President Bill Perry was on hand Thursday in the National Panhellenic Council Hall to share a bite to eat and exchange a few words with students as part of “Pizza With the Pres” event.

The event, organized by the student government and co-sponsored by the Black Student Union and the National Panhellenic Council, provided students and the president with a forum where they could engage with one another, one-on-one or as a group.

Lesley Winslow, president of the National Panhellenic Council, asked the president how students in Greek Life could become more engaged with sporting events on campus.

Perry said that Eastern football coaches might come to the residences on campus to make a personal connection with the students.

“If you reach out in a sincere way, when the times comes to say ‘hey, come out to a game’ you’ll be more likely to attend,” he said.

Perry said student organizations could also try to organize community service projects prior to sporting events as a means of raising attendance at games and bringing awareness to important issues.

“I’ve seen it work at other universities,” he said. “But every university is different.”

Andre Allen, president of the Black Student Union, asked if Perry would be willing to participate in a basketball game where faculty would play against students.

“If we could get a game together for charity or community service, I’d get out there,” Perry said. “We just got to have the EMTs (emergency medical technicians) out there too.”

Several students raised concerns about the university’s ability to provide financial aid and benefits in light of fiscal difficulties in the Illinois state government.

Perry said the university anticipated the state difficulties and will continue to provide students with as much financial aid as possible to avoid student debt.

“Last year we helped out with internal funds not spent yet,” Perry said.

Perry said the financial concerns on a national level have left some people questioning the value versus the costs associated with higher education.

“People are talking about higher education today the way they talked about health care 15 or 20 years ago,” Perry said. “They said ‘It’s expensive, it’s important, and we don’t understand how it works.'”

One student raised concerns about the quality of professors’ teaching ability in the mathematics department. Perry said staff members are reviewed annually by their department heads who take student evaluations into consideration. Perry said as a teacher himself, he would take student evaluations as a time to reflect.

“When students evaluated me, I always sweated it,” Perry said. “You always look for ways to improve.”

President Perry also turned to students at the event to answer questions the university administration are addressing concerning attracting new undergraduates.

Students suggested a myriad of solutions, from overnight stays during the summer to letting high school students attend one day of classes on campus.

Perry said he was interested in hearing what current Eastern attendees were attracted to when they began looking for colleges and what the university should promote.

“When I was looking at colleges, I skipped over academics and went straight to student life,” Winslow said. “We have a beautiful campus, so let’s show it off.”

Aseret Gonzalez, vice president for academic affairs, said the conversational dialog between the students and Perry made this “Pizza with the Pres” a greater success than previous attempts at the event.

“Last time he was floating around more and asking students questions,” Gonzalez said. “Everyone got to ask questions this time.”

Gonzalez said the students surprised her with the quality of questions the students asked.

“They were well informed,” she said. “They were asking very specific questions.”

Gonzalez said she looks forward to planning future “Pizza With the Pres” events, with the next one focusing on Eastern’s non-traditional student

population.

Andrew Crivilare can be reached at 581-2812 or

at ajcrivilare@eiu.edu.