Former Boston University President John Silber will donate $1 million to the College of Fine Arts, he announced Friday night at a gala held in his honor at Metcalf Hall, following announcements from politicians and university administrators who said they will rename a campus street and administrative offices in his name.
Silber’s announcement came at the end of a four-hour tribute to the former president credited with transforming BU from a commuter school into the research institution it is today. Silber served as president from 1971 to 1996 and as chancellor from 1996 to 2003. In 1990, he interrupted his presidential term and waged an unsuccessful campaign for governor after winning the Democratic nomination.
“Kathryn and I spoke long about what we would do at the end of our tenure at Boston University, after the passage of years, when we reached a point where we could afford to consider what we would do at the university,” Silber said, referring to his late wife, Kathryn Silber, who died in 2005.
Mayor Thomas Menino, hailing Silber for advancing education in Boston, proclaimed April 13, 2007 “John Silber Day” and said he is giving the name Dr. John R. Silber Way to the current Sherborn Street, where the offices of the president and other top administrators are housed.
BU administrators also announced they renamed the top three floors of the School of Management, where the top administrative offices are held, for Silber and his late wife. The university has also created a chair position in the philosophy department for Silber, who is recognized as a distinguished expert on the works of Immanuel Kant.
“It’s in my power to do this, John,” Menino said while presenting a street sign to Silber with his name on it in front of more than 900 guests in attendance.
BU President Robert Brown, who celebrated his presidential inauguration last April, attributed the controversial president’s ability to transform BU from a commuter school into a distinguished research institution to his “sense of urgency.”
“John also, in addition to the broad picture, has the power to look into the heart of an individual,” said author Tom Wolfe.
In addition to the series of speeches, video presentations from Silber’s former friends and past co-workers, including former President George H.W. Bush, actress Angela Lansbury, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and BU professor and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel were shown throughout dinner.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
