S4E10: A Retired Administrator Reflects Back on His Years of Service to Ball State | (Don Mikesell, Graduate and Dean of Students Emeritus)

Don Mikesell served as Ball State's dean of students from 1985 to 2001. Before he was an administrator at our university, Don was both an undergraduate and graduate student on our campus. 

In this episode, Don reminisces about what Ball State was like when he first enrolled in 1956. From Greek life to helping adopt a more relaxed student dress code (believe it or not, khakis were controversial at the time!), Don was an involved and engaged Cardinal. Don also reflects on the mentors who shaped his professional career—a career defined by his outstanding service to our University.

If you enjoy this episode, please leave a review to support the show. 

Transcript

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Hello, I'm Geoff Mearns and I have the good fortune to serve as the president here at Ball State University. I'm ending this fourth season of my podcast with a special guest, whose personal history with our university spans almost 70 years. 

My guest today is Don Mikesell. Don served as Ball State's dean of students from 1985 to 2001. Before he was an administrator at our university, Don was both an undergraduate and graduate student on our campus. So we'll discuss his experiences as a Ball State student at a time when our campus and our institution looked much different than it does today. Over the course of his lifetime, Don has experienced many of our university's biggest changes, including our official designation as a university in 1965. And now I like to think of Don as a living historian of the people and events that shaped Ball State into the premier public university that we are today. 

I'm grateful that Don agreed to sit down with me for this conversation, as I know that he will share some lesser known stories about Ball State University. I look forward to hearing those stories as well as getting to know him better.

So, Don, it's a pleasure to welcome you to the podcast. Thank you for joining me in this studio this morning.

[DON MIKESELL]

Thank you very much, President Mearns. And it's certainly a privilege for me to be here.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Well, great to have you. So why don't we start closer to the beginning. I understand that you grew up in a small town here in Indiana, the kind of place where everyone knew each other and for the most part, got along pretty well. Tell us about where you were born and where you were raised. And a little bit about your family.

[DON MIKESELL]

I was born and raised in Culver, Indiana, which is a little town, was about 1500 people when I was growing up as a kid. Famous for Lake Maxinkuckee and Culver Military Academy. I did not go to the academy. I went to the local high school. Culver—my family was there. I mean, my aunts and uncles and cousins, and my dad's side of the family were all in the community.

And my mom, who was from Plymouth, Indiana, her family was basically within 40 minutes of where we lived. So we had family all the time, which is vastly different today. An example would be, Carolann and I, our kids live outside of Seattle and Denver. So those opportunities just don't exist for us anymore. But it was a beautiful little town. You knew everybody; it was a very small high school. So if you were a male—and unfortunately, girls didn't have sports back then—but if you were a boy, why, you had the opportunity to participate in everything.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah, you were playing football in the fall—

[DON MIKESELL]

We didn't have football, thank goodness, because I only weighed 135 pounds. But, the basketball, the baseball, the track, and I was mediocre in all of those things, but I was involved. And it was an opportunity to spend time with the team. And that's where you basically learned some fundamental concepts. Had a wonderful boys basketball coach, Ralph Peterson, who graduated from Tulane, and eventually went back as a head coach at Tulane. But Pete was a great influence in my life. And so that continued me down the path to wanting to be a coach and a teacher.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

So you were born in 1938, which means—

[DON MIKESELL]

That’s a long time. [chuckles]

[GEOFF MEARNS]

A few years ago. [chuckles] But it means your childhood, ou were growing up during World War II. How did the war at that time—how did that affect your family? And what were your parents doing during that period of time, as you were a young child growing up?

[DON MIKESELL]

I don't have a lot of recollection, because I was only six. My sister was nine. My brother was two. My father was drafted into the Navy, and he left my mom with three kids. It was pretty tough. My mom's family was there, my dad's family was there. And so everybody kind of helped my mom was a three kids. He was gone for over a year. And then of course, the war ended in ‘45. So, he came back and, I have a little regret in the sense that my father and I, we never talked about—he didn’t want to talk about the war. He was on a transport ship in the Pacific, and their responsibility was to move troops from island to island to island and pick up and drop and pick up and drop. And they were—they were at serious risk a lot of the times. But I only knew that afterwards because in some of the things, when my father died, I got a box of a lot of stuff in it, and one was a log for that ship.

And, lo and behold, you know, they had a torpedo hit the ship, and they wanted to know where my dad named— My dad's name was Donald E. Mikesell. And captain said, Is Mikesell okay? And I read that, and I thought, oh, my God, I had no idea what that meant. But dad came back home and, he worked in the town of Culver, in the street department, and eventually became town marshal. But it was a very difficult time for my mom. But her family was incredibly supportive of our family at the time. 

[GEOFF MEARNS]

In addition to that, about your mother, I understand that she was also not only engaged with family but engaged in the community. Tell us a little bit more about your mother.

[DON MIKESELL]

I have to watch out here, Geoff. I get pretty emotional ... 

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah, we all get emotional talking about our family.

[DON MIKESELL]

She was incredible. She was one of the most caring, giving human beings that I have ever experienced. And I've experienced a lot of those kinds of people. It was not unusual for her to be helping somebody in the neighborhood. Believe it or not, back then, she worked at the State Exchange Bank, a local bank in town. And Mr. Osborne was the owner and the CEO and the attorney. He was everything. And he actually provided breakfast and lunch for the employees every day of the week. And so my mom was the cook, and she did it for many, many years. And she did the banquets and she did all kinds of thing. She was an exceptional cook. But other than that, she was just—she was the .... my dad was the disciplinarian. I can relate to that a little bit. [chuckles] I experienced some of that, as a matter of fact, and rightfully so. But mom was the one that just ... she always made you feel comfortable and, always supported the three — I have two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. And we're all very different. And I think that's true in most families. But my mom never treated either one of us in a way in which there's favoritism. You know, you did something wrong, there were consequences. If you did something good, there was a lot of support and encouragement. But she was an incredibly special lady, man.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

So let's move to Ball State now. You were not just the first in your immediate family to go to college, but even in your extended family to go to college.

[DON MIKESELL]

Correct.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

What attracted you or what inspired you to go to college? And what attracted you to come here to Ball State?

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, I wanted to be a teacher and a coach. That's number one. Number two, there were some friends of mine who were at Ball State. In fact, at that time, they were seniors. And I had great respect for them. And they certainly were kind of an influence in suggesting that I might want to look at Ball State. And so when I did, why I came down and, I'm 17 years old, you know, and, not real sure about what I'm doing or who I am or anything like that at all. But, I certainly have zero regrets about the decision that I made in 1956.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Well, and I think, you know, all of us, when we got to college, on the outside, we may have tried to demonstrate confidence, but I think we all we're finding our way.

[DON MIKESELL]

Absolutely.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

So, finding your way ... when you come to Ball State, it's the fall of, I think, 1956. And the total enrollment was about 3000 students.

[DON MIKESELL]

Correct.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Tell us what it was like on campus when the campus was relatively small. And you know, this just past fall, we enrolled 3700 new freshmen and about, 5 800 graduate students. So a little different. Tell us what it was like back then.

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, again, you're talking about a much smaller environment. You're talking about an environment where you knew a lot of students. Over time, you certainly got acquainted with a lot of the students from all kinds of different fraternities and sororities or whatever it was. But I moved into Elliott Hall in the fall of ’56 in room 203. I had two roommates, one from South Bend Riley and one from South Bend Adams.  Great guys, but they came from high schools that were almost bigger than my town, my hometown of Culver. But Keith and Smitty were just great guys. We lived on the second floor in Elliott, where several Theta Chis lived. And at the other end, Sig Taus lived. And this other floor, Sig Epps lived. I mean, fraternity housing was not much. So we got acquainted with these guys, and we—Keith and Smitty and I—the three of us decided to pledge Theta Chi, which proved to be an incredibly rewarding experience for me. It got me ... I was very quiet, kid. And it got me to the point where I got involved, I had different offices, I participated, the camaraderie was amazing. And, it was a real, real positive experience for me.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

So, I want to talk about, have you talk about, maybe somebody who influenced your life? It's my understanding from our conversations, you had a mentor here at Ball State who really encouraged you to enroll in graduate school. Probably something you didn't think about when you started here, wasn't really probably on your radar as an undergraduate student. Who was that person and how did he really shape your future path as a not just a young professional, but as an educator yourself?

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, as I said earlier, I wanted to be a teacher and a coach, so that had been my dream. And a gentleman by the name of Neil Rude was director of Wagoner Hall. And we were on the quarter system, so I think, around December, he contacted me and asked me if I ever thought about going to graduate school.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Was this your senior year?

[DON MIKESELL]

Yeah, my senior year. And I said, no, I haven't thought about going to graduate school. I'm going to go on to be a teacher and a coach. And he said, well, I have an assistantship here in Wagoner Hall, and I'd love for you to consider it. And I said, no, I'm going to be a teacher and a coach. And February came along and he approached me again and I still said, no. And I'm not sure why, but he came back in April. He chose not to fill that position, I really believe that. And so he offered again and I said yes. So in ‘61, I was a graduate assistant in Wagoner Hall, with about 440 mostly freshmen. And trust me, it was an incredible experience.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

So what do you think he saw in you that caused him to be persistent and what was it about that evolved with you that on the third occasion you said, yes?

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, as an undergraduate, I was very involved in a lot of things on the campus. And again, I'm not bragging, but I was I was involved in a lot. 

[GEOFF MEARNS]

So you blossomed from that kind of quiet person, over those three years—

[DON MIKESELL]

Oh yeah. In fact, I'll go back. When I was a sophomore, two things. I had a Speech 210 class. And before that class, pardon me, folks, I had to go to the restroom. And I won't say I threw up, but I'd say I really had a difficult time. And so then I processed that and went back into the classroom, and I gave a speech. And I had to do that, in the quarter, I think I had to do it three times, which was a frightening experience for me. But I did it. And I reflect on that a lot because then I went on to, I emceed Miss Ball State. I did all kinds of things that I would have never done otherwise, but I didn't let that get me. And I forget who the professor was. But in addition to that, that same year I had a psych class with Doctor Beyerl, and I was getting headaches and I just wasn't feeling good. So after class one day, I asked if I could see him and he said absolutely. So I went and talked to him and he said, well, first and foremost, you need to go to the health center. And I did that. And then, we kind of didn't have a super relationship. But he really became kind of important in my life in a way in which I didn't know at the time. I had no idea at all. So those things made a tremendous difference to me.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah. So tell us a little bit about that first job in the residence halls. You started in Wagoner. Did you then work in other residence halls on campus?

[DON MIKESELL]

Right. After I finished the year in Wagoner. You know, we just dedicated North Hall and changed the name to Beyerl. Well, I was the director of North Hall. It was at the corner of McKinley and Riverside, where currently Teachers College sits. There were two Army barracks, North and South Hall, and so I was the director of North Hall for a year.

In ‘62, we opened Noyer. And so, I was asked to be the director of Howick Hall. And it was a coed hall, okay? It was coed in the sense that we had boys and girls in the same facility, even though they were very separate buildings. And the only thing coed about it was dining in a lounge. Well, some people in the community thought it was much more than that. It was pretty funny, to be honest. [laughs] And so it was a coed hall, which in today's world is not coed at all. [GEOFF: Right.] And I did that for three years. And then Doctor Bishop was the director of housing. And in ’65 ... well, the great thing that happened in ‘64 was I married my wife, Carolann, and in May of ‘65, our son was born in Howick Hall, which is—

[GEOFF MEARNS]

In the residence hall?

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, no, we got to the hospital. 

[GEOFF MEARNS]

[laughs] You got to the hospital. Okay, okay... I was going to say, that would have been an unusual experience on a college campus. 

[DON MIKESELL]

Trust me, as I recall, Carolann and I walked a lot the day that she went to the hospital, but Todd was born there, and so those two things are very, very special for our family. And, I treasure those things a lot.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah. ‘65, I think, was also the year that Ball State officially became a university. [DON: Correct.] So the university was born and so was your son.

[DON MIKESELL]

That's correct, that's correct.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

So, a few years later, you and Carolann go down to Bloomington for you to get your doctorate down at IU. Is that right?

[DON MIKESELL]

Correct.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

But then you came back to Ball State. Why did you come back after earning your doctorate?

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, at the time, you know, I had done some interviewing, in Colorado and Virginia and Jack Beyerl called me and said, I would like for you to come back to Ball State. I'd like to talk to you about a possibility of a job. So, Carolann and I talked, and we came back and the job was director of student affairs research and coordinator of the graduate program and student affairs administration.

A gentleman by the name of Dr. Mort Dunham had done that, but Mort didn't want to do it anymore. He was in the counseling center, and so I came back and interviewed, and Jack offered me the job and I accepted it. I am not a researcher, but he was passionate about wanting to know as much about our students as he possibly could.

And, so I did this for ten years. We surveyed our students. We did telephone surveys. I had my staff secretary hire these kids, and they were telephone interviewers. And we'd put together the survey, working with the admissions office or the registrar's office or the evaluating program or whatever it was. And we'd put together a survey and we'd get that information and and I'd analyze it and write up a report, give it back to Jack and the people that we did it for. And it gave them feedback on how students perceived their office, how they felt about the office. And then we did an all a lot of attitude stuff. You know, where are our students today. How do they feel about this? And a third of them were Democrats. A third of them were Republicans. And a third of them were whatever independent means. You know, we kept track of that annually. And he really valued that a lot. So I did that for ten years.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

So a couple questions— I want to ask a couple more questions about Jack Beyerl. Tell us more about your working with him, what influence that had on your career. And then, as you recall, back in 2023, we named one of those newest residence , North Hall, in in his honor. Tell us, you and I were there together that day. So tell us a little bit more about him and what that meant to you that day in 2023.

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, when he became a university in ’65, all of a sudden we had vice presidents. We didn't have them before then. And Jack became vice president for student affairs. And in his early years, when you go back and look at disabled students, minority students, the health of students, mental health of students, he was involved in creating the counseling center.

He was involved in creating and building the health center. The health center was, when I was a freshman, was in Ball Gym. And then we moved it to Lucina Hall, in the lower, the ground level, of the north end of the building, which later became the housing office. And when you look at those—he was extremely instrumental in not only creating but supporting those kinds of responses to help students. I never felt, in all the years I worked for Dr. Beyerl, and I'm not going to call him Dr. Beyerl anymore, I'm gonna call him Jack. I never felt like I worked for him. I always felt like I worked with him, and I think that was a general consensus of most of our people. The team that he—he was adamant about hiring people to do a job and then letting them do their job. He was absolutely the furthest thing from a micromanager that you could ever imagine. But you better do the job. And, I mean, you certainly were held accountable. That wasn't an issue at all. But he just he had faith in you. He supported you. If something went awry once in a while, yeah, you had some pretty direct conversations. But he was pretty amazing in that sense, really.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Giving you responsibility, but also holding you accountable—

[DON MIKESELL]

Absolutely.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Did that shape how you managed? Because you continued to progress through the division ... is that—did you try to model that kind of behavior with the people who worked for you?

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, absolutely. And one of the things that I have zero tolerance for is leaders who manage by fear, leaders who are intimidating, leaders who go out of their way to insult—I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me. You don't treat people that way.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

And it's a short term strategy.

[DON MIKESELL]

It's a very short term strategy. And, that's who he was. Those were his behaviors. And so if some of that rubbed off on me and I'm not sure a lot of it rubbed off on me because that's kind of the person that I am, you know, but, he was just great to work with. A terrific guy. 

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah. So one of your responsibilities here on campus when you were dean of students was handling student disciplinary matters. What did that process look like in the 1980s and 1990s?

[DON MIKESELL]

Very different than it is today [chuckles], as Mike Gillilan would tell you. Well, when I was dean of students, I had public safety and parking reporting to me, I had a health center reporting to me. I still continued to direct the graduate program. And then I had discipline—and the discipline process was set up so that, the vice president of our student association was co-chair of the discipline committee. And that vice president—great kids. I won't mention names, but just great kids. And my secretary, we don't use that word anymore, but I want to mention secretaries because Pat Studebaker was number one, first one. Jerry Lee was number two, second one. Elaine Johnson was number three, and Philann Louis was number four. And those folks, made me look good all the time. All the time. So they made all the arrangements. I would accumulate a stack of folders, you know, five, ten, 15, 20 folders. And, Philann and or whoever it was would call whoever the vice president was. They’d come in with an appointment, we'd sit down at the desk, and I showed the folders, and we would talk about each one—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. How are we going to deal with this, whatever it is? Well, I think it ought to be a conversation with the dean and a probation. Okay, that didn't require much. I think, maybe in addition to probation, it ought to be some kind of community service attached. Or no, this is serious enough we need a hearing from a committee.

 So I had seven students and seven faculty members on a committee. My secretary would pull usually three and three, plus myself. So we had at least a at least five, maybe seven people every time for a hearing. I held the hearings most of the time in the Student Center because of the Ad Building. I didn't think that communicated the right thing. So we'd meet in the Student Center, all the people, and there could be several people show up because there might be witnesses or whatever. It was. So you process all this, you listen to everything, and it's not beyond a reasonable doubt. It's a preponderance of evidence. Difficult. Really difficult. Some of them were just matter of fact, simple. But the most difficult ones we dealt with were sexual assaults. Simply because I'll say 95% of the time alcohol was involved in both parties. No witnesses. You get to the point where you say to yourself, well, I really believe her. I really want to go there, but you just didn't have enough to make that commitment.

That was really hard. Today, I don't know what it's like, but those were absolutely the most difficult things to process. And there are times in my, in my mind where I'm sorry, young man, I just know you're guilty. But I can't arrive at the decision to suspend you because, I just there's not enough, you know? [GEOFF: Right.] In fact, I probably shouldn't say this, but I had a young man one time, and I just knew damn good and well that he was guilty. But myself and the committee didn't feel comfortable with the evidence that we had to make that judgment. So I asked my secretary to call him and make an appointment with him. And, he came in and I was very matter of fact and very direct. And in a terrible way, I said to him, young man, I believe you're guilty. We didn't find you guilty. I would encourage you never to have to come back to my office again, which is a terrible thing to do. Obviously, that kind of ticked him off and he got up, slammed the door and left, and I think he left the university. I didn't feel bad about that at all.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah ... so on the flip side of it, you know, as you were saying, certain things have changed on our campus physically and the size of the campus. But my sense is that the character of our students, the vast majority of our students, is so very positive. And you, over the course of your long and fulfilling career, you met so many of those students, had the privilege of working with so many of them. Just tell us about a couple of them, maybe not necessarily by name or by individuals, but those highlights—you were talking about some of the most challenging times—tell us about some of the most rewarding times of working with our students.

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, I don't know where I want to go with that, Geoff. My God, there are so many neat experiences. Some of the more significant ones would have been related to the discipline process because of those young men and women who had a responsibility as a vice president. I mean, it was difficult for them, you know, incredibly difficult for them.

And so for them to be willing to not only push to participate from the beginning to the end. In a way, you get really well acquainted with them. I spent a lot of time with kids. A couple of examples: our African-American students, our Greek sororities and fraternities. They sponsored dances, back in the 90s, 80s ... and they would do that off campus. Well, you got two, three, 400 kids, you know, and I didn't like that. So I convinced Dr. Beyerl and the Student Center administration to make the ballroom available on weekends during the wintertime. Well, the ballroom, and again, the Greek sororities and fraternities sponsored this, it was a fundraiser for them. And, they—3, 4, 500 kids in the ballroom, you know, and they're not out there in the community in a house somewhere. So, that was certainly, I think, a very significant thing that I was able to accomplish. I always felt like I was the dean of all students. I'm not naive. I'm sure there's some students who would not believe that. But I went out of my way to try to be as fair as I could possibly be. Mike Gilliland, for example, I met with him a few years ago, just out of curiosity. He spends most of his time with attorneys and parents. I never spent any time with attorneys, and I rarely spent any time with parents.

I have serious questions about—I don't want to condemn parents today. That's not what I'm saying. But it's okay. Your kid gets in trouble once in a while and it's going to happen. The world doesn't come to an end. So why do you have to rescue him? And I'll say him all the time—because I didn't discipline very many women. Why do you feel you have to do that? He did what he did. And for you to come in here and argue in a different way? No, he did what he did. And we're going to hold him accountable, okay?

[GEOFF MEARNS]

And that's how we all grow.

[DON MIKESELL]

I think. Yeah, but no, I wouldn't want my child to have that experience or I wouldn’t want my child to hear something that might be offense, okay? I wouldn't do well in the environment today, Geoff. [laughs]

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah, that culture has changed. So I have a couple other questions. You've been retired from Ball State now for almost 25 years—

[DON MIKESELL]

A long time.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah. So what inspires you, and also Carolann, what inspires the two of you to remain as engaged as you both are at our university. I see you at events on campus. I see you at sporting events and other events. Why do you keep coming back to Ball State so frequently?

[DON MIKESELL]

Now you're going to get me emotional. 

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Yeah. People want to hear. 

[DON MIKESELL]

We love the place. You know, my wife and I benefited greatly from being students here. Because of our relationship with other students, our relationships with faculty and staff. I mean, it helped us become what we have become today. And the thing that I miss most in my retirement is relationships with students. And I think about coming out here sometimes and volunteering, but I can't make myself do that.

We love living in Muncie. We think Muncie ought to get a hell of a lot more credit than it does. We totally love the performing arts and sports and student events— I mean, student events and things of that kind. And I won't say it keeps us younger because it doesn't. I'm still going to be 87 soon, you know, but, it's just—it's been an important place in our life, and it's always going to be an important place in our life, and there's nothing that's going to happen. I mean, I'll hear something from .... There aren't too many people I know here anymore. I said that to these young people when I came in, I used to know almost everybody. I used to know a lot of people. [GEOFF: Sure.] And it's just a special, special place in our life, and we value that very much. 

[GEOFF MEARNS]

This is a special place. And for me, as you know, one of the things that truly makes it special is our values, the enduring values of Ball State University that are represented by Beneficence.

And as you know, beneficence is essentially doing good for other people through service and philanthropy. So as you reflect on your career at Ball State, and your continued engagement at Ball State, what does beneficence mean to you?

[DON MIKESELL]

Well, it's kind of interesting you asked. You know, the enduring values, which I hear you speak about a lot, I’d really have to say to you that it began with my mom and dad. My mom and dad were certainly very representative and active, and in behaving in relation to the values that you talk about. That's really who they were. And they had that kind of influence on me. When I was a student here, Benny was just Benny. I've heard you talk more about beneficence and what it means than I ever heard anybody talk about it, even when I worked here, really. I mean, you have taken that and communicated it in terms of its real truth and value in a way in which I think is wonderful, okay?

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Thank you. 

[DON MIKESELL]

I just, when I go back as a student, I mean, I just had so many positive things happen to me. I mean, as I said, I was in Theta Chi fraternity, but I had friends in Sig Ep and Lambda Chi and Phi Sig and Sig Tau, I mean, you know, but as you said earlier, there weren't many of us. We supported our fraternity brothers. Well, they were on the football team. They were on the basketball team. They were on the track team. They were on the wrestling team. They were on the swimming team, you know, baseball team. And so for 20, 30 guys to show up and support me, it was just common and normal. And that kind of camaraderie, and those kinds of relationships and interpersonal relationships, I think served me very well when I was undergraduate. But it's interesting because I really I hear you talk a lot about enduring values, and I really believe in those. But it's kind of interesting, I knew Dr. Emens pretty well, the Emens family as matter of fact. And, I'm sure he did, but I don't remember that at all.

In fact, my first relationship with Dr. Emens. I was a sophomore and, the year before, I lived in Elliott Hall. And I was on the food committee, and we had a decision to make. We talked about dress codes, because dress codes were important part of our life. You know, coat and tie. Well, the committee made a decision that the next year we could wear khakis.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Oh, my gosh.

[DON MIKESELL]

Wear khakis. So what did you do over the summer time? You bought some khakis. We came back and lo and behold, they wouldn't serve us because we were not properly dressed. Well, the rumors were rampant. There was going to be a food fight, and Mikesell was the guy—

[GEOFF MEARNS]

The rumor was you were going to instigate the food fight?

[DON MIKESELL]

Correct. And so I got called into the director's office and in no uncertain terms, if there's going to be a food fight, you're not going to be a student here. And I said, I don't know what you're—I don't have any idea what you're talking about. So I left that office. I went across the street into the Ad Building. I went to President Emen’s office and I said, May I see Dr. Emens? Yes you may. I went in to see Dr. Emens, and I told him the story. He got on the phone, called Ken Kayer, who was the dean of men, upstairs. Would you come down here? And Ken came down.

 “Don says this, this, this, this, this. So would you follow up and check on it and see if it's true?” And he did, and it was true. And so we got to wear khaki pants. So thank you, Dr. Emens.

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Well thank you, Don. Thank you for sharing your experiences here, your reflections here. As I said a moment ago, this is a very special place. And we're all fortunate to be to be a part of it. Thank you, Don. 

[DON MIKESELL]

Thank you very much. And I totally agree with you. And I look forward to several more years, even though my doctor told me recently, at my age, I got 5 to 7 years left, so ....

[GEOFF MEARNS]

Well we’re hoping its five times seven. Thanks, Don. 

[DON MIKESELL]

[laughs] Thank you very much.