The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) is the latest group to write a letter to the Boston University Board of Trustees, asking for the board to instruct Chancellor John Silber to reinstate the BU Academy Gay-Straight Alliance.
The letter implores the members of the board to make sure the academy remains tolerant of all students and questions the motives of Silber.
“As Trustees of Boston University, it is your responsibility to maintain the quality of all programs at BU and the academic experience of all its students,” the letter reads. “Dr. Silber’s disbanding of the GSA, when combined with his consistent homophobic, sexist and racist remarks, show that he is not interested in giving everyone the same opportunity for a nurturing educational environment.
“Supporting Dr. Silber’s demands regarding BU Academy’s GSA runs counter to the job with which you were entrusted,” the letter continues.
The members of the organization decided to write the letter to the Board of Trustees after being “horrified from the comments we were reading in the press,” according to Melissa Walsh, the co-president of the Massachusetts Chapter of NOW.
“We sat around a table and talked about what he was saying and the tales he was spinning — they were so dangerous,” Walsh said. “The original draft of the letter was written by a BU alumna who’s a member of the board.”
The writer of the original draft, NOW VP of Action Terri Febo, said she was “sad” to see the chancellor of her alma mater acting in such a way.
“BU is a great school,” Febo said. “But a lot of the things John Silber does doesn’t reflect well on what the students are really all about.”
Febo said the letter was written to the Board of Trustees to inform the members of the actions of the chancellor and how they were being perceived across the state.
“We basically wanted to let the Board know the GSA isn’t about encouraging sex,” Febo said. “[It is there] to make them feel safe and to encourage other people to make them feel welcome.”
Walsh said NOW was upset by the cut and the danger students would face because of it. She called Silber’s comments regarding the GSA “extremely dangerous.”
“It has resulted in the breakdown of the GSA at BUA,” Walsh said. “The GSA was thriving at the academy and doing a lot of good. Now to have it torn down because of somebody’s ignorance — this is something we’d like to see remedied.”
While NOW represents women’s issues on a national level, Walsh said Silber’s comments against women were not a main objective they had in mind when writing the letter to the board. However, she said she felt the comments were related.
“I don’t think they are apart from his ignorance that where he is talking about the GSA seems to carry over with the notions he has asserted about women, particularly those present on the BU campus,” Walsh said. “They’re both extremely important issues and coming from the same sense of disconnectedness. Clearly the problems BU will face as a result of keeping him in a leadership position have been indicated by the comments he has made.”
Walsh said the organization’s ultimate goal in writing to the Board of Trustees was not to ask for Silber’s resignation, but to reinstate the GSA.
“We hope the trustees will look at what is going on and their own evidence from the GSA at the academy and all over the country,” Walsh said. “They’ll realize the most important thing to do and the safest thing to do is reinstate the GSA.”
However, if Silber was unwilling to compromise, Walsh said asking for Silber’s resignation would be something for the board to consider.
“I hope they’ll take his comments very seriously, and force a resignation from him,” Walsh said.
Walsh added she hoped the Board of Trustees would respond “as a courtesy.”
“We’re very disappointed from the lack of response we’ve seen from the Board of Trustees to either rebut the statements Silber has been making or say that his comments do reflect the notions asserted by the entire university,” Walsh said.