Inquiry • President
F. King Alexander stops by at dinnertime
to chat with faculty. King frequently
checks in with students and staff to
make sure they are getting the most
out of college. Tracey Roman /Online
Forty-Niner
Baller • Keeping up with the guys and showing them a
move or two, President F. King Alexander regularly plays basketball with students
at Murray State University’s recreation center. Tracey Roman / Online
Forty-Niner
Alexander
considered approachable
By
Joseph Serna
Daily Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
MURRAY, Ky.—In a community like this, no one locks their doors at night—not
even the president of the university.
In Southern California a man passed out in a child’s toy room may be
cause for arrest, attack or panic. At Murray State University, F. King Alexander,
the soon-to-be president at Cal State Long Beach, said he just saw a mistake
by a student.
“
Could we arrest him? Yeah. Would it have been the right thing to do? No,” Alexander
said. “It’s a small town, we don’t want him to get arrested
and ruin the rest of his life.”
Earlier this month, Alexander and his housekeeper told of a run-in with a fraternity
member who happened to wander his way into Alexander’s on-campus house
and pass out in the upstairs toy room—only paces away from the bedrooms
of his two daughters, Madison, 6, and Savannah, 9.
Alexander said he was awoken by Savannah.
“
Daddy, there’s a man sleeping in the toy room,” he said she told
him.
The student had no record, was in good standing with the university and was
exceedingly apologetic to Alexander, who asked the student to leave.
Alexander then requested campus security catch up with the student and question
him.
The student was a rugby player for Murray State who suffered a concussion earlier
that day and was so disoriented he didn’t know where he was going—his
teammates verified he had suffered a concussion.
No charges were pressed, and he was let go.
“
He made a mistake. You have to take it case by case,” Alexander said.
Reminiscent of CSULB President Robert C. Maxson’s relationship with students
on campus, a stroll across Murray State with Alexander might be delayed more
than a few times by students approaching him with issues.
No matter whom Alexander is with, he will give everyone the time of day.
He carries index cards to take notes when students approach him with problems.
He shakes their hands, looks them in the eye and listens.
At the end of the conversation, he always says, “drop by the office,” so
he can take care of whatever they need.
“
I don’t want them to think of me as a president,” Alexander said. “I
want them to think I can help.”
Alexander is extremely involved with the student body, and has been spotted
often in the recreation center, sinking jump shots and making no-look passes
against members of the student body.
“
Everybody knows who he is,” said Tomisin Elelu, an MSU chemistry student.
While Elelu watched from the side as Alexander hustled down the court with
students, other people walked by and would ask, “Is that King?”
King so familiar with students they call him by his first name and recognize
him right away.
“
He’s like the eighth wonder of the world at Murray State,” Elelu
said.
On
occasion, he may be a wonder for other
cultures as well.
“
Coming from Africa, [playing basketball
with students] is not something you expect
to see from the president,” said
Daniel Gachoka, a pre-med student from
Kenya.
His best memory of Alexander is when the international students were competing
on teams amongst themselves and
Alexander came out to watch.
“It
gave it legitimacy,” Gachoka said.
According to students, faculty and staff, the most defining characteristic
that sets Alexander apart from his predecessor at Murray State, his father
Kern Alexander, is communication.
“
The thing about King is, he had a tuition forum that actually showed
the students where their money goes,” said Scott Ellison, president
of the student government association.
When students were upset over the rise in tuition, Alexander held two open
forums for them explaining the process of
where the money goes, and why it was needed, Ellison said.
“
King has been very inclusive with the faculty,” said Jim Carter,
vice president for Institutional Advancement. “[The faculty] have
appreciated the level of communication.”
Alexander said he adopted the philosophy that people will rally around results
they can see and understand. If they don’t agree with a decision, as
long as they understand why it was made, complaints are few and far between,
he said.
“He
may not agree [with your opinion], but
he’ll listen to you,” said
Gary Brockway, provost and vice president
of Academic Affairs.
Finding a detractor from the “everybody-loves-Alexander” attitude
is nearly impossible, with students, faculty, alumni and the community appreciative
of his philosophy toward the university.
“This consensus didn’t happen by accident,” said Pete Waldrop,
an alumnus of Murray State. “It happened naturally.”
If there are any who know the chinks in his armor, it is those closest to him.
One chink may be his decorating taste, as Paula Benefiel, his housekeeper,
pointed out when eyeing the mismatched chairs and couches in Alexander’s
office.
“
Look at all this, none of it goes together,” she said
One item Alexander’s office features is a lime-green, scuffed-and-cracked,
stuffing-coming-out-of-the-seams recliner.
No matter how many times Benefiel offers to get it upholstered, Alexander refuses.
He lives on Diet Mountain Dew, loves his green chair and enjoys sitting by
the fire, provided it is real firewood, she said.
One of the first changes he made when moving into the president’s house
at Murray State was to remove the gas fireplace for one where he can’“hear
the crackle of real wood.”
That change aside, Alexander said when he stepped into Murray State he was
too respectful to immediately start making changes. Instead he evaluated what
his predecessor left, and then decided where to continue and where to change
the direction of the school.
“
I’m not one that goes and shakes things up.”
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