Talk of the Town August 5, 2025

State Treasurer Larry Pack

New WVU President Michael T. Benson 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:23):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klucksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two fivey five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Notlting.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
A good Tuesday morning, fair skies and seventy degrees in
the University City. This is Talk of the Town on
AM fourteen forty FM one oh four point five WAJR
Metro Newzaki.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Weather says today.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Mostly sunny and a high of eighty three degrees. On
the program today we're going to spend some time with
State Treasurer Larry Pack. We also are going to welcome
WVU President Michael T. Benson into the program. Treasurer Pack,
Good morning, sir, how are you great?

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Good morning?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, let's see. Now you've got a couple of stops
planned here in the area today. Give it your right tentperary.

Speaker 5 (01:19):
We got a busy day today, so we're going down
to Fairmont meet with the county with county folks and
we've got a check from them from unclaimed property. We've
got a couple of checks later today for the city
of Morgantown. So we're looking forward to being able to
deliver those checks. Much need of money for those municipalities.
And also we've got a number of meetings in addition

(01:40):
to Municipal League, but also a meeting with the w
President Benson later this afternoon, so it's going to be
a good day.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Now, tell us where does this money come from?

Speaker 5 (01:49):
So this is unclaimed property, So this is monies that
have been transferred to the Treasurer's office by various vendors
are around the state, really around the country, and our
job in unclaimed property is to find the rightful owners.
The rightful owners today will be the Morgantown Parks and Rex,
the City of Morgantown and Marion County. So we're very

(02:09):
glad to be able to return that money back to them.
They need the money. But we've got about four hundred
million dollars in what other people's money, West Virginian's money
in the Treasure's office. We worked really hard to get
that money back to the rightful owners.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
You know, Larry, I think you and I had this
conversation before we went on the air.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
But people watch their own affairs like hawks.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Some people pay other people even CPAs to watch their affairs.
So how do these things even happen.

Speaker 5 (02:38):
It's ours, it's our online economy. It's also the complexity
of our economy. We have so many transactions going back
and forth. My wife and I are both CPAs, and
a few months ago we found there's three hundred dollars
that we had, and I think for us it was
really refunds from mostly hospital type type people. And you know,
the address gets gets put incorrectly in the computer, money

(02:59):
doesn't come back. We're not really expecting to get that money.
So it really happens from lots of different directions. But
our comedy is very, very complex. People have a lot
of multiple counts. We're dealing with a lot of online vendors.
So it's just really easy for money to get lost.
And then when you think about the complexities the size
of our governments and and and our businesses, they they

(03:19):
misplaced money. New people come in, new people go out.
It's just it's a really complex society.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Now.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know, Larry, I noticed that today you are on
the agenda to speak at the West Virginia Municipal League
of Cities. Uh, what's your message to the Municipal League
of Cities.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
I think it's probably probably at least twofold. But one
is to thank them for what they do in our
cities and towns and villages. They work really hard to
be able to provide services, necessary services to our citizens
around West Virginia. They're on the front lines of delivering
government services. So they can hide right in the in
most small towns that everybody's got the mayor number, they

(04:00):
know where the mayor lives. They go knock on the door,
they give him a call or her a call. So
to thank them for what they do, because they are
absolutely sacrificing to try to take care of us and
help us to grow, but also to talk a lot
about how cities can grow and how can we help
them grow. If West Virginia's population is to increase, and
I think we all want that to happen, our cities
have to increase, Our cities have to grow, and so

(04:21):
talk about pro growth policies for cities. So I really
look forward to forward to that time.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
You know, Larry, I was looking at the agenda and
I noticed that, let's see, you're on the agenda in
the two PM hour of the two o'clock to three
thirty hour. And also in that portion of the agenda,
you've got David Goldberg, predent and CEO of Mond Health Systems,
and the executive vice president of Van Delia Health, of yourself,

(04:49):
West Virginia State Treasurer. And then the keynote addressed during
that period is a guy, a veteran broadcaster by the
name of Hoppy Kurch.

Speaker 4 (04:59):
That's fantastic.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
I'll try to talk really really fast because I look
forward to hearing what Hoppy has to say, and David
as well. They're both I've really been successful, done a
lot to really help our colony. But Hoppies wisdom and
experiences regarding government regard in West Virginia, we're absolutely worth
listening to. So I look forward to this afternoon.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
And I know that here in the city of Morgantown,
we feel very fortunate to be able to host this
conference today.

Speaker 5 (05:24):
Oh absolutely again. I think we got two hundred some
cities in towns and villages all around West Virginia, so
having all those mayors, a lot of the countsmen will
be there, a lot of the folks that kind of
work with them will be there. So it's a big
crowd coming into Morgantown. They're going to spend, spend lots
of money and bring a lot of energy to the town.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
I know.

Speaker 5 (05:41):
I tried to get a get a hotel reservation there
and they're sold out, which is a really really good thing.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
That is a good thing. And of course I said today,
they'll be there all week.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
And of course Treasurer Larry Pack, you know what, Larry,
it's not how you start, it's how you finish.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
Absolutely, it's how you finish. Yes, I look forward to.

Speaker 5 (06:00):
Matter of fact, when I started my career many many
years ago, when I was twenty one, I got elected
record of Treasury a little town of Marmatt, So I
know a little bit about what they're going through and
that was a great experience for a twenty year old.
So again look forward to rebing shoulders and talking to him.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Okay, beautiful State Treasurer Larry Pac Larry, I appreciate you
coming in and I hope.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
That you have a great day.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
Thanks a lot, have a good day.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Absolutely right now, fair sky seventy degrees. We'll be back
with WVU President Michael T. Benson right after this.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Now back to the talk of the town.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Well, good Tuesday morning, fair skies, seventy degrees in the University,
City and Metro Newsaki Weather has blessed us with another
Chamber of Commerce day today. Mostly sunny we expect, and
I have eighty three degrees. In studio, we have the
thirty second present in West Virginia University doctor Michael T.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Benson. Hey, good morning, doctor Benson. How are you, sir?

Speaker 4 (07:06):
I'm doing well. Thank you, Mike. Thank you for having
me today.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Well, it's a pleasure.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
I really do appreciate you taking the time to spend
with us, just to start things off. It's certainly big
times in the city of Morgantown. We've got a brand
new city manager. She's been on the job for maybe
a little over a month or about a month. I've
got a new mayor, a new deputy mayor, and we've
got a new football coach, a new basketball coach, and

(07:33):
now a brand new president.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
I'm glad you mentioned me last. So I think all
those other people are very important, and I met them
all and really looking forward to meeting or working with them.
I had a chance last night to attend a municipal
gathering from county commissioners and mayors from all over the state,
and Mayor Trumble was there. Jamie came from Kentucky. So
this new city manager, we've had a chance to talk

(07:58):
about our kind of tie, our mutual ties, but really
exciting time to be here. We are ecstatic. You mentioned
the university town and Morgantown is a college town. It's
I just love the feeling of the falls a little
more brisk this morning, so it means football is just
around the corner. But students will descend pretty soon, and
I know traffic will change, is what they tell me.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
President Michael T. Benson's with, Oh, yes, it will. It
won't take long to notice that.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Now, Mike, I guess what I'd like to know is
I've heard you refer to Morgantown as.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
A true college town.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Could you expand on that and maybe tell me a
little bit about what you're talking about.

Speaker 4 (08:38):
Well, a lot of times you'll have a university community
that has other industries or other institutions that are on
the level with a university or even bigger. And we're
the largest employer in the area by far. I believe
W Medicine is the largest employer in the state. So

(08:59):
it in so many ways dominates the landscape, if you will,
and we try to be a really good partner. I've
been to a lot of great college towns. My daughter
really wants to go to Auburn. She'll be a senior.
And if you've been to Auburn, Alabama, that's a college town.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
You know.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
College station is a huge place, but it's got more
than just you know, Texas, A and M, and you
go through the SEC, or you could go through the ACC.
You know, look at Chapel Hill and Durham for example.
But a college town when you see people wearing the colors,
when you see the WU on hats and shirts and

(09:34):
on banners, you know the let's go. Really there's a
sense of pride in the community and a real affinity
for the institution and a real tie to it. And
I think that's very significant.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
I'm glad you said that, because you know, coming from
most of my stops in my professional career have been
in the Big Ten Conference in the Columbus, Ohio area,
and then also around Bloomington, Indiana, the home of Indiana University.
And one of the things that I've noticed is lit'll
take Indiana for example, I use Great Business College.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
If you want to be an engineer, you go to Purdue.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
You know, if you want to be a broadcaster, you
go to Ball State, and you know everything. There's a
different school for everything. But I think when you come here,
one of the things that you notice is that the
State Land Grand Institution, it fills all those needs.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
You're exactly right. And there's this whole spectrum of degree
offerings that we have that from law to engineering to
my discipline which is his political science, sociology, English, you
name it, you know, pre med, pre professional programs. We
have everything that I would imagine a student could want
or need. And that I mean we talk about a

(10:43):
regional excuse me, you talk about a flagship R one
Land Grand Institution that is us. We are the only
one in the state.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
I hope I give you enough time to answer this one,
and you're right.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
We talk about the students, we talk about the research,
but let's just talk about the people that live in
the mountains, the people that turn on the TV on
Saturdays to watch football. At what point did you realize that, wow,
this is a lot more than students in our one research.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
I think it really came in a very clear focus
last week when we went through eighteen counties in five days.
We started Hancock and made our way south and then
kind of looped back to Morgantown. And I saw in
each community, whether it was a w medicine facility, you know,
a clinical hospital, or you saw that WV on the
side of a building, and the pride that people have

(11:34):
in the brand and the fact that they associate quality care,
for example, with that WV. And then you see the flags,
you know, on the front porches of those homes that
we passed, and with no professional teams in the state,
people will really kind of hang their hopes and dreams
on what happens on a Saturday afternoon. And I get that,
but it really to your point, Mike, It really came

(11:56):
into clear focus last week, and we're going to get
to all fifty five counties by the end of next June.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
You know, that is kind of a very humbling thing
to come to terms with that somebody that maybe has
never been enrolled in a class in Morgantown or any
of the satellite campuses puts that flag out and roots
like heck, every Saturday.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yep, yep. And I take that very seriously because while
I may be the face of the institution on talk
shows like this, This university belongs to the people of
the state of West Virginia. This is their university.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Now, you said that the Coastal Carolina campus just about
eleven miles from the ocean. You know, I know whenever
I go to the ocean, go down to the ocean,
you've got the sounds and it's very, very relaxing.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
Compare that to the mountain.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
Well, I've lived in mountains before. We were in Cedar City, Utah,
almost six thousand feet elevation, so our home in Myrtle
Beach was at nine feet elevation, so that's a pretty
big swing. But you know, I came out of Bladey
House the other day and there was this kind of
my fog coming off the river and Woodburn. The sun
was hitting Woodburn, which I could see from our front yard,

(13:07):
and I just thought, man, what a beautiful place. And
the temperatures get a little more tempered right now, which
suggests that fall is just around the corner. And my
wife is a big fall person, and she can't wait.
I mean, palm trees don't really turn colors, and so
we're excited about this kind of this panoply of colors
that's going to change here pretty soon, and what a
beautiful time of year that'll be.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
You know.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
The only bad thing that I can come up with
about fall is that at some point toward the end
we're gonna see snow.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
Winter is coming, as they say.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Okay, Doctor Benson, new president of West Virginia University, is
with us, and sir, we need to take a break
for a metro news update, but then i'd like to return.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
I've got a couple more questions i'd like to pose
to you.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
Yes, sir, you got it.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
Thank you very much. And let's uh, you don't.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
Have to call me sir, my Southern I bring.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
I'm I'm with you. I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
I've got family from Arkansas and that's certainly how I
was taught as well.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Okay, we'll be back right now.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Fais Guy's seventy degrees in the university city. When we
come back, I'm going to talk about maybe some challenges
that President Benson didn't anticipate.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Cover that next.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
It's time now to find out what's happening across the
great state of West Virginia, and to do.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
That, we'll head to the Metro News anchor desk.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
Talk of the Town.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
Good Tuesday morning, Glad you're aboard.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
This is Talk of the Town on AM fourteen forty
FM one oh four point five WAJR in studio.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
We've got doctor Michael T.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
Benson, the third the second president do I had, the
twenty seventh president of West Virginia University.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Hey, good morning, sir, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Glad that you're with us now. As I understand it,
early in your career, you were given some guidance if
you wanted to pursue being a president in higher education.
Recall that moment if you would.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
Yeah. My boss at the time was a gentleman named
Bernie Matchin who had come from the University of Michigan.
He was the provost there. He was a pediatric dentist
by training, had been the Deana Dental School at UNC
Chapel Hills. So I was familiar with big Land grant
R one institutions. Came to Utah, and when I got
my opportunity at age thirty six at Snow College, a

(15:43):
small junior college in the center of the state, he said, Michael,
you know this is a great step for you. He
supported me one hundred and ten percent, which I was
very grateful for. But he said, you know, at some
point in your life, you should aspire to lead an
institution that's R one, that is a is at the
highest level of athletics, which at the time there was

(16:03):
a Power five, so it's now down to Power four
that also has the third component an academic medical center.
And West Virginia checks all those boxes. So I feel
like this is really the apex of my career. I mean,
it alls kind of led to this moment, and so
it's not lost on me that it's taken thirty years
to get here, and we couldn't be more excited or
more humbled by the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Over those three decades, I'm sure there were a lot
of challenges that you faced. A lot of them, you
knew a lot of them, may have come up maybe
in mid first challenge. So I guess I should take
this job. We've got a new occupant of the White House.
It looks like some funding things have changed. I think

(16:46):
that presents maybe a challenge you didn't expect.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yeah, and we're not unique, I mean, in our situation
is akin to a lot of our ones out there
that we did what two hundred and seventy two million
dollars in sponsored research R and D. That's research you fund,
but also the grants you get from the federal government.
You know that that's that was near record highs for US.
Now you look at a Johns Hopkins for example, they
did three point eight billion and and sponsored research last year.

(17:11):
So they're in R one institutions. There's a there's a
wide range, but some of these larger schools with the
big research budgets have taken a huge hit, I mean
north of a billion dollars cut out of their budgets.
So we've been fortunate. I have to give a tip
of the cap to our our elected officials. Center Capito
has been fantastics, Center Justice. Really appreciate their advocacy for

(17:33):
the university at the federal level and our representatives in Congress.
So yes, there's challenges, but again it's not unique, and
we're banning together. We're we have we have kind of
working groups, if you will, of like kind, like minded
and similar institutions. They're advocating for the restoration of the
of the of THO at that funding.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
At the state level doctor Benson, I think that it's
safe to I think it's fair to say that every
year is different and it really doesn't matter who the
governor or who the legislature is in terms of funding.
Your funding is evaluated each and every year, and I
guess talk a little bit about how that might change

(18:16):
under your administration.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
Well, there is a funding formula that bases some of
our state appropriation on metrics, you know, the metrics that
we're all familiar with, whether it's retentional graduation rates or
other kind of benchmarks, and we're going to be very
aggressive about yes, going to Charleston. And as I met
with the governor a few weeks ago, and we both

(18:38):
talked about that last part of the First Amendment. You know,
we talk about the freedom of speech, assimilarly, the press,
et cetera, freedom to exercise religion. But that last part
is the right to petition the government for a redress
of grievances. And that really resonates with me because we
all have the right as citizens to go to Charleston
and make a case for our institution where we can

(19:01):
be from any part of the state and advocate for
any cause. But I think that's really important for people
to remember we're all obvious in our own in our
own purview.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Doctor Michael Benson is with US twenty seventh president of
West Virginia University. Now, fundraising has been one of your
strong suits. I think at Coastal Carolina, what do you
bring from that job to this job that maybe you'll
be able to reconstitute.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Well. I believe fundraising skills are portable, just like leadership skills.
You can apply it to different institutions that may be
a bigger scale, But fundraising is nothing more than developing
a relationship with a donor. And when you twin that
philanthropic desire from a donor with an institutional need, that
is a that's kind of that magic moment. And I've

(19:50):
been able to see some successes in my past posts,
and I anticipate we'll have very similar successes here. You know,
we're in the midst of a one point five billion
dollar campaign. If people had said ten years ago, Mike,
you know, I think West Virginia is going to raise
some money and their goal should be a billion and
a half dollars, and we are getting closer and closer

(20:12):
to that goal. And think about that because we get
money from the state we take into the revenue fees
we have, for example, sponsor research that helps auxiliary revenue.
But the margin of excellence is made up by private support.
And when we had our data giving and I think
we raised forty six million dollars one day, that tells

(20:33):
you the support that's out there. And I want to
thank all of our donors for their support because it
means everything.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
You know, during your first Board of Governor's meeting, you
said a couple of things that got my attention, and
one was you had some strategic ideas or things that
you wanted to present to the board at a later
date during a retreat. Are you maybe at a point
where you'd like to talk about some of those things.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
Well, we are on the eve of the retreat, it's tomorrow,
you know, mindful of my twenty bosses, so I want
to I want to broach it with them first. We've
had a chance to roll it out to a few
kind of select groups just to get their their their reaction,
and it's been very positive. Because it's not rocket science, Mike,
but it's clear that we're going to set a very

(21:19):
definitive path forward and we're going to associate it with
a phrase that everybody's familiar with. Okay, and I'll stop there.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, okay, yeah, and I won't try to finish that
sentence either.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
It's nine forty one, sir.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
We're going to take a quick break and be back
with more conversation with WVU President, doctor Michael T.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
Benson.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
That's after this.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven to
sixty five eight two five five. This is the talk
of the town.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
A good Tuesday morning.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
Fais guys and seventy degrees in holding in the university
city with us in studio. We've got WVU President Michael T.
Benson and President Benson. I wanted to ask you something
maybe a little bit insignificant, but your signature block is
president and professor of history.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
What kind of message do you want to send with that?

Speaker 4 (22:27):
Well, first and foremost, I want to send a very
clear message to our faculty that I'm a colleague of theirs.
I value what they do. I would argue that you
learn more about an institution in the way students are
feeling in the classroom than you anywhere else. So I
hope to teach at least one class every academic year.
They got me on tap for fall of next year,

(22:49):
so I have a little time to get my feet
under me and my sea legs, as it were. But
I love getting the classroom and I've done it everywhere
I've been. I've had a facult appointment with tenure in
each institution. So it sends a message that academics is
what we're about, number one, first and foremost, and the
president even engages in it, and I'm encouraging members of

(23:10):
my leadership team to do the same.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
Well, what do you like about teaching?

Speaker 4 (23:15):
You know, that's what we're I mean, not redundant. That's
what the institution is all about. Yes, you learn a
great deal outside the classroom, those skills about getting along
with the roommate and time management and budget management, etc.
But our core is about the transmission of knowledge, the
discovery of new knowledge, the dissemination and application of that,

(23:35):
and that's what we are and love being in the classroom.
I learned as much from my students as I do
oftentimes I think in teaching them.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
And I guess that would make them The search for
the next provost of the university very very important to you.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
I met with the committee yesterday and I gave them
my charge and I said, this will be the most
important hire I will make during my tenure. The chief
academic Officer sets the academic vision and priorities for the institution,
of course in consultation with the board and with me,
but this is a really important highre We've got to
get this one right. So it's a national search. It's launched,

(24:12):
we have a website that's up, and we've got a
great committee co chaired by Avid Winners from our Provost
office and also Diana who Diana Davis is the former
chair of the Faculty Sentence. So I'm really excited about it.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
How much of that vision is already in place or
are you looking for someone to come in and bring
their concepts and ideas.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
We've got a great product and a great university already.
Our academics, I would argue, our top drawer. But we
can be better, and we need to really focus in
on those things we do well, do them even better.
But are we offering the right degree mix that industry demands,
that our students demand. And I want a provost to
come in with some fresh ideas and fresh perspective.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Okay, now I think one of those fresh ideas you
brought up during that first Board of Governors meeting, and
that was to possibly make a requirement for sophomores to
live in on campus housing.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
It's part of retention strategies that we're considering, so it's
not set in stone. We're looking at what that would entail,
how many beds we would need, kind of our student
mix in terms of incoming freshman class, and our advice
should mention, Mike, our incoming freshman class looks very solid.
We're very very strong. We're excited about that. But retention
is the most important metric. I would argue that you

(25:31):
consider on the way to the ultimate metric, which is
your graduation rate. So if you can keep a student
engage that freshman sophomore year, they're going to retain and
they're going to persist that they're going to graduate.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
And those numbers, by the way, you've got some lofty
figures we do.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
We're going to get very aggressive about stretching ourselves and
we need to do better in terms of retention. We
need to do better with graduation. And I'll end with this, Mike.
I tell people it's not the purview of one office
or one individual or a group of people on campus.
It's the purview of everybody. We are all recruiters, we're
all retainers, and we're all graduators. Every day.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
President Michael T. Benson is with us.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
And now let's go back to meetings with city leaders.
You brought up that you had met with Morgantown officials.
Star sitting in Grandville play pretty prominently into the area
as well.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
They do Grandville. I've been over there. I met the
mayor and a city council member last night at that
function I mentioned at the top of the show. And
it's home to our baseball stadium. And you know, I've
never lived in a city where you have kind of
these incorporated like little hamlets around you. And I think
it's really important enough for us to be engaged with them,

(26:43):
to be good partners. We're certainly home. Oregon towns our home,
and I've met with the chief of police, I've met
with the county commissioners already. I've talked about some of
the priorities in the fact we want to be a
good neighbor. I mean, think about all those students that
are coming here. They descend on campus, and you know,
students do what they do, but we have to make
sure that that we're abiding by the city ornances and

(27:06):
doing things that a good neighbor would do. And the
same goes for all the surrounding communities as well.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
You know, from the time that I that I came here,
I've heard some residents talk about the.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
Town and gown program that was before me.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
I don't think it's been active even in the last decade.
Couldn't really even tell you what it is, but the
concept sounds encouraging.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
Yeah, I heard that really a lot when I was
in graduate school at Oxford, which you know, the oldest
English speaking university in the world, And that phrase originated
from there because the town folks had such resentment towards
the students and vice versa, and then they took this
kind of getting together and talking about mutual interests and
how they could work together. Same applies every every place.

(27:55):
You want to have that relationship with your city officials
and with your residents that you value them. You don't
want to take advantage of them. Because this students come here,
they get a lot of attention. You know, think about
how much they consume though in terms of spending money
in local stores and restaurants and establishments, and that's very
significant to our local economy. But we've got to be

(28:18):
good stewards and we've got to be good citizens and
good neighbors, you know.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
I guess, just to maybe give you a little more
insight into that, I think that the town and gown
concept here really kind of transcends the relationship because I'm
not really sure that the relationship with the students and
the people that live here has ever been in question.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
I think it's been.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
More of, like you say, we need to have things
that the students want and need, and we need to
maybe gear our town to that.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
Yeah, that's a good point. And as I've said before, students,
prospective students, their money is portable. So if they come
rolling up to our campus and they don't have what
we don't have what they want in terms of you know,
safe housing, a walkable campus, a place where they can
feel at home, they're gonna go elsewhere. And recruiting is
a doggy dog exercise, I'll tell you that, because we're

(29:12):
going head to head with the Penn States, the Ohio States,
the Virginia Techs, and that's our competition.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Speaking to that, let's talk football. How you guys gonna
do this year?

Speaker 4 (29:22):
Well, I can't divine the future. I'll leave that to
people like Tony Coreedi and others. But I'm excited. You know,
it's a brand new roster for coach Rich rod Interesting enough,
when I was at Coastal, our first game last year,
we beat them at Jacksonville State at their place. That
was the best game we played all year. That was
probably the worst game they played. So if you look
at coach Rodriguez's teams, they always get better as the

(29:43):
scenes and progresses, and I think that's really a benchmark
of a good coach that knows what he's doing. So
I'm excited. I can't wait until toe hits leather here
in a few weeks.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
West Virginia University President Michael T. Benson.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
President Benson, thank you very much for your time today.
Really do I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
Thank you, Mike. I hope you'll have me back. I
really appreciate your time today.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Absolutely, we'll be glad to right now seventy degrees and
we'll be back to wrap things up coming up right
after this