Incoming President Brands Silber "Paranoid Megalomaniac"<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n The problem, as it has been at BU for the past 32 years, is John Silber, In fact, one of the quintessential Silber moments came when he ran for The next day he lost the election by a narrow margin. The BU community Silber has undoubtedly dragged BU onto the top shelf of American universities, Goldin, realizing what he was taking on, made it clear from the start But as the hour of his departure grew nearer, and as Goldin gradually Well, I’m sure Goldin saw that coming. He went back to the Board "Some board members felt Goldin How delicious! Of course, everybody who has ever had anything to do Goldin knows at this point that he is cooked and seems to be jockeying How much is it going to cost the university? No one knows, but Of course, the last time the faculty stood up to Silber, when they tried latest Incoming President Brands Silber "Paranoid Megalomaniac" If I didn’t actually work for the bastards I would think this is the funniest story to come out of higher education in years. On the eve of his installation, the Board of Trustees … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/silber.gif\")
If
\n I didn’t actually work for the bastards I would think this is the funniest
\n story to come out of higher education in years. On the eve of his
\n installation, the Board of Trustees has withdrawn its support for incoming
\n BU President-in-waiting Daniel Goldin.<\/p>\n
\n the acerbic meritocrat who has ruled the University like his own personal
\n medieval serfdom, while masquerading as a liberal Democrat.<\/p>\n
\n governor as a Dem in 90 and was in position for a slim victory over Bill Weld
\n when, on election eve, in an attempt to make himself appear more "human",
\n he invited TV reporter Natalie Jacobsen into his home to report on Silber
\n and his family relaxing after the hard campaign. Natalie had the temerity
\n to ask him some tough, political questions, and Silber had a meltdown,
\n on camera. He excoriated the poor reporter for "invading his privacy"
\n and "crossing the line" and basically threw her and her camera crew out
\n of his house.<\/p>\n
\n was devastated, realizing that ascending to the Governors mansion was
\n the only way they were going to be rid of the man before the end of the
\n millenium.\n<\/p>\n
\n and deserves credit for that, but sheesh, the guy has been in power for
\n longer than Fidel Castro, and has outlived his usefulness to a similar
\n degree. Like many stellar figures in outmoded institutions, he has come
\n to think of himself and the university inter-changeably, and can’t imagine
\n it having any worthwhile existence apart from him.<\/p>\n
\n that a major University can only have one President, and he was not interested
\n in the position unless he had assurances that Silber would step down
\n from the Chancellorship and resign from the board of trustees. Silber
\n agreed, and was one of Goldin’s big boosters.<\/p>\n
\n revealed his plans to revamp the university and replace many Silber appointees
\n and hires, Silber decided maybe he wanted to stay on the board, and
\n the Executive Committee announced that he was welcome to continue to
\n attend their meetings.<\/p>\n
\n with his "We had a deal" and at this point the Board, all of whom were
\n named by Silber and are to some degree his supporters or
\n sycophants leaked the following juicy nugget to the Boston Globe.<\/p>\n
\n was disrespectful toward Silber, and seemed bent
\n on staking
\n out
\n an inordinate
\n amount of
\n power,
\n according
\n to
\n sources
\n close to the trustees. For example, Goldin told some trustees that he
\n had asked a psychiatrist to analyze Silber, and the psychiatrist concluded
\n that Silber was a "paranoid megalomaniac," according to two
\n sources close to trustees."<\/p>\n
\n with BU KNOWS that Silber is a paranoid megalomaniac, but you can’t SAY
\n it in public if you want to keep your job. Who leaked? That
\n is one of the intriguing aspects of the case.<\/p>\n
\n for a generous consolation prize. Not only did he sign a 5 year
\n contract for $900,000 per (plus house and car and other perks), but
\n he was whining to the Board today that he had already sold his house,
\n transferred his consulting clients to other firms, resigned from various
\n boards to avoid conflicts of interest, and otherwise committed to his
\n sealed deal. It is pretty obvious that he is in the process of extorting
\n as much as possible out of the University for its callous indiscretion.<\/p>\n
\n clearly many millions of dollars, apart from making BU the laughingstock of higher eduation. Meanwhile the professors, who have been told the
\n University is in a financial crisis and that they have to pitch in to
\n buy toner cartridges for the copy machines, and who haven’t gotten a
\n raise in three years, are up in arms. Embarrassed, chagrinned and ashamed
\n to
\n belong to such a blundering bunch of boobies. They are demanding Silber
\n step down.<\/p>\n
\n to form a union back in the 80’s, he fired dozens of them and nipped
\n that little conspiracy in the bud. Hopefully, he has no idea the Dowbrigade
\n is on his payroll.<\/p>\n
\n from the Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"