Seeking the North Star: Selected Speeches

When Silber was appointed president of Boston University, it was a "streetcar college," parochial and overshadowed by other, more elite colleges that also sat upon the Charles River. That Silber transformed Boston University into the world-class research university it is today is only further testament to the steadfastness and vision on display in this collection of speeches spanning the years 1971 to 2012. Blessed with a rigorous mind and a strong sense of his place within history, Silber speaks on many of the formative issues and events of the latter half of the 20th century: the student movements, civil rights, Watergate, deconstructionism, liberalism, and educational reform. A Kantian philosopher before he turned to administrative work, Silber was, as Tom Wolfe describes him in his kinetic foreword, a "Stoic who would not assent to what was false and refused to flatter or bleach words." Making as many enemies as he did allies, Silber cut a bold path through his tenure at B.U. and beyond, returning time and again to a fundamental belief that education and traditional family values form the cornerstones of a healthy society. Though his thoughts seem outdated at times, Silber nevertheless comes across as a man of integrity and unwavering principle. (Oct.)