Hello There, Mr. President

My first meeting was with President Colson. This was the interview I was most looking forward to for multiple reasons:
1. I like the guy. I've had to interview him many times for editorials and articles and, as far as I can tell, he's as honest as Abe.
2. Curiosity. What does a president make? Why on earth was Ohle raking in the dough--approximately eight students' tuition worth?
3. Words and references. Pres Colson is extremely well read and listening to him speak makes my brain work in less colloquial ways than it's used to.

The interview started off simple. My first question was about his job responsibilities. The second question got right to the point and threw PC a little off-guard: What is included in your salary? A house? A car?

"That's an interesting question, Ashley," he said.

And the answer was interesting too. Money and benefits come with the job title, clarifying what I already thought--being President is a full-time job, but it's certainly worth it.

Like I though, President Colson was honest and took my questions seriously, admitting when he didn't know an answer. Usually when I interview the administration they work overtime to make sure their answers paint the college as orangey as possible; in essence, they become PR maniacs. But I could tell Colson was just trying to answer the questions to the best of his knowledge. It made me retain some hope in my quest for the nitty gritty truth behind staff salaries.

The only downfall of my interview was that Colson wouldn't talk about the current salaries of the administration. That's completely reasonable, sure, but with the tax forms being two years behind, my investigation felt irrelevant.

I decided then to take my articles in a different direction and would look at the budget and how it dealt with raises and freezes in salaries, making it relevant to the current academic year.