| John Robert Silber | |
|---|---|
| 7th President of Boston University | |
| Term | 1971 – 1996 |
| Predecessor | Arland F. Christ-Janer |
| Successor | Jon Westling |
| Born | August 15, 1926 San Antonio, Texas |
| Alma mater | Trinity University |
| Spouse | Kathryn Underwood |
John Robert Silber (born August 15, 1926) is an American academician and former candidate for public office. From 1971 to 1996 he was President of Boston University and from 1996 to 2003 Chancellor of the University. Since 2003 he has been its President Emeritus. In 1990, Silber took a leave of absence from the University to run for political office. He won the Democratic primary as candidate for governor of Massachusetts in the 1990 election. He lost the general election to the moderate Republican William Weld, who won by 38,000 votes[1].
Silber was trained in and taught philosophy. He has written two books. The first, Straight Shooting, is a social, political, and moral commentary on issues in that impact modern American life. The second, Architecture of the Absurd is a 128-page assessment of the work of contemporary iconic architects.
Contents |
John Silber was born in San Antonio, Texas,[2] the second son of Paul G. Silber, a German Jewish immigrant architect,[3] and Jewell Joslin Silber, an elementary school teacher. His father's architectural practice collapsed[4] during the Great Depression.
At Trinity University in San Antonio, Silber double-majored in fine arts and philosophy[5]. In the fall of 1943, as a freshman at Trinity, he met a sophomore named Kathryn Underwood, daughter of farmers from Normanna, Texas. The couple were engaged in January 1946 and married on July 12, 1947. Silber graduated summa cum laude from Trinity in June 1947 and married Miss Underwood on July 12, 1947, shortly after graduation. They had eight children, one son and six daughters by birth and one son by adoption. Their first-born son and daughter were born before 1955. Five more daughters were born over the next eleven years.[6] Their first-born son, David Silber,[7] died of AIDS at age 41 at their home in December 1994.[4][8]
Silber received his M.A. in 1952 and worked first as a teaching assistant and then as an instructor while pursuing a doctoral degree. Peter H. Hare, Philosophy Professor Emeritus, at SUNY State University of New York at Buffalo remembers Silber as a teaching assistant at Yale in the mid-1950s while Hare was still an undergraduate. Hare wrote, "George Schrader was the lecturer in the introductory course where John Silber was the TA leading my discussion section. Silber, a rabid Kantian, was the person with whom I had my first heated philosophical arguments as an adult.[9]"
Silber's first faculty job was at University of Texas at Austin where he chaired the Philosophy department from 1962-1967. Larry Hickman, Director, Center for Dewey Studies, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale recalls his time as a student in philosophy at UT. "The department chairs during those years, John Silber and Irwin C. Lieb, were busy using Texas oil money to collect the very best faculty and graduate students they could find.[10]"
While at UT Silber founded the Texas society to abolish capital punishment.[11]
In 1967, Silber became Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UT. Three years later, in a widely publicized firing, Silber was removed as Dean in 1970 by the strong-willed UT Regents Chairman Frank Craig Erwin, Jr..
Although Erwin was supported by most of the legislature, he had a tempestuous relationship with many members of the university faculty. His hands-on style of leadership led to conflicts with those professors who considered the academy to be their jurisdiction. The conflict culminated with the firing in July 1970 of Dean John Silber of the College of Arts and Sciences, who had led the opposition to a proposed splitting of his college into two. The dismissal was perceived by many as politically motivated, since Silber's growing popularity was often considered a threat to the regents' control of the university. After the dismissal, several notable professors fled the university.[12]
Silber left the University of Texas at Austin in 1971.
Silber became the seventh president of Boston University in 1971, and in 1996 was named chancellor after stepping down as president. With an annual salary that reached $800,000, Silber ranked as one of the highest paid college presidents in the country. That same year he was appointed by William Weld to serve as head of the Massachusetts Board of Education.
Under Silber, Boston University increased in size but questions about his leadership style caused splits among faculty and alumni. According to Perspectives Online, the publication of the American Historical Association, Fritz K. Ringer held the presidency of the Boston University chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) for eight years. "Serving at a time when the BU president (Silber) was running roughshod over faculty rights, Fritz Ringer bravely and vigorously championed the principles of academic freedom."[13] [14]
He remained president until 1989, when he took a leave of absence to run for governor of Massachusetts as a Democrat. He returned to BU after losing to William Weld.
In 2002, Silber ordered that a B.U.-affiliated high school academy disband its gay-straight alliance, a student club that staged demonstrations to publicize the deleterious effects of homophobia. Silber dismissed the stated purpose of the club -- to serve as a support group for gay students and to promote tolerance and understanding between gay and straight students -- accusing the club of being a vehicle for "homosexual recruitment." Silber denounced the group for "evangelism" and "homosexual militancy" with the purpose of promoting gay sex.[15]
Among Silber's recruits to the Boston University faculty were the author Saul Bellow and Elie Wiesel, writer and concentration camp survivor. Silber possessed special sensitivity toward Jewish people, which was heightened while he was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Bonn, West Germany. It was there he learned his father's side of the family was Jewish and that his aunt had been killed at Auschwitz. His father had never said anything about it.
The 1970s marked a period of constant tension at Boston University. The president accused the faculty of mediocrity and the students of fostering anarchy, and they, in turn, accused him of tyrannical rule. Essentially, in response to the Silber administration, the faculty organized a union in 1974 and the following year voted to affiliate with the American Association of University Professors. The administration would not negotiate with the union, and in 1976 the refusal was challenged in a lawsuit. Two-thirds of the faculty and deans demanded the board of trustees fire Silber. The board refused. In 1978 the courts decided in favor of the AAUP position and Boston University was forced to negotiate. The faculty conducted a brief strike in 1979 which was followed by a clerical workers' walkout in which several faculty members refused to cross the picket line. Silber charged five of these faculty members with negligence and moved to have them disciplined. At that point faculty members throughout Boston signed a petition to have Silber removed. In 1984 the courts ruled that the local AAUP chapter could not engage in collective bargaining.
On May 10, 2006, the New York Times reported that the trustees of Boston University had given Silber an unprecedented compensation package, including deferred compensation, worth $6.1 million in 2005.[16]
During his tenure as President, $85 million, nearly one fifth of the Boston University endowment, was invested in a biotechnology company named Seragen. Investments continued, even after a rebuke from state regulators because of the risk involved. The bulk of the investment was lost when the Seragen stock collapsed. [17][18]
Silber was the first person to chair the Texas Society to Abolish Capital Punishment. He advocated integration at the University of Texas and promoted Operation Head Start, an early education program for preschoolers.
In 1990 Silber ran for Governor of Massachusetts as a Democrat. His outsider status as well as his outspoken and combative style were at first seen as advantages in a year in which voters were disenchanted with the Democratic Party establishment. As the Democratic nominee, Silber faced Republican William Weld. Silber's angry personality, which appalled many voters, coupled with Weld's socially liberal views helped Weld in the race. During the gubernatorial race, Silber regularly overreacted to questions from the press. These overreactions came to be known as "Silber shockers". On the campaign trail he called Massachusetts a "welfare magnet" and proposed cutting off benefits for unmarried mothers who have a second child while still on public aid. He questioned saving the lives of terminally ill elderly people, quoting Shakespeare and saying that "when you've had a long life and you're ripe, then it's time to go." He said that the feminist Gloria Steinem, the black Muslim leader, Louis Farrakhan, and white supremacists are "the kind of people I wouldn't appoint as judges."[19] In a key interview late in the campaign, Silber was asked by WCVB-TV newscaster Natalie Jacobson to name his weaknesses, and he lost his composure and snarled back that finding his weaknesses was her job, and he did not need to list them for her. After this performance, Silber's poll numbers declined rapidly. Ultimately, Weld was able to hold on to a significant portion of the Republican base while appealing to large numbers of Democrats and left-of-center independents, enabling him to defeat Silber by four points. Weld became the first Republican to serve as governor since 1974.[20]
Silber wrote two books. Straight Shooting: What's wrong with America and How to Fix It (Harper & Row, 1989), and Architecture of the Absurd: How "Genius" Disfigured a Practical Art (Quantuck Lane, 2007).
Straight Shooting is part autobiography and partly a statement of Silber's concern that the United States has experienced a decline in moral and spiritual values traceable to excessive avarice and materialism. He also faults society with excessive reliance on litigation to settle disputes.
Architecture of the Absurd discusses Silber's view that certain celebrity architects frequently fail to meet the needs of their clients because they consider themselves primarily sculptors and do not adequately consider financial constraints, the physical needs of building occupants or the urban environment. He is critical of architects Josep Lluís Sert, Le Corbusier, Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind and Steven Holl.[21] One example cited by Silber is Le Corbusier's megalomaniacal 1930s plan for Algiers, which called for the demolition of the entire city. A more recent example is Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall which, before it was modified at additional expense, made rooms of nearby condominiums unbearably warm causing their air-conditioning costs to skyrocket and created hot spots on adjacent sidewalks of as much as 140 degrees Fahrenheit.[22]
In 1976, BU published a 32-page article by Silber called "Democracy: Its Counterfeits and Its Promise". Other of his articles have been published in Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Review and Kant-Studien where he served as editor.
On May 14, 2008, the City of Boston renamed Sherborn St., which bisects the main Boston University Campus from Commonwealth Ave. through Bay State Rd. ending at Back St., "John R. Silber Way." Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said the new name for Sherborn St. was "fitting" as an honor for Silber. "Was there any other way?" Menino quipped, referring to Silber's four decades of influence on the B.U. campus.[23]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Arland F. Christ-Janer |
7th President of Boston University 1971–1996 |
Succeeded by Jon Westling |
| Preceded by Jon Westling |
President Ad Interim of Boston University 2002–1996 |
Succeeded by Aram Chobanian (President Ad Interim) |
| Preceded by |
Chancellor of Boston University 1996 - 2003 |
Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Michael Dukakis |
Massachusetts Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate 1990 (lost) |
Succeeded by Mark Roosevelt |