Oak Room Interview

This interview, with Duke Student Government President C.J. Walsh, is the second in a series of Oak Room Interviews, designed to shed light on the personalities of campus figures in an informal setting. The interview was conducted by John Bush, editorial page editor of The Chronicle.

JB: What made you decide to run for DSG?

CW: One night last spring in [Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity] section, [I was] with my good friends Josh Brodsky and Dan Librot, and we were complaining about the alcohol policy and any possible changes. Brodsky made some comment and I told him that he ought to run for DSG President to fix it. He looked at me and, in his raspy voice, said: "Walsh, why don't YOU run for DSG President?" So I did. It's all Josh's fault.

JB: Where did the "portly redhead with phat ideas" [campaign slogan] come from?

CW: Portly redhead is my response to being called fat [by one of the workers at the dock where I was working].... I said I wasn't fat; I was portly So he said "You're the portly red head."

JB: Good campaign slogan.

CW: I thought so. A lot of people told me that I shouldn't run a self-deprecating campaign, and I told them that it wasn't self-deprecating--it was proud.

JB: How did you get started in DDS?

JB: What makes you energetic about what you do?

CW: If you're not happy about it, would it be any fun doing it? If you get down about it, it won't be any fun. It's really the only way I can get by. I can't stand slow songs. That's why I don't like country.

If you go slow and deliver food, then you don't make any money. You get into this high-paced, hyper lifestyle--just "Go, go, go." And if you stop, you just want to take a nap.

JB: How is living off campus for you compared to your on-campus experience?

CW: I'm lucky because--doing what I do--I like to jump over the wall and I'm on East [Campus]. I live across the street from East. There's three lanes of traffic and a stone wall separating me from East. So, I jump the wall, take the bus to class and I'm there. It's great.

But I do miss the comraderie of the dorm. There's something about wandering back to my fraternity section that feels like Cheers. It's like everyone knows your name; everyone's hanging out. Just sit down on a couch, watch TV, do whatever.

It's also nice as a way to get away from the office.... For example, no one knows the phone number to my house. My roommates know that the only ones allowed to call the house are my mom and my dad--they are the only people who have a number to where I live. Everyone else knows to call the cellphone. If it's really important, I'll get a call on the cellphone. Because if I'm not there, there is a voicemail that I know I won't erase and that I can call back.

JB: Are you able to still do much with PiKA?

CW: I am the head party monitor for Pi Kappa Alpha. My job is also known as the dean greeter. If student affairs staff members show up to our parties, I'll show them around.

JB: Do you know a lot of the staffers now?

CW: Yeah, I do, which makes it more fun.

JB: How do you handle meeting all of these people for your job or did you know many of them already?

CW: I didn't know any of them--Well, I knew some of them. When I worked in DDS, I dealt with adults who were running the restaurants. When I sold fish and tackle, all of my customers were twice my age. So, I've just naturally dealt with adults for most of my younger life. It's not really a big deal.

It is a little intimidating, the first time you go to see President [Nan] Keohane. The Board of Trustees was scary--that was definitely intimidating, I'm not going to lie. Not that they were really wealthy--just that they are the Board. These are the people who run our school. They pop in for four weekends a year, they make decisions and then go away. So, I get my 10 minutes of fame with them. You've got your presentation with them, and you've just got to nail it....

It's fun to work with really talented people who know how to have fun. The vast majority or administrators at Duke really, really enjoy their jobs, and it shows. There's such a comraderie and the jovial work of their peers that makes it fun to do what I do.

JB: What have you enjoyed most so far, and what has surprised you?

CW: I think that I enjoy the breadth of the experience that I deal with everyone from my fellow students, to administrators and then to the Board of Trustees. And that happens on a regular basis.

JB: What is the connection with you and this fishing dock?

CW: It's at 14th and the Bay in Avala, New Jersey.... So, I got hired to be a janitor when I was 12; I was scrubbing toilets and stocking shelves. I started off working just closings and then I started working mornings, cleaning out the minnow tank. Then I got more and more stuff and more and more in charge. Then I became a manager. It's fun. You talk with people, tell them where to catch fish and how to catch them. It's rewarding when they come back and say that they've caught something....

I would have probably been working there or I would have been fishing, which is what I'm doing next summer.

JB: How did staying here over the summer help?

CW: Well, I did a lot of meeting, greeting and schmoozing, which was good because I got a lot of stuff lined up that I was fully briefed in to what was going on. Briefings that the vice president was making... so that we could spread the word out. Looking at a lot of stuff with the city and technology initiatives, the computer and information technology intensive environment stuff, course evaluations. I met a lot of Student Affairs staff. I really got to know Leon Dunkley in Mary Lou [Williams Center for Black Culture]...--people like that who help me make my job easier.

JB: Why did you choose history as your major?

CW: It allows me the academic freedom to be involved in other things on campus.

I had a midterm that I wasn't too excited about. I feel like at this point, why should I be taking midterms? I've got two more classes before I graduate--two classes next semester.

JB: When do you start looking on a job?

CW: I get a job, I get a job; it would be nice to have one but it's not that important right now; I have miles to go before I sleep, so to speak....

I get asked at the Marketplace all the time "Faculty charge?" [because of how I look]. And I'm thinking, "Honey, if you want to give me a Ph.D., I'll take it."

JB: The Duke response to the terrorist attacks seemed to be organized pretty quickly in the aftermath of the attacks. How did you put the projects together?

CW: Spectrum's Sara Hudson and Ethan Brown of Theta Chi were working on similar projects but going at them very separate ways, so Mike Wick gave me a phone call and let's sit down and organize it. So, we sat down from 5 to 8 on a Friday afternoon and hammered out a coalition and allocated different responsibilities to different groups so that everybody's work would be carried forward....

JB: What would you like for people to say next year about how DSG went this year?

CW: I really want to reorganize student groups, restructure it, streamline the funding process, carve out more clear examples for the various groups, facilitate student concerns and transfer them to the people who make decisions. That's what I've been thinking out and trying to get done before Christmas.

JB: Do you think that's feasible by Christmas?

CW: It's monstrous. It is absolutely monstrous. It would take a constitutional referendum approved by the legislature and then ratified by the student body. We're going to have to do it anyway because of the new housing structure. Because there aren't necessarily going to be houses any more.

JB: Have you had much contact Jordan Bazinsky or Lisa Zeidner?

CW: I spent some time Friday and Saturday night [three weeks ago] with Jordan, and I've been talking with Z2K on the phone.

JB: Z2K?

CW: When I was a pledge, she was a dating one of my fraternity brothers and I hung up 100 Lisa Zeidner flyers one night, the day before the election on the Bryan Center walkway.... That was my first introduction to campus politics.

JB: How many e-mails do you get a day?

CW: It's been going down lately. I'm at 40; I was up at 80 for a while. Some students, some administrators. There's a couple of personal ones--maybe three to five--and then there's my fraternity list, DSG exec, DSG cabinet, DSG legislature, administrator e-mails, FYIs and then people carbon copy me a lot because I have to harass people for things.

JB: What's the strangest question or request that you've gotten so far?

CW: Someone wanted to put all of the fraternities on East and create the animal campus. Back in the 60s they called Crowell Quad[rangle] the animal quad, so this would have been the animal campus.

JB: Did you do student government in high school?

CW: No. And I didn't do any activities freshman year. Here's what I've done at this school: I pledged my fraternity, did DDS and Campus Council.

JB: What's the biggest thing coming up for you?

CW: Probably online. The res life stuff obviously is important but at this point it's implementation. You're going to see a push from DSG on the sexual assault awareness. You're going to see a real discussion looking at the services provided by student affairs.... And tenting starts as soon as we get back; then the fun begins.