University President Bob Caslen relocated his cabinet and executive meetings from indoors to Greene Street Monday. In addition, he met with students one-on-one to discuss campus issues at his open office hours.
Caslen said the idea was suggested to him by a student before his first press conference as university president in August.
“At that time I didn’t even know what Greene Street was and then I found out what Greene Street was where the heart of where the student body is and how many students pass through here and I said, ‘This would be a great idea’,” Caslen said.
Law professor Susan Bon recently acquired a position on the president’s staff as the presidential faculty fellow. Bon said she believes Caslen's approach has opened the door for better communication between students and faculty and USC administration.
“He's just saying, 'I'm here, I’m your president, I’m here to serve all of you'," Bon said.
First-year marketing student Jerry Hoppa said he enjoyed having a conversation with Caslen in person.
“It was very good just talking face to face, seeing his reactions, his expression and just getting a feel for how he thought about how our conversation went. I think he’s excited,” Hoppa said.
Hoppa is a Capstone Scholar and is currently planning an event through Capstone and Outdoor Recreation in the spring called "Climb with Caslen" in the Bates Climbing Center. He said he believes this event appeals to Caslen's passion for outdoor physical activity.
“We’re going to go down there with some students on a Friday afternoon or weekend and just climb with him — see if we can do some leadership building, some team building or just an open free climb, have some fun,” Hoppa said.
Fourth-year interdisciplinary studies student Michal Hoge said Caslen has a quality that made him easy to talk to.
“He’s a great listener," Hoge said. "Very intently focused on the needs of every individual he’s come to talk to. He’s a clean slate, can jump from one conversation to the next seamlessly."
Hoge said his current 3D printing project was among the several topics he discussed with Caslen.
Bon said Caslen and the administrative staff’s presence on Greene Street was a good way to encourage transparency and interact with students and faculty on campus.
“It was just really neat because I got to see that people were excited about his leadership and are excited to ask questions and get engaged, and even if there was something not going so well, to bring it to his attention and to realize — he really cares, he want to try to make things better, ” Bon said.
Caslen said holding his office hours and meeting with students on Greene Street was extremely beneficial.
“If I was not here today, I would not have found out some of the issues that some of the students are dealing with,” Caslen said.
Bon said she believes Caslen’s leadership style is reflected in his decision to hold his office hours on Greene Street.
“His concept of being a leader is that you've got to be deeply connected to who we serve, and we primarily serve students. That is the heart and soul of our campus,” Bon said.
While the staff was nervous about hosting these meetings out in the open, Caslen said he pushed for this idea to become a reality.
“This is very risky, you are very vulnerable. I mean you can have an open meeting with all of your senior leadership right here and the students walk by, the faculty walks by,” Caslen said.
Caslen said he believes events like these should definitely continue.
“It really sends the message that I want to be a president who is transparent, who listens, who reaches out to students, who is concerned about the students, who gets the message that is coming out of this, because that is who I am,” Caslen said.