The Brothers Bulger

As the Massachusetts state college system starts its academic year, it will be dealing with some crippling losses—sharp budget cuts that include reduced support for community colleges. But there is at least one reduction that will actually provide a boost to the university: the loss of William M. Bulger as its president.

Bulger’s resignation is long overdue and will finally free the University of Massachusetts from the controversy and ill-repute that he brought to bear on his school. While Bulger’s tenure at the helm of UMass is not without its significant accomplishments—he oversaw increases in both academic standards and funding levels—it was all too often overshadowed by Bulger’s personal choices to shield his fugitive brother from justice.

As the leader of UMass and a former Massachusetts Senate President, William Bulger was one of the most powerful figures in state government—which left him in a unique position to represent the university’s interests at the State House. He was also the brother of notorious New England mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, one of the FBI’s ten most wanted. The Bulger family’s seeming dichotomy of public figure and public fugitive was a motif that often left William to play the part of the innocent “good brother.” But the reality was far more complicated, with the former UMass president seeming to prevent law enforcement from capturing his brother.

William Bulger’s embarrassingly evasive testimony before the U.S. House’s Government Reform Committee illustrated the root of the problem. When asked if he would want to see his brother brought to justice, Bulger could not answer in the affirmative. His numerous obfuscations and reliance on “memory lapses” in response to legitimate questions about contact with his brother—and steps taken to aid Whitey’s continued escape—were all too emblematic of his continued flouting of the law. Familial loyalty is an admirable quality in many cases, but when it crosses the line to endangering public safety, allowing a cold-blooded multiple murderer to roam free from justice, it causes a a lapse in public confidence in government and in its officials.

As the leader of a university that has the goal of educating the next generations of Massachusetts citizens to be morally mature members of the Commonwealth, William Bulger could not provide a role model as long as he created an environment of questionable dealings and apparent corruption. His departure will allow the university to concentrate again on the business of education.

And while Governor W. Mitt Romney’s efforts to oust Bulger, however clumsy, seem to have borne fruit, Romney’s real test is whether he cares enough about the university to appoint a replacement with the qualifications and funding support to get UMass back on track.