Most students and faculty at the College have heard his name, listened to his speeches and seen his pictures. However, most don’t know what the president of the College, P. George Benson, does on a day-to-day basis. The George Street Observer decided to follow him around for a day and dive into the life of a university president.

It is Tuesday, Oct. 27, 8:20 a.m., and Benson’s day starts with a short stroll from his Glebe Street house to Randolph Hall, where his second floor office is located. His days usually begin this way; however, on this particular day I was granted permission to observe him.

Walking into the president’s wing, a feeling of importance overwhelmed me. The neatly decorated rooms, high ceilings, vintage furniture and overall tranquility surprisingly made me nervous. There I met Ron Menchaca, Director of Executive Communications, the president’s chief communication officer. After a few minutes of details he led me into the president’s office.

At first glance, Benson appeared much taller than I anticipated, over six feet tall. We shook hands and got right down to business. He began asking me some general questions, but I was too distracted by the qualities of his office to answer clearly. After my initial jitters, the president, Menchaca and I began discussing his pre-lunch agenda.

From his arrival at 8:30 a.m., Benson immediately began working through the pile of papers that needed his approval. At 9 a.m. the meetings began, first with George Watt, Executive Vice President of Institutional Advancement, and Steve Osborne, Vice President of Business Affairs. These are weekly meetings, but today’s focus was McLeod Plantation, particularly regarding the due diligence period and fundraising, which is usually discussed at every meeting. The three men also discussed the alumni event the president would be attending the following day in Baltimore.

Following this meeting, the president participated in a 10 a.m. conference call with college presidents across the state, regarding a regulatory relief bill that is being passed around in the S.C. senate. The state subsidizes only 12 percent of the College’s costs but regulates 100 percent of its procurements. This particular bill aims to relax those regulations, and having already passed through the house it needs senate approval.

Around 11 a.m., longtime friend and former student of the College Jack Tate met with the president. Tate recently moved to Vietnam but came back to the College to give a talk to students at the Wachovia Center.  Benson and Tate met to talk about possibly working together.

“We’re hoping to get him back involved with the College,” said Benson.

The president stressed how important it is to keep relationships with alumni as influential as Tate.

“You want to keep important alumni and friends like that as close as you can. It’s one of the important resources we have,” said Benson.

After this meeting it was approaching noon, and Benson left his office and headed home to eat lunch. Lunches are anything but calm; while eating, the president writes e-mails and takes phone calls. Quite often Benson will have meetings with potential donors or other businessmen from the area.

After Benson and Menchaca filled me in on what their lunch, another meeting was scheduled. Interim provost Dr. Beverly Diamond entered the office to discuss a range of issues. They discussed the Avery Research Center’s appointment of new board members as well as their future direction. The Avery Research Center is a division of the College focusing on African American history and culture. After this short discussion, I was kindly asked to excuse myself because the subsequent information was confidential.

About 45 minutes later, Benson and Diamond emerged from Benson’s office, and without a minute to spare it was time for another meeting. Since last January the president has been visiting each department, focusing on the current state of the College and lately, the newly adopted strategic plan. With only a few left, the German and Slavic studies department was next on the list. Benson and I walked over the Jewish Studies Center where the meeting was held. On the way, the president greeted faculty and explained to me the importance of the strategic plan, and even more than its importance, he stressed that the plan was a group effort, a vision for the future that involved numerous groups from the College and community.

We arrived at the Jewish Studies Center and met with the faculty, a small group situated in an even smaller boardroom. The president started off the meeting with some unpopular news: the budget cuts.

“From August to August, we have lost $10 million from our budget,” Benson said.

He also said that this money was not coming back and the College will have to make the best of it.

“So that’s a good chunk of the budget, and when you look at the budget you want to take it out of the places that it is relatively painless, to do the least damage to the institution, because the cuts are permanent,” Benson said.

The president went on to explain that C of C has to take money out of their reserves as well as staff and faculty lines that could afford the hit, but within a month his office hopes to have a plan that will partially refill those funds.

Even with the bad news, Benson sees the future of the College as promising. He insists that the future is tied to the strategic plan as well as the incorporation of the community’s resources.

“People will come to Charleston for a reason, because they are going to get things here at the College of Charleston that they can’t get somewhere else,” said Benson.

The president ended his part of the meeting and opened up for questions. Only a few questions were asked, mostly dealing with the budget, and afterward Benson thanked them and wished them well[-1] . The president and I took the short walk back to Randolph Hall where Menchaca and GSO news editor Lindsay Frost were waiting for us.

Without hesitation we got started. Frost was covering the strategic plan, and had plenty of questions. Since the president’s agenda is already intertwined with the plan, he answered the questions with ease. He explained the origin of the plan, which was a book entitled “Built to Last” by James C. Collins and Jerry Porras, then explained the core values. When Frost finished with her questions around 5:15 p.m., my part of the day had ended, but not the president’s. He would continue to work, tying up any loose ends and speaking with his staff to ensure that he had not missed anything.

Reaching day’s end it is clear that nothing on the president’s agenda goes fallow; with two administrative assistants and one executive assistant there is always something to do. On Oct. 28 the president hopped on a plane to Baltimore to attend an alumni event, where he once again promoted the newly adopted strategic plan.

However, this constant workload does not seem to exhaust Benson, even in the face of budget cuts. This was most evident during the meeting with the German and Slavic studies department, where Professor Thomas Baginksi asked the president if this was a bad semester. The president looked at him in disbelief.

“No, it’s never a bad semester; university life is the best,” Benson said.