No good deed ...(Boston University's John Silber's compensation)

Historical revisionism, AKA lying about the past, seems to be a popular sport these days. Consider The New York Times. "All the news that's fit to print" says its famous motto. But is what our paper of record prints really news, i.e., things that actually happened? Take the recent article about John Silber, the former president of Boston University. The Times regularly ran hostile pieces about Mr. Silber when he was president of B.U., and they continued the practice throughout his years as Chancellor of the university and, now, as president emeritus. After all, Mr. Silber had the temerity to take a moribund, near-bankrupt institution and transform it into a thriving university. He vastly raised intellectual standards, among professors as well as students. Unforgivably, he insisted that the primary purpose of a university was not to pursue an antinomian, counter-cultural agenda but to educate students.

Absent Mr. Silber's active involvement in the affairs of B.U., the university has been slipping quietly back to sclerotic mediocrity and adherence to politically correct platitudes. So it is no surprise that the current university administration has been furiously distancing itself from Mr. Silber and his legacy of excellence. The latest evidence of this was in a May 10 story in the Times. "Boston U. Gave Ex-Chief $6.1 Million, Officials Disclose" screamed the headline. The story began thus: "Officials at Boston University disclosed yesterday that the institution's long-term president and chancellor, John R. Silber, collected $6.1 million last year, two years after he stepped down as leader. The money includes $3.3 million in deferred compensation from the 32 years that Dr. Silber worked at the ...