Throughout Boston University there are many outstanding educators who have not only the acclaim and respect of their peers, but embody the true meanings of “mentor” and “educator” through their fostering of an environment of mutual respect with their students. These men and women not only teach, but challenge us to expand our knowledge base, they support us in our endeavors, and over time they become not just teachers, but friends as well.
John Silber embodies absolutely none of these qualities. The Office of the Chancellor has acted as the antisocial enclave in which Mr. Silber has taken hermitage. Would it be wrong to call Chancellor Silber a, “Mean-spirited and bitter old man, out of touch with the students?” Yes, it would be. However, one of the great lessons we were taught in both life and college is that it is never wrong to speak the truth, and indeed a mean-spirited and bitter old man is exactly what Chancellor Silber has become. At one time it could be said that he had a certain paternalism at the core of his being, yet long ago his fatherly propensities were replaced with a loathsome contempt for the very students he at one time might have sought to protect. No better is this disdain seen than in Chancellor Silber’s many letters to the editor (the recent being no exception). Quickly, Chancellor Silber dispenses a cursory argument about safety of the students, only to turn around and characterize/accuse many in the student body of being sex-crazed children, more interested in exploring their paraphilias than in practicing common human courtesy.
Chancellor Silber, you allow your contempt, your disregard, your utter lack of respect for the students to cloud your judgment and your argument. Indeed, over the course of the years within the pages of this very paper, you sir, have displayed what can best be described as a prejudice towards the many young men and women who attend what is a fine institution; not because of your guidance or leadership, but in spite of it. We have benefited greatly from our time at BU and taken from that institution many lessons about life, friendship, education, and professionalism; lessons which were not taught to us by you sir, but by the advisors, mentors, faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, and fellow alumni of Boston University. We learned these lessons because these men and women respected us and treated us like adults. Their guidance was not that of an iron hand, but one of insight and caution. They shared with us the wisdom of their knowledge and experience and then allowed us to make our own decisions. They knew that college is not only about an education in the classroom, but in life as well. Students enter college at the same time that they enter adulthood and in that time they are expected not only to grow as an intellectual, but as a person. The individuals who make up Boston University knew that mistakes were to be made, but that life is about making those mistakes and learning from them; moreover, they did not automatically assume the worst of us or our judgment as you [Chancellor Silber] do. And while we love BU and the people who gave us so much in our time there, we will not give back to the university so long as you have any say in the direction, control, leadership, or policies of our school.
We say “our school,” Chancellor Silber, because that is what Boston University is. It is a university BY the students, alumni, faculty and staff FOR the students, alumni, faculty and staff. Boston University is not your petty little fiefdom, though it would seem you would like to think so. Chancellor Silber, it has never been about guest policies, cable television, or any of the many things you have lambasted in your frequent tirades. Sir, it has always been about respect. A respect for the students, for the faculty, for the many people who make up the university; a respect that the university presidents and chancellors of other institutions seem to have for their colleagues and charges, but which you unfortunately lack. Your lack of respect for the people of Boston University has ruined your relationship with them; your general loathing and contempt for the men and women of the university is an insult to Boston University and the principles that an institution of higher learning stands for. Do not mistake our words as hatred for you, Mr. Silber, for they are anything but; instead, we pity you because at one time you possibly had great promise, but that promise has gone unfulfilled and all that is left is the man full of spite that we know all too well.
Signed, Karl Wicker CAS ’00 karl.wicker.2000@alum.bu.edu
Soo Young Chong CAS ’01 pontifex_mxms@yahoo.com
Justin Kulesza SMG ’01 jjkulesza@aol.com
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