I dropped in on President Herbst and asked her if she’s into Drake

Behind all the anonymity, memes and hashtags of social media, everyone has been itching to give our university’s president, Susan Herbst a piece of their mind.

The question is though, behind the safe haven and space of your cellphone screen, do you have the balls to talk to the Chief of Huskies when given the chance?

I put myself to the test.

Out of impulse I headed on over to Gully hall, the office of the president for a one on one session with Herbst herself as part of her open office hours. Needless to say, with an available time slot from 12.30 to 2.30 with no reservations needed, there was barely anyone there.

Entering the lion’s den

The meeting was very informal and relaxed. I was in front of Susan Herbst (well along with her job shadows too).

Icebreakers are always fun. So why not see how well our president can handle the heat of Drizzy.

Do you listen to Drake, the rapper?

“No…”

So if I were to ask you a lyric question, I would just want to know what your first thought would be when I ask you. So like, the lyric is ‘I know when that Hotline Bling, that could only mean one thing’. So I want to know what do you think that means?

“When the hotline bling, that could only mean one thing? I think it means like those amber alerts.”

When she discovered that it’s essentially a booty call via the useful tool of Rap Genius, she was surprisingly a good sport about it and shared a laugh. Let’s just say Herbst is giving Drake a try tonight and I get the bragging rights to say I put her on to Six God.

“I’m teaching this semester and I haven’t taught in a while and so I teach a political science class and so I want to appear really you know, hip… I’m so not on the Drake wave right now.”
#thankssusan 

Herbst admitted that she also has given her very own trending topic a look once or twice. While she’s a good sport about the jokes, there are some she feels pushes the limits a little too far.

“Someone would take some picture of something really disgusting in the dining hall, thanks Susan. Like I think that is in a good spirit but it can get as social media can. It can get very mean and very strange and you know I guess in general as a political scientist, somebody who studies public discourse, I don’t think the mean especially the anonymous is productive for the campus or anybody and it makes people not want to read this stuff.”

President Herbst is the next Chef Ramsey

Closing up the conversation, I asked what exactly is a typical weekend like for Susan Herbst?

When she isn’t doing a ton of UConn-affiliated events and meetings, Herbst is out here trying to catch up with the gym heads on campus.

“I have to exercise because otherwise I would be really fat. You know those people on the low carb and no carb diets? I’m on the pro-carb, all carb diet. Oh and I cook too.”

What’s her favorite dish?

She makes chocolate scones and according to her, “they’re really great.”

Are there plans for her own cooking show in the near future?

“If this whole thing doesn’t work out, cooking show. I don’t even know if I would air it but I would make episodes. That’s the excitement.”

Love her or hate her, our president is always open to hear your thoughts face to face.

Thanks Susan.