I (or perhaps a Givotian stooge entrepreneur, he realizes before If luck is with us, these charges such as Steve Dasbach, post- the other that the Party’s over, will serve as a successful pre- man from Indiana) will run for thMassachusetts politics. a drive for Nancy Lord for that the time has come to follow In the first place, unlike most President in ’96. (Only in the the Indian hustler Russell academics, Silber has been Libertarian Party does a rotten Means into other and greener making out like a bandit at BU, race by a presidential ticket pastures. Maybe some day the although, as the New York Times automatically set up the failed rest of the party will absorb the (Feb. 9) coyly adds, the ”news Vice-president for a promotion same lesson. articles have produced no clear four years hence.) The opposi- evidence of illegality by Dr. tion will coalesce either around Silber.” Thus, Silber earned a Mary Gingell for reelection, or total in 1991 of $414,715 in for one of her henchpeople to salary and bonuses from this succeed her. Other factions may John Silber: nonprofit institution of higher well surface. A combination of Doing Well Doing learning. And that’s only the ideological split and personal cash payout, For over the years, enmity should set up condi- Neocon Good BU has granted him $638,000 in tions for a doozy of a schism By ”loans” at little or no interest, after Salt Lake, with the losers M.N.R. including an interest-free loan walking out, and the Party Neocons, armed with lots of of $138,921 to buy a posh resi- shattering to smithereens. foundation money and media dence from the university itself The crazy thing is that, if he support, keep four favorite poli- at below-market cost. In addi- wanted to, the scam artist Andre ticians in their stable. Three are tion to this “loan”-purchase, Marrou could come roaring back the stiff, droning Jack Kemp; Silber lives in yet another uni- to Take It All. For even though the thuggish Bill Bennett; and versity-owned mansion, and all the party elite are thoroughly the airhead Danny Quayle. enjoys the services of a BU- disillusioned with Andre, the Perhaps the least prepossess- supplied car and chauffeur. On news about Andre was careful- ing of this grisly crew is dour, top of all that, every five years ly kept from the party rank- prickly John Silber, president of BU grants Dr. Silber a year’s ex- and-file, who may still be walk- Boston University [BU]. Silber, tra salary, as an alleged “leave ing around worshiping Andre who has been riding herd on benefit” or sabbatical, although and blaming the electoral di- Boston University for over two Silber never actually took a saster on Perot. But Andre, for decades, was the Democratic leave until six years ago. some reason best known to nominee for governor of Mas- But Silber profited in still himself, saved the bacon of the sachusetts in 1990, losing to other ways from his university various elite factions by an- William Weld, now the darling post. BU granted Silber permis- nouncing shortly after Election of the Republican Left and, as sion to acquire stock options in Day, his permanent retirement a biggie in the new Kempian Seradyn, hic., a medical research from the LP political scene. It is front, Empower America, pre- company owned by the univer- reported that, on hearing the sumably in the Kemp camp for sity. Some records seem to news at a Farewell-to-Andre 1996. (Those neocons will get show that BU subsequently dinner, Steve Givot rushed to you coming or going.) Silber, loaned Silber the money to buy the men’s room to dance a jig of gearing up for a rerun in 1994 Seradyn stock, upon which he joy. But Steve may have cele- (you can’t keep a bad man made a profit of $386,700 in brated too soon. Andre, after down!), is being rocked by a 1989. Silher, however, denies all, is a shrewd cookie to have series of charges and disclo- borrowing the money or buy- come all this way on nothing sures in the Boston press (in the ing the stock. but hot air. Maybe he’s leaving conservative Boston Herald as More damaging to John Sil- because as a keen scamster- well the left-liberal Boston Globe). ber’s reputation is a considerable 18 March1993 amount of what looks like hanky- problem here is that this same General, L. Scott Harshbarger, panky with BU’s trustees. Eco- firm has received more than is not only himself an adjunct nomic theory tells us that, in a $400,000 a year over the past professor of law at BU, but may non-profit organizationlacking several years for accounting and also run against Silber for the owners or stockholders, the or- auditing work from the univer- Democratic nomination for ganization’s revenue will tend sity. Furthermore, Coopers & governor next year. to be siphoned off in uneco- Lybrand managing partner in Regardless of the outcome of nomic and quasi-crooked ways Boston, Frank A. Doyle, was a this investigation, the political to the managers and trustees. fund-raiser for Silber’s failed pot is boiling in Massachusetts, Since trustees and managers gubernatorial bid in 1990. and John Silber may get singed. own no capital and can make It is instructiveto see the way As the Zoe Baird caper demon- no profits, they don’t have to in which BU spokesmen reply strated, you don’t have to be worry about maximizing profits; to these damning conflict-of- actually indicted to become a they enjoy a very wide zone for interest charges. After first political has-been. inefficiency and hanky-panky pointing out that the university which cannot exist in profit- has a ”strict conflict-of-interest making firms. The non-profit policy,” they say, about Coopers outfit need not even care much & Lybrand, “When you hire Race and Reality about losses, short of bankrupt- them, you are buying their in- by Samuel Francis cy, and even bankruptcy doesn‘t dependence.” Huh? Eh, what? affect the trustees’ personal As for Frank Doyle and his About ten years ago, I recall, assets. When the New Left in- fund-raising effort, says BU, I had a conversation with a vaded the offices of Columbia “An individual is free to exer- friend of mine, a prominent University during the student cise his right to conservative jour- riots of the late 1960s, they dis- support a candi- nalist and editor, covered some interesting pec- date.” Well sure, who told me he cadilloes by Columbia and its but so what? believed the trustees: one trustee, a well- As for conflict- United States known building contractor, of-interest charges had essentially would get the contracts to con- and the powerful solved its racial struct the university’s build- trustees, BU dou- problems. The ings, another would get the job bletalk continues: dislocations caus- of banker or insurer for that ”We recruit trust- ed by the civil builder, and so on. ees precisely be- rights movement, At Boston University, Dr. cause they are the black nation- Silber seems to have showered leaders in their alism of the lucrative contracts upon trustees professions, and 1960~~and the who, in particular, are members so on occasion we riots of that era of the five-man executive com- do use law firms were over, he mittee on compensation that that have mem- argued, and now votes on Silber’s extravagant bers who are on all that remained pay. Thus, BU paid $246,730 to the board of trust- was for blacks to a law firm headed by Edward ees.” Yea, sure. scamper up the Masterman, a member of this Dr. Silber and ladder of econom- executive committee. In addi- Boston University ic and political tion, Silber has asked the well- are now undergoing a continu- opportunity. The welfare state known accounting firm of ing investigationby the Massa- and liberal civil rights policies, Coopers & Lybrand to conduct chusetts Attorney-General’s he thought, were the principal an independent audit of all the office. Complicating the issue obstacles preventing blacks charges against him. But the is the fact that the Attorney- from making the ascent. 19 March 1993