A Conversation about Ohio University and the Presidency, 1975–1994 by Charles J. Ping

Author:Charles J. Ping [Ping, Charles J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9780965074391
Google: RmwWAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 2014-11-01T00:23:43+00:00

President Ping accepting an award for undergraduate education on behalf of Ohio University from Governor Richard Celeste.

SC:Right.

CP:He generally only taught one class, or occasionally more than one, and he stayed in the residence halls. When he came here, we had planned a reception at the end of his visit. He was to be delivered to my office, so I could escort him to the reception.

He came to Cutler Hall, and he said, “Charlie, is it all right if I close the door because I want to talk to you for a minute?” I said, “Sure.” We sat down, and he said, “I have one basic question.” I said, “All right.” He said, “How do you manage to dupe all these students? Here you are, there are not one hundred universities your size or larger, and all these kids think that they’re on a small college campus. Now there’s something different about the life here. How do you do it?” I laughed, and I said, “I don’t know. But I’m pleased to have that shared with me,” and we talked for some time about factors that contributed to it. I think the faculty-student interaction is the key. Then we went on to the reception.

SC:You also did at least once, maybe more, take foreign trips with Celeste—

CP:Yes.

SC:as part of the state economic development? In fact, maybe traveled to China?

CP:Yes. Well, it was by invitation of the governor. Basically, the party that was put together was businesspeople, and Governor Celeste asked me to travel with them. I’m not quite sure why, but I think university presidents, at the time, were certainly considered decorative in China. I enjoyed it because I got to know a whole group of businesspeople, and I got to know well both Dick Celeste and his wife.

Those long, long plane rides. I remember on one of the trips when we flew directly from Columbus to Shanghai. We changed planes in Seattle and in Tokyo, and then we arrived in Shanghai. The governor’s aide came back to where I was seated and said, “Charlie, the plane’s a little late, and we have a dinner engagement in Shanghai, which is going to be optional for all the businesspeople in the party, but it’s not optional for you. You go.” I said, “Okay.”

SC:[laughs]

CP:You know after that kind of a trip, you’re sort of bleary eyed and vague. So I went into the lavatory and tried to shave and clean up as best I could and pulled a clean shirt out of my carry-on luggage and went to dinner.

Our host was the parent of a prominent architect in Cleveland. The family had been a very prosperous family in Shanghai, and the house, a palatial home in its heyday, must have been an absolutely spectacular sight. The Communist government had decided that this was too much space for one family, so ten families had been allotted space to live in this house. It had been misused and abused, but now the new regime had returned it back to the family.

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