Editor meets president

By Connor de Bruler
debrulerc@mytjnow.com

I think most people would hate me if I was the president of anything. I actually became the student council president for a year at my middle school. 

I didn’t do a very good job. 

At the end of the last semester, I arranged to sit down and have a talk with the infamous Anthony DiGiorgio, the president of this university. 

I was surprised that he agreed to meet with me. The Johnsonian has always had an admittedly shaky relationship with the administration of this school, and I even tried to rally students into breaking off and creating a quasi-republic/university void of an administrative board last year. 

Any student can have a one-on-one meeting with DiGiorgio. There’s a bit of a waiting list, but it is an option. 

The day of my appointment I stole eight sugar cookies from the waiting room where one of DiGiorgio’s representative’s asked me to make myself comfortable. A secretary saw me and said I didn’t have to hide the cookies, they were there for everyone. 

I didn’t talk to DiGiorgio to confront him on any issues of college spending or government allocations. There’s been enough talk about that. I really just wanted to meet him for the sheer hell of it. 

President DiGiorgio is not a menacing man. He’s easy to talk to and surprisingly soft-spoken.  

I don’t know why, but I had always read a slight tinge of arrogance in his e-mail updates. 

His actual demeanor is very humble. He is a straight-shooter as well, which is something I didn’t expect from a man whose position requires a certain level of character-engineering. 

He isn’t afraid to admit that he enjoys the finer things in life. He has a new computer on his large oaken desk and his office is decorated with Buddhist and Hindu regalia. He also has a Spiderman action figure overseeing his papers and files. He kept the original windows to Tillman Hall for aesthetic purposes, and he assured me that logistics were just as dependent on aesthetics and creativity as literature and photography. 

My initial idea was to ask him a series of ridiculous questions and write a slightly explicative column where I came off more as a shock-monger seeking a cheap thrill from the man in power. 

Instead, I had a very deep and substantive discussion. 

DiGiorgio was once a practicing psychologist and his interests are eclectic. We had a long back-and-forth about Kierkegaard and Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs.” 

All in all, I actually liked him. He’s a nice guy. I’m a very abrasive, sarcastic and all-around cynical person-even I liked being in the room with him. 

Many people have low opinion’s of those in charge such as bosses, elected officials, chairmen; but a good number of us wouldn’t take their jobs if we had to. 

It’s not easy allocating money that the state government refuses to give, and I think student groups should take their frustration over tuition to a higher level (Nikki Haley) rather than just rag on the president of Winthrop.