The Daily Athenaeum
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The newly-named WVU president, Michael Benson met with the Daily Athenaeum virtually in April to discuss the presidential search process, the role of DEI in higher education, House Bill 3279 and his plans and goals for the University.
DA: “Could you walk us through the presidential search process as a candidate and how that felt for you stepping into that role without meeting students on campus yet.”
Benson: “Yeah, it was an interesting process. This will be my fifth presidency, so it’s not that I can’t keep a job. I just have had great opportunities presented. This one kind of came out of the blue. I was in the midst of, kind of redoing my contract here at Coastal Carolina. We’ve been here for almost four and a half years, and we love it, we love it so much. … The point of contact I had was with the search firm asked if I would consider applying, and at the time, I said no, because we were in the midst of a lot of exciting things at the University, and they were pretty persistent. So I finally sat down with my wife and kids and thought, all right, this is a chance that a school, kind of school where I’ve always wanted to be. … So this was an opportunity I really felt like I should pursue. The process was a Zoom call first and then in-person meetings. The only student I met was Charlie [Long], who was on the Board of Governors], the Student Body President. [I was] really impressed with him. So, because it was a closed process, I had to go through these things as it’s dictated by the search firm and by the Board of Governors. So while I was disappointed, I didn’t have a chance to meet students throughout the process, meeting Charlie was my point of contact, and now I get to meet students like you.”
DA: “What are your plans to uphold WVU’s status as a land-grant institution despite last year’s administration’s budgetary crisis?”
