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Man who made Boston University what it is today dies at 86

Kevin White, John Silber and John Kenneth Galbraith at Arthur Fiedler's birthday in 1977.  Photo from Boston City Archives.Kevin White, John Silber and John Kenneth Galbraith at Arthur Fiedler's birthday in 1977.

The Globe reports the death of John Silber, the tough-talking Texan who also re-introduced us to the concept of Republican governors.

Photo from Boston City Archives. Posted under this Creative Commons license.

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Comments

he was actually a pretty cool guy in person. Very approachable.

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Have you read the Globe obit?

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What a Great guy and would have made a great Governor

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was gay and I believe died of aids and his father shunned him-shameful!

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That's absolutely false. He was very involved with his son and was devastated for the loss. I worked with him and he tried to keep his personal life personal but losing David was very hard on him and his family.

He pushed BUMC to get funding to do more AIDS research in David's honor but didn't go out of his way to pander to people like you who would think it was only for publicity.

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He lost his son to AIDS and I'm sure he hated AIDS for it. But he hated homosexuals just as much and went out of his way to vilify and oppress them at times as a group.

It is a classic syndrome of a social conservative who hates gays...until someone close to them like their own child comes out. Sometimes they are forced to mature and renege on their past beliefs. But others create a cognitive dissonance in their head that "gays" are bad...but their son, who just happens to be gay, is good. Silber took the latter route.

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Come on Kaz why do you have to go there! Why becuase the man stoon up to NAMBLA which wanted to make its presence felt on college campuses. ALSO 99% of the U.S population is also against NAMBLA. His view on abortion I hate to break it to you also reflect the majority of people in todays socitey. Only 41% of Americans now Categorize themselves as pro- choice an all time low. It has to do with upbringing please do not villify the man for those views some of the most liberal members in the senate are also pro-life.

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This has nothing to do with NAMBLA or abortion. Also, your statistics are meaningless. Polling done using "pro-choice" and "pro-life" as options are so politically loaded as to warp the results substantially depending on which candidate claims which title and what else they've said on abortion and related issues. However, from the exact same Gallup poll that you are headline-quoting, they also stated in their analysis (something you appear to be largely unfamiliar with) that the underlying conceptions and attitudes towards abortion (morality, legality, boundaries, etc.) have remained unchanged even though the labels have radically shifted (and have wildly flip-flopped and settled back into more pro-choice than pro-life once before in 2009 as well).

In fact, most polling agencies don't ask about "pro-life" and "pro-choice" precisely because the results are inaccurate as to be uninterpretable towards people's actual beliefs on abortion.

So, even your non sequiter is nonsense as well.

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I think the point that Adam is begging is that the good president, although personable also ruffled more than a few feathers in his tenure.

I recall an observation made at the time about the Weld/Silber gubernatorial race, "you can vote for a good man with bad ideas, or a bad man with good ideas". I'll leave the reader to fill in the names.

Additionally there's a quote that was attributed to Silber regarding prostitution and drug use in Kenmore Square (back when it still had some character), "I don't understand why people are paying for sex in Kenmore Square, when our Coeds are giving it away for free."

He was too much of a bomb thrower to have been governor, but he was certainly added color to the local landscape.

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He was a man ahead of his time . To think those nutbags in Texas at the John Birch Society turned him into the FBI because of His staunch support of Civil Rights and his opposition to the Death Penalty

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Larry Summers, I'm looking at you while I'm holding my Masters Degree in Applied Mathematics Diploma.

I'm in the process of applying to BU to get a Masters in Education so I can go be a Math teacher in high schools that are under-served and their program and staff are extremely impressive.

I will leave out my thoughts on

  • BU's involvement with the Boston Public Schools
  • coeds giving it away for free
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I understand this is not common today where it's necessary to read between the lines when dealing with almost any politician,corporate or institutional executive or spokesperson.

What he said about Kenmore Square was actually true, if 'mean spirited'. Still true today.

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Is there a quick summary? Good/bad?

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Has both praise and criticism.

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Back in the mid 80's, I was visiting a friend that lived in one of the high rises. Graffiti on an elevator wall said,
"John Silber swins in circles".

I attended school in western MA and had no idea who John Silber was or why he swims in circles.

Years later I was watching the Natalie Jacobson interview with him and it all clicked.

Longest delayed punchline ever.

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I recall the time that The Globe ran an article about Silber with The Short Arm of the Law as a headline, but damned if I can find it in their archives.

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Silber did a lot for BU...and a lot to BU. For that I'm sad and relieved that he's gone.

I guess it's true what he said (when talking, as candidate for Governor, about not being willing to pay for a heart transplant for an 80-year old woman):

"When you've had a long life and you're ripe, then it's time to go."

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I actually worked for Dr. Silber a short time while he was Chancellor and while I can't say it was a good experience, it was memorable, to put it mildly.

I definitely did not agree with all he did or said, he was a brilliant man who allowed no mistake where he stood on matters. I often think about his hatred of Frank Gehry which I share. I can't say as I ever got through my autographed copy of "Straight Shooting" but I thoroughly enjoyed "Architecture of the Absurd".

As for approachable, we were not to address him unless addressed. Also, students (and television personalities) weren't the only people he reduced to tears. On the other hand, his wife was one of the most lovely people I've had the chance to meet.

As polarizing as he was, Dr. Silber remains an important figure in the history of BU and the Commonwealth.

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Silber fascinated me. The Globe article did a good job providing the reasons why he is hated and admired at the same time and sometimes for the same reasons.

I have to love him for his take-no-hostage style to things. The man just bludgeons though everything as long he believes what he is doing is the right idea. The man tells it straight and does not try to do the smile-and-politeness that is common in many of the area he traverse.

But I have to hate him for the very same reasons. The same bluntness alienated many people. That too had consequences for the former school I attended. And Silber is not always right with everything he pushes though, much of that could have been mitigated if he presented more of an open ear.

At the same time, it was his personality that made BU reach where it is now. This is still reflected in the Alumni and current student body culture despite it is years since he is gone. There's a subtle truth of the statement "no interest in intellectual fads, in following propaganda and ideology" quoted in the Globe's article. I can see that very subtly in what BU and the student's actions and events (like what is posted for presentation and traditions that I have a hard time imagine it would fly at BU).

Combine that all and you got one giant enigma. Silber is a man that many cannot like, but must respect. And I don't think he would have it any other way.

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I was walking down Commonwealth Ave. by BU to a Red Sox game. I encountered John Silber in a suit, with a briefcase, and pruning shears stopping to prune some broken branches from a tree in front of a campus building.

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I remember when he came to BU. I was a "coed" back then. He told us, in a packed auditorium, in his first meeting with students, that coming to BU was like coming to the fall of the Roman Empire. Students were hooting and hollering! The guy had cajones, that's for sure!

I held my nose in 1990 and voted for the "bad guy with good ideas" instead of the other way around. I agreed with Silber's ideas on education. No way I could vote for the nice-guy patrician Republican!

But, the one thing, I can't forgive Silber for is his closing of the Nursing School, my alma mater and one of the best nursing schools in the country. There never was a good explanation for it.

RIP, John Silber. What a character!

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That does suck because that's a School every great university should have (in my humble opinion). It would have been great if Nursing could have been integrated with the Medical School and BU Medical Center.

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I know you know, Adam, but wanted to point out to anyone reading this who doesn't know who John Silber was, he was a registered Democrat who won the 1990 Democratic primary for governor of Massachusetts, but lost in the general election to Republican (but more moderate) candidate, William Weld.

I wasn't sure if your "re-introduced us" comment was that he paved the way for Republicans to take control again or that his opinions were more conservative than many Republicans.

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But on the fact he was so cranky and obnoxious that we wound up with Bill Weld, which led to a string of governors ending with ol' Mitt Romney.

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and raise you Jane Swift.

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I did a lot of work for BU back in the day. Their trustees meeting were the bulk of it. They would all come piling in three or four times a year to pay tribute to the great man for making them and the school money. It would always consist of the trustees flying in and getting limos for each one and then they'd have their meeting and then the pilgrimage over to DOCTOR Silber's house for the perfunctory dinner and ass kissing.

My favorite was Earle Cooley, who some may remember as the lead attorney for the Church Of Scientology. A more loathsome man never existed. I only drove Silber once, as he preferred to be driven around by a plainclothes BU police detail. He really wanted to be Governor, but in the end people realized he was too much of an asshole for politics.

I'll never forget one time I asked Howard Zinn about Silber. His reply was, "I never speak ill of the dead".

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I would have preferred to hear what Silber said about Zinn.

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