Group Asks For Removal Of Silber

Spurred by what they see as disdain for faculty rights, 25 Boston University (B.U.) professors have formed a committee seeking to oust B.U. President John R. Silber.

The group, named the Committee To Save B.U., is gathering petitition signatures for a special meeting of the faculty. Frances Fox Piven, B.U. professor of political science and an organizer of the committee, said yesterday. A resolution calling for Silber's resignation will be presented at the faculty meeting, Piven said.

Organizers said they formed the committee after Silber repeatedly violated faculty rights. They charged him with bending the meaning of the faculty contract, denying salary increases to his critics, intimidating professors, ignoring faculty advice in making decisions, and creating bad conditions for the university's secretaries and librarians.

The committee is not now officially allied with unions for the faculty or clerical workers, but Piven said she expected the committee to receive support from students and employees.

Robert C. Bergenheim, B.U. vice president for labor and public relations, sharply denied Friday that the administration ignored faculty rights or bent the contract. But he said that the administration is "testing" various clauses in the contract, adding that the faculty union too is testing the contract and that such a process is normal during the first year of a contract.

"The name of that committee is a misnomer," said Bergenheim. "Actually it's a committee to destroy B.U.--they have no idea of saving it," he added.

Bergenheim said the university trustees--who alone have the power to hire and fire the president--would not consider firing Silber because Silber's critics are only a small but vocal minority at B.U.

Bergenheim, who was a trustee until last spring, said most of the trustees support Silber and his policies.

Silber has been extremely controversial at B.U. because of charges that he ignores the rights of students, staff, and faculty. In the spring of 1976 he survived an effort by a majority of the university's deans and professors to fire him, and today he is generally regarded as entrenched as university president.

Piven said the committee was encountering difficulty in gathering signatures because of fear of reprisals. Junior professors fear losing their jobs and senior professors worry about being denied salary increases and sabbaticals, she said