The fifth and final installment of an interview with Boston University Chancellor John Silber that staff writers Jessica Warren and Bill Yelenak conducted on Oct. 18. BU spokesman Kevin Carleton was also present.

DFP: Where would you like to see BU go under Dan Goldin?

Silber: Well, I think it should go very well under Dan. I hope he is very successful in terms of enhancing our capacity to raise money so that the ambitious building program that we have on schedule law school, fine arts and performing arts center, Life Science building that’s under construction so it’s not the Life Science building the computer science building, the complete renovation of all of the schools, I mean of all the houses on Bay State Road, the air conditioning of the College of Arts and Sciences and theology buildings, the expansion of that building, the renovation of the law school building after the new law school building is completed. All of those are projects that are of very great importance, and I hope he’s going to have extraordinary success in organizing the effective drives.

I hope that he will succeed in raising the number of endowed professorships, raising the endowment and I think that also he’ll be helpful in ensuring the success of our biocontainment project, which is already, already been we’ve won the competition but we haven’t delivered the goods yet, and I’m sure that his leadership is going to help in doing that. I think he should be very useful and very helpful in terms of our working with the Congress of the United States because of his prior contacts with politicians when he was director of NASA.

DFP: And once you’re done here at BU in November, what would you like to do after you’re done being Chancellor?

Silber:Well, I know what I’m going to be doing. I’m going to be finishing those books that I had to put on the side because of these other activities.

And then I want to do a good deal more sculpture. I have several projects that I haven’t finished. If you go to Metcalf Hall, you may see the bas-relief of Arthur Metcalf. [showing medal] That’s a medal that’s been made of it that we give to the people who win the Metcalf Prize, and I did a large bas-relief of Elie Wiesel. I haven’t finished casting it. I haven’t had time to finish the casting. I majored in fine art when I was in college, and I’ve got a lot of projects in that area that I want to work on. I’m not worried about what I’m going to do.

DFP: And other than being a trustee, will you continue to have any influence on Boston University?

Silber: I would doubt it. I certainly have no intention of interfering with what my successor wants to do.

DFP: And how have you been helping Goldin prepare to take over?

Silber: I provide him as much information as I can about what’s going on, the structure of the place, the organizational charts, the information about requests, a list of the honorary degree authorizations that we have that haven’t been utilized, the people that have been under consideration for the World Leaders Fora.

I developed a lot of studies about the productivity of faculty, the grade distribution in various departments and by various individuals, the utilization of facilities on campus on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays because we don’t have an adequate utilization of classes on Fridays, and as a result we have too damn many students who are coming from Monday to Thursday and taking three day weekends every week, and I’d like to see a stop put to that. I’ve given him some information on the ratio of women to men at Boston University, things like that. Anything that he has asked for, I’ve tried to respond.

DFP: What sort of severance package are you getting from BU?

Silber: I’m not getting a severance package from BU. The only thing I get from BU is what I’ve already earned. I have deferred 40 percent of my compensation for years. It’s reported every year as a part of my salary. It’s, strictly speaking, not a part of my salary in the sense that what I take each month, what I get each month, is not my whole salary because I deferred 40 percent of it. Well, you defer 40 percent of your salary for 30 years, and it adds up to a good deal of money. That’s not a severance package. That’s something that’s already been earned.

And I’ve also earned some sabbaticals that I haven’t been able to take. But I don’t have any financial reward. There’s no golden parachute out there waiting for me. I’ll float down on the basis of what I’ve already earned. Lord, you’re nosy.

DFP: Well, that’s our job.

Silber: Well, that’s okay. That’s a perfectly fair question.

DFP: Thanks very much for coming in here on a Saturday and taking time off to meet with us. I know you’re very busy, especially at Homecoming.

DFP: I really appreciate all the time you gave us here.