John Silber,
former President of Boston University, was an unhappy man. Growing up in Texas with a deformed arm, he endured a lot of mistreatment. His later life was
shadowed by the death of
his son, David, from AIDS at the age of 41. Yet, the former did not help him deal with
the latter because it didn’t teach him sympathy, only bitterness.
His career in
politics was stunted – along with that of Gov. John Connally of Texas - when President
John F. Kennedy was assassinated. An attempt to revive this career was cut short
when, thirty years later, Silber ran for Governor of Massachusetts and lost.
He was meant to hold power, though,
and hold it he did as President of Boston University. John Silber took a
commuter school with shaky finances and made it into a national university with
a large endowment and distinguished visitors among its faculty. In the process,
however, he ended some truly excellent programs, alienated everyone from deans
down to freshmen and became a millionaire in office. What’s more, BU’s relative
position, particularly within the greater Boston area, never changed.
Better than a lot,
but not as good as some. True distinction has always eluded it.
Finally, despite his vaunted
achievements, no one has ever copied John Silber’s methods. Why? Because, as an
academic, he taught Richard III by example. Silber was a smart man, who
wielded his intelligence like a blunt object. A strong man, who traded in pain.
A proud man, who humiliated others. Everything he achieved could have - and has
– been done with far less human cost.
If John Silber has no followers, it’s because no one ever worked
with him, only under him. In the end, he may have taught Ozymandias,
too.
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