The following is a timeline of some – but not all – of the important events involving former President Jon Westling, based on the most current happenings and archives of Associated Press Wire reports.
June 1, 1996 – Jon Westling, the former provost and protege of John Silber, becomes Boston University’s eighth president. Westling raked in $331,000 in 1996. But he fully arrived as president when he moved into a BU-funded, multi-million dollar mansion in Brookline. Westling’s free accomodations include 16 rooms, eight full baths, and four fireplaces.
April 1997 – Westling is at the center of a lawsuit filed by learning disability advocates, charging that the University violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by toughening the University’s once-lenient policy toward disabled students. Students said BU should have continued giving them special treatment and exemptions from some required courses, such as foreign languages. The original case was filed in 1996 by Elizabeth Gluckensberger, a School of Law Student, and nine others, but later expanded into a class-action suit on behalf of hundreds of students diagnosed with learning disabilities. Gluckensberger testified that a crackdown spearheaded by Westling forced her to spend hundreds of dollars to confirm she suffered from already diagnosed conditions. Westling drew fire during the case when he testified that he had made up a story about a student, who he dubbed “somnolent Samantha” — to illustrate how demands by learning-disabled students have gone too far.
August 1997 – A federal judge lambastes BU and Westling for abandoning their support for learning-disabled students. The court holds the University violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by enacting stringent rules for accommodating students. The University is ordered to pay about $30,000 to each of six students who were denied special treatment.
October 1997 – On behalf of BU, Westling files a lawsuit against Internet term-paper companies. Frustrated by growing access to online cheat sheets and plagiarized term papers, BU’s action came after administrators posed as students seeking to buy a term paper.
February 1997 – BU receives an unprecedented boon to its biomedical research when a New York biotechnology company moves its research-and-development operations to Boston University. American Biogenetic Sciences moved to BioSquare, the 16-acre Boston University Medical Center facility, dramatically increasing the resources for the BUMC.
June 1997 – In an effort to boost BU’s global persona, the University opened its $80 million Center for Photonics, the nine-story building that houses classrooms and research facilities, and functions as an incubator for new companies that BU invests in. The University won a $16 million grant from the Defense Department for the building and $13 million for equipment.
April 1998 – Westling announces plans for BioSquare II, a $45 million, 160,000-square-foot facility within the Boston University Medical Center on Albany Street in the South End. The BioSquare project – a partnership between BU and the BUMC – began in 1993 with the $65 million Center for Advanced Biomedical Research.
May 1998 – In the final chapter of a case that put a national spotlight on BU, a federal judge rules that BU did not have to allow liberal arts undergrads with learning disabilities to forego a two-year foreign-language requirement. The ruling resolved the last remaining issue of a lawsuit filed by students with learning disabilities.
February 2000 – Westling announces the establishment of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the study of the Longer-Range Future, funded by an alumnus. The Center brings together scientists and experts to predict the specific shape society will take on in 35 to 200 years – beyond the periods traditionally studied by universities and research organizations, Westling says.
September 2000 – The first phase of a massive plan to infuse the BU armory area with housing and state-of-the-art recreation facilities, the Student Village Apartments at 10 Buick St. opened, adding more that 800 campus beds for BU students. The $83 million complex, with views of Boston and the Charles river, was at the request of Mayor Thomas M. Menino and housing activists, who say BU students hog the housing market.
November 2000 – In a move that shocked BU students for its unparalleled emphasis on fun, Westling announces that the political poet and songwriter Bob Dylan would perform at BU’s Armory in a private show for 4,500 students. The performance sold out and Westling, along with students, grooved to the tunes of the legendary folk-rocker.
March 2001 – Westling tries to keep quiet that a prominent BU dean had been forced to retire after allegations of “inappropriate conduct.” Pressed by the Free Press, BU later releases a statement affirming the opposite – that Robert Watts Thornburg’s exit was prompted by “inappropriate conduct,” the details of which have never been specified or obtained. The former dean of Marsh Chapel was beloved by students, but after allegations of inappropriate conduct, Westling reportedly asked him to resign. The news shocked and upset students, many of whom found Thornburg a mentor.
August 2001 – Westling announces that BU will spend $32 million to elevate the University’s biomedical engineering program to the forefront of the field. After receiving a $14 million grant from the Whitaker Foundation, Westling says the award – one of the largest in University history – will fund research in cellular and subcellular bioengineering, protein and genomics engineering and physiological systems dynamics.
May 2001 – Westling rejects a student body proposal to amend the nondiscrimination policy to include the phrase “sexual orientation.” Spectrum, a campus activist group, received an eight-page letter from Westling detailing his response. An ongoing campus controversy for more than 20 years, this was not the first time the idea was shot down by the administration. The proposed change would have to be approved by the Board of Trustees.
November 2001 – It is reported that Westling makes twice as much as the average college president. His salary for 2000 was $422,384, compared to the average private college president’s salary of $207,130, according to a survey conducted by the weekly Chronicle of Higher Education.
March 2002 – Student leaders deliver to Westling a 50-page proposal to loosen BU’s strict dorm guest rules. The long-maligned Guest Policy became the center of campus controversy, and for the first time in recent memory, Westling seemed to indicate that change was not impossible, offering student activists a glimmer of hope. Silber, on the other hand, publicly decried any change to the policy through a letter to the Free Press that cited students’ chronic tendency toward exibitionist sex as the reason the Guest Policy would stand.
May 2002 – Westling delivers the commencement address at what students did not know was his final one as president. After it was announced that Westling would deliver the speech — traditionally given by a high-profile outsider — students erupted in protest. Online and written petitions circulated over the decision to feature Westling. This was not the first time the president of BU had been protested as commencement speaker – just before now-Interim President John Silber stepped down in 1996, students rallied against the decision to allow Silber to speak for the second year in a row.
July 2002 – Westling resigns.
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