Ryan Anderson, a junior from Savannah, was one of the students joining Kennesaw State University President Betty Siegel on
Wednesday for breakfast at the Waffle House after one of Siegel’s sleepovers on campus. Siegel is a regular at the restaurant.
KSU’s ‘coolest’ president
UPDATE
Students get
Siegel’s ear
at sleepovers
THE STORY SO FAR
~ Previously: KSU President Betty
Siegel announced that she is retiring
after 25 years on the job.
~ The latest: This week a KSU search
committee is finishing interviews with
five candidates vying to replace Siegel.
AIXA M. PASCUAL
[email protected]
Sipping on Diet Coke and munching on
popcorn, Kennesaw State University President Betty Siegel looked at home one night
last week as she chatted with students in
their dorm about student loans, football,
and George Foreman grills.
On this particular night, she
was home.
About 10 p.m., after four hours of dinner, snaks, and good conversation, Siegel
called it a night and went upstairs to an
apartment in the University Village, where
about 800 KSU freshmen live.
Just about anywhere else, a president in PJs would be an unusual guest
in a university dorm. But for Siegel,
who’s retiring this semester after 25
~ What’s next: The chancellor and the
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia are expected to select a
president over the next several weeks.
Siegel checks out the room she will sleep in after an evening of interacting with
students to find out what’s on their minds.
years on the job, it’s become routine. She
started spending occasional nights on campus in fall 2004, two years after fast-growing KSU became a residential university,
attracting younger, more traditional students.
She said the six or seven sleepovers
have helped her to hear the students’ voices. “This is in their turf,” said Siegel, a
grandmother of two.
As she celebrates her 75th birthday today, she’s well aware she’s nearly 60 years
older than many of the freshmen on the
18,500-student campus. Are they good
sleepover buddies?
“I love it. Are you kidding?” Siegel
said. “I’m impressed with how open they
are.” Student seem to love the visits, too.
“The fact that I get to speak to the president of a huge school, you usually don’t
get to do that,” freshman Andrea Dibben
said.
Staff members follow the president
around and have taken more than 200 pages
of notes on the sleepovers. Siegel will talk
about her experiences at a national education conference in Atlanta next month that
is expected to attract about 1,400 college
and university officials.
> Please see Siegel, B8
Four years ago, KSU was a commuter school with
older students and no dorms. The new residence halls at
University Village - A sleek, brick complex with suites
and private bathrooms for each student - have attracted
more 17-, 18-, and 19-year-olds to the Cobb County
School.
Siegel “needed to understand what their needs were
and how they look at the world, because they look at the
world differently than we do,” said Michael Sanseviro,
KSU Director of Residence Life, who joins in on the
nighttime conversations with Siegel.
The president stays overnight in an apartment that
doubles as the model to show prospective residents. The
apartment is scattered with photos from past sleepovers.
So what has Siegel learned about the “Millennial Generation” in her late-night discussions?
They have problems with roommates, prefer to work
long hours instead of taking out student loans, and would
like KSU to have a football team.
The love to use George Foreman grills in their dorms,
even though they have fully equipped kitchens. Intrigued, Siegel went out and bought herself one. “She
was shocked [at] how fast it was. She was amazed,” said
Sanseviro, 36, who taught her how to use it.
Last week’s sleepover started at 6 p.m. with dinner
with a dozen upper-class resident assistants. They sat
next to Siegel on sofas and chairs in her small living
room, answering her questions as she listened intently.
There were business, nursing, and sociology majors.
“What’s the biggest discipline problem?” she asked.
“Roommate problems,” said senior Saima Islam,
explaining that they usually don’t get resolved. Siegel
asked how students select their roommates, and she heard
stories about some parents filling out their children’s online roommate questionnaires.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Siegel said. “I guess I
don’t understand why the parents are so solicitous.”
They president asked what they’d like to see in a meal
plan on campus. “Would it help if you had food services?” she asked. “What would you like to have served?”
Roommates, work, grills
It will be a different perspective for most.
While school presidents have lunch with students,
invite them to their box during football games, take undergrad courses and even serve students breakfast before
finals, overnight stays are pretty much unheard of, judgging from an informal survey among Georgia colleges
and universities.
“The sleepover thing ... that’s really cool,” said Matt
Winston, assistant to University of Georgia President
Michael Adams, who does not stay overnight in student
housing.
~ Continued from B1
The president forgot her alarm clock last week, so a
student knocked on her door at about 6:45 the next morning. Wearing a KSU sweatshirt and a KSU scarf around
her neck, Siegel was ready to go to the nearby Waffle
House, where she met up with about 10 students she’d
invited for breakfast.
Siegel, who lives in east Cobb, eats breakfast at the
Waffle House on Frey Road across from the KSU campus
almost every morning. When she stays overnight at the
Waffle House regular
“I think like mom’s cooking. Green beans and mashed
potatoes,” sophomore Corey Nolan said.
At 8 p.m., Siegel went to the Village activity room,
where she sat next to the fireplace to continue chatting
with about two dozen students eating pizza and brownies.
One student shared with Siegel that she can’t stand
other people’s germs and that’s why she loved KSU’s
suites with private bathrooms.
University Village, she invites students to join her. At the
Waffle House, where a plaque will be going up soon on
her booth, she is known as Miss Betty.
“I’ve been waiting on her for 19 out of 25 [years],”
said manager Miranda Nolte.
Siegel wanted to hear all about two students’ backstage
experience at the Bon Jovi concert the night before. The
conversation shifted to country music.
“I would pay over $400 to see Garth Brooks,” junior
Ryan Anderson said. “Four hundred dollars?” asked Siegel. “What’s his appeal?”
Freshman Nicole Birk, who met Siegel the night before, came to the Waffle House despite getting only four
hours of sleep.
“I think it’s cool that she offered us breakfast,” Birk
said.
After about an hour, Siegel picked up the check and
headed for the register. “She’s like the coolest person
I’ve ever met,” Birk declared.
KSU President Betty Siegel visits with students Gbeke Sowemimo, a sophomore from Nigeria, and Kenn Hughes, a freshman from Austell, while staying at the University Village.
Siegel: Sleepovers let her sound out students half a century younger