence was found in his bathroom by girlfriend Ida Teberian, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore.

According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office spokesman David Procopio the autopsy has not been completed yet and further test results are pending.

SMG classmates remembered Lawrence as a person with a “big heart” who “picked up books, opened doors and gave up his chair” for people and was devoted to his girlfriend, whom he had been dating since high school.

ARCHIVAL CENTER FOUNDER DIES

Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center founder Howard Gotlieb died Dec. 1 after complications following surgery. He was 79.

Gotlieb began working with the university’s Special Collections in 1963 and the Center was named after him in October 2003 for its 40th anniversary. The Center houses the archives of important figures in history, mostly focusing on contemporary celebrities of the last century like Dan Rather and, most recently, Mary Louise Parker.