STAFF EDIT: BU stretches for new heights

It was about time Boston University took an important step toward reaching the upper echelon of academic institutions. Former President Jon Westling’s mid-summer resignation was that very important step — a move to acquire the vision and strength needed to continue and complete BU’s evolution from a backwater commuter school to a nationally recognized and renowned institute of higher learning. Jon Westling was not the man for that job.

In many respects, the entirety of Jon Westling’s presidency was lameduck. Though an apt fundraiser, BU’s former president was unable to articulate a coherent vision for the University’s future and make it known throughout the BU community. He set BU fundraising records yearly but was seldom visible on campus and did little to inform students, parents and faculty of where he was taking the University and how quickly.

Westling, who served as provost before his stint as president, was simply a man promoted from within the BU community, not a national name with the visibility and dynamic ability to guide the University to new levels. His presidency was marked not by new heights, but by the status quo.

Regardless of the widely debated reasons for his resignation, it was well timed and suitably accomplished. The break was painless and quick. Westling’s resignation was handled in the middle of the summer, leaving little room for campus and community controversy and, in typical BU fashion, out of the way of media scrutiny. The clean and speedy break will allow BU to turn the page quickly and begin a new chapter in the University’s history.

The choice of John Silber as interim president was also a smart one. With 25 years as president and six years as chancellor behind him, Silber is a man who intimately knows the University inside and out. He has been to the top of the University and with his own retirement from the BU presidency six years ago, he is clearly a man lacking aspirations for another long-term presidential stint. And, as Silber indicated in his July interview with The Daily Free Press, he will not revert to the pervasive iron-fisted practices of his tenure as president in helping to select Westling’s successor. Silber is temporary, yet familiar, allowing the transition to be relatively seamless.

The timing will allow administrators and trustees to engage in a thorough nationwide search for a new president while not undermining a sitting president’s power. BU officials have one full year to find a replacement in time for the 2003-2004 academic year, making for the most effective timetable for finding a new president and beginning the future.

But now is the time to begin the search for a new president. BU officials cannot afford to wait — with a huge capital improvement project already in the works and more academically prestigious students matriculating and graduating yearly, finishing the presidential transition quickly is important in creating long-lasting stability and a reputation of excellence in all facets of student life at BU. The University’s evolution will be stuck in neutral until an appropriate replacement is found and sworn in.

The search for a new president should also be as public as possible, allowing the entire community to learn about the candidates. The decisions should not be made in a back room, shielded from the community. While new College of Arts and Sciences Dean Jeffery Henderson may be fully qualified to head the school, the five-year search for a new CAS dean was neither fast nor public enough. The trustees will need to work hard over the next year to improve their track record in both regards.

The new president should be a person with the drive and leadership ability allowing him or her to guide an institution as large as BU. Though some of his policies may be objectionable, John Silber had the vision and ability to turn the University around during the 1970s. While the new president should not be John Silber Part II, the trustees should seek out a person with a similarly strong vision for the future of the school. And, like Silber and Harvard’s president, Lawrence Summers, BU’s new president should not be afraid to make mistakes in pushing the University in new directions.

BU has set a standard of paying the school’s president one of the highest salaries of any university president in the country. The trustees should search painstakingly to ensure Westling’s successor will be deserving of the hefty paycheck.

Boston University is at a crossroads. While John Silber’s strong leadership guided BU to national status, work remains to take it to the next level. The University will need a strong, competent, influential leader to get there.