A social media crisis

This past week, March 22 to 29, has been quite a busy, even hectic, one. It actually started on Saturday morning, March 21, when I learned of the terribly inappropriate tweet about Mo’ne Davis by our baseball player, Joey Casselberry.

By the end of the day, I had over 50 tweets of outrage over his statement. The university put out a response that evening and I re-tweeted it. No university wants that kind of negative national publicity, but I am pleased with our swift response and effective crisis communications.

On Monday I had a periodic meeting with the CGA Senate where I addressed the tweet about Mo’ne Davis, our response and the high risk of inappropriate use of social media for individuals and institutions. We also discussed the per-credit tuition pilot.

On Tuesday I went to the BU Student Veterans Association cookout on the Warren Student Services Center Patio and talked with members, but did not go through the long line for the popular burgers.

On Thursday I had the pleasure of recognizing 149 BU employees who have contributed 10 to 40 years to our university for a total of 2,370 years of service.

On Thursday evening I was delighted to meet more than 20 BU alumni from the Pittsburgh area at the home of BU Trustee, Judge Mary Jane Bowes, and her husband Jerry Morgan ’71. It was a great opportunity to meet and reconnect alumni to their alma mater.

And yesterday, I attended the annual dinner for donors who are members of Golden Dome Society and/or Henry Carver Scholars.

Events this week, March 30-April 2:

• Monday — Lunch meeting with the Mayor of the Town of Bloomsburg, Sandy Davis
• Tuesday — Community Leadership Breakfast, my annual update on our university to over 75 business, government and political leaders from the area
• Wednesday — Comprehensive Capital Campaign Cabinet, semi-annual meeting with leaders in our major fundraising campaign
• Thursday — Meeting with Governor Tom Wolf, a meeting of the 14 State System presidents, Chancellor Brogan, and members of Pennsylvania’s State System Board of Governors with the governor at his request to discuss funding for the State System

#CollaborativeLearning #SenseOfCommunity #CoCurricularLearning

A tie for all occasions

The students lined up early, ready with plenty of questions for me. About 100 of them even wore ties. Well, sort of.

Members of the Community Government Association, sponsor of a recent “Meet the President” event, and students lucky enough to win one of the giveaways, wore specially made necktie T-shirts with a popular quote from the movie Independence Day on the back: “If I had known I was gonna meet the president, I would’ve worn a tie.”

It was a classic symbol of our student body here at Bloomsburg University. The shirts were thoughtful and creative, as well as humorous. It was a great touch to a wonderful campus event to help kick off the fall semester.

Spearheaded by Justine Albright, a CGA executive board member, the student leadership organized a two-hour meet-and-greet outside our Warren Student Services Center. It was an open invitation to all students, so we weren’t sure how many would accept without having a formal RSVP in place.

I must say we were pleased to see so many students take time between classes and lunch to spend a few minutes getting to know me. CGA estimates roughly a 1,000 students in attendance, and we had students lined up to talk for more than an hour.

Some of the most common questions were:

• What are the goals for the year for the school?
• How did you become president?
• Were you ever a professor and what did you teach?
• What is your vision for Bloomsburg in the future?

I also thought it was interesting how many wanted my advice on different things. Among the most common questions were about their majors and whether they should take a minor. One that has stuck in my mind was from a biochemistry major who wanted to know if she should minor in dance. Interesting pairing, but that’s a Husky for you … always thinking outside the box.