Editor’s Note: Dan Shannon shadowed Father Jeffrey von Arx for a day to determine what his job entails, how he feels about his first year at Fairfield and the president’s personality.
8:52 a.m. – I arrive at Bellarmine Hall and I’m feeling some nerves that are, honestly, atypical for me. I know I’m just shadowing the president of a university, but hey, this man can change just about anything with a phone call. (Not to mention that he’s got a resume that is, by far, the most impressive I’ve ever seen).
9:00 a.m. – I enter the president’s office and I’m greeted warmly by his secretary, who informs me that I’m in for a “very interesting day.”
Father von Arx calls me in to his office (another stunning room in this building), and he gives me a run-down of his day. He’s taller than I thought he would be.
9:18 a.m. – I get a calendar briefing and his explanation of Fairfield’s financial aid information.
10:04 a.m. – At this point I’ve repreated the phrase “Wow, he does more than I thought he did” in my head about 15 times. A prospective student and her family have just come to meet with von Arx; he’s incredibly charismatic with everyone he has met with so far.
Before the Fairfield Prep president comes to his monthly meeting with von Arx at 10:30 a.m., we have some time to talk. You’d think that a 20-year-old student and a 57-year-old man sitting in a room for a half an hour would become awkward, but it doesn’t. He has so much to say and there is so much I want to ask him.
Von Arx tells me that he will be the graduation speaker this year and he’s implemented a policy that the graduation speakers will be people closely involved with the university and the Jesuit tradition. If you think that this is some self-fulfilling, narcissistic prophecy then you can’t be further from the truth.
He really wants someone to speak at the graduation who will say something relevant and meaningful to the students and he feels that the fame of the speaker is typically inversely proportional to the quality of the speech.
10:35 a.m – As the two presidents meet, I make my way to the bathroom, trying to get lost on purpose so that I can see more of the building. Bad luck: I find the bathroom and it refutes my “bathroom theory” that you can always tell how nice a house is by the quality of the bathroom. This bathroom looks like something you’d find at a second rate fast food restaurant. Somehow it still doesn’t take away from the rest of the building, though.
11:30 a.m – Before we head to lunch, I ask him to offer more detail about the most important person at one of the true up and coming universities in the country.
He explains his goals for the university, which mostly are long-term planning for the continued improvement in academics and the overall quality of the student that the university produces. He says that he still talks to past president Fr. Aloysius P. Kelly from time to time for advice about an event or just to talk about the goings on at the school. Father Kelly isn’t intrusive in what von Arx is trying to accomplish; von Arx describes him as the “ideal predecessor.”
Fr. von Arx is also aware that many students felt that Fr. Kelly wasn’t connected with the student body. He is determined to have the opposite reputation and says that “if anyone wants me to go somewhere, all they have to do is invite me.” He’s serious too. He says you can e-mail him at president@mail.fairfield.edu (and yes, that’s the coolest e-mail address I’ve ever typed).
11:53 a.m. – It’s time for lunch, and von Arx and I are headed to the President’s House for lunch with an alumni member. He drives (more on this later) and gives me a tour. For some reason when we walk in the door I say, “nice digs” and immediately feel like an idiot for referring to the President’s House as “digs.” It’s a beautiful house that has three bedrooms and a nice dining area. It’s an ideal place for von Arx to host people visiting the university. I’m also told that there is a nice collection of wine that I do not get to see. (Apparently a Jesuit priest serving alcohol to minors is looked down upon).
1:03 p.m. – I arrive back at the president’s office and von Arx is already at his computer typing away. He tells me that he receives about 60 to 70 e-mails everyday and needs to respond to about 20 to 25 of them.
One of the e-mails he recieves is from the commisioner of the MAAC telling him about the conferences’ new television contract with ESPNU. When he asks me what ESPNU is, I start to think they should start paying me around here.
1:35 p.m. – Fr. von Arx informs me that he has a meeting with the Information Systems Department immediately followed by the Alpha Sigma Nu Reception (for the wicked smart kids) and so I’m under the impression that we’re going to part ways and call it a day. But no, he invites me to a reception at 6 p.m. for Fairfield County Alumni. Did someone say free drinks? I’m going back to the residence hall to get some kind of a suit together.
5:50 p.m. – I arrive at Bellarmine Hall as the Alpha Sigma Nu Reception gets out and I drop the average IQ in the building by about 40 points. Did I mention that Fr. von Arx attended Princeton and Yale?
We get in the car to leave and von Arx, once again, gets into the drivers seat. I’m not exactly sure why this is odd to me, but I guess after seeing countless people that worked under him I didn’t expect to see him driving himself. He’s a down-to-earth guy.
6:00-9:00 p.m. – At the three-hour event, Father von Arx gives a speech about Fairfield that would make any student proud to be a part of the institution. In about 15 minutes he gives everyone in the room a sense of who he is, what the university is doing and where he wants it to go.
This is a man who had been up and going long before 9:00 in the morning, talking to everyone he comes across and is charming to each of them. He is being pulled in a million different directions and never loses his compusure, even with a 20-year-old student following him around.
As we enter the twelfth hour of the day, I walk over to him and ask, “Do you do this stuff every day?” He responds with a smile, “This is pretty standard for me.”
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