When President E. Gordon Gee visits our newsroom, it’s like Christmas all over again.
Every quarter he comes to present the university’s issues and answer our questions. Every time, our wish list of inquiries grows and becomes even more unwieldy. But you’ll never know how much you can get if you don’t ask, just ask any kid.
For those who haven’t had the privilege of seeing Gee in action, the scenario looks like this: He comes into the room and greets each one of us like we’re his only grandchild, even if he’s never met us. Then we promptly sit down and see how many questions from our wish list we can rattle off in his hourlong visit.
We ask him questions about tuition increases, about rising fees, about the campus shooting last quarter, about the new $118 million Ohio Union. And even though he doesn’t always give us the most provocative answers, he entertains us with a well-honed waltz around questions that led Time Magazine to call him a “thoroughbred politician.” Even if he doesn’t always satisfy us, he always awes us.
Like any family gathering, of course, there’s an occasional moment of frustration, especially when we ask about lawsuits involving OSU. But by the time Gee parts, the family has reconciled and we all agree to do it again next quarter.
I admit, the holiday picture described might not look like the perfect Christmas, but we’re lucky to get it.
Talking to a fellow student journalist at another Big Ten university, I discovered that his newspaper staff also gets to meet with the president every semester — but they don’t get to keep their presents. The president sits down with them and skips the charm and the schmoozing, he cuts right to the chase. He tells them exactly how it is and exactly what’s going on at the university.
But everything is off the record, nothing can go in print.
It’s like showing a kid everything his wildest imagination has dreamed of, then whisking it all away with a laugh. It’s cruel.
Gee isn’t so sadistic. Our presents from Gee aren’t always the most useful when it comes to finding out where the stories are at OSU, but at least they’re fun — and sometimes, when we least expect it, Gee gives us just what we were looking for.
So enjoy looking at our coverage of the meeting and finding out what we asked for this quarter, and what we got in return. And if you think that was fun, just wait until next quarter.
