DAY IN THE LIFE OF PRESIDENT JIM WOHLPART

Students see him everywhere, answering for the university in every way, but we don’t get to know the Jim behind President James A. Wohlpart through our time at school. Find out what life is like for our president, what he thinks about trees and why “Wednesday” is one of his favorite shows.

Read along as Katherine Camarata and Yohanes Goodell, lead editor and photo editor of The Observer, follow President Wohlpart for a day to get this behind the scenes look.

A look inside Jim’s office and mind

According to cornhole connoisseur and tree-loving diplomat President James Wohlpart, the most President Wohlpart thing about him is “the fact that I like to be called Jim.”

That’s because Jim doesn’t think in an hierarchical way so much as a systemic way, he says.

“I recognize that the person who collects the trash is just as important as I am,” Wohlpart says. “I mean, imagine if none of our trash got collected. We wouldn’t be able to function. I want everybody to remember why we’re here, which is not because of some president who’s doing x, y or z, it’s because of the students, and we’re here to help the students, faculty and staff learn and grow and become the best person that they are.”

Upon entering Jim’s office, a round table featuring a basket of shells and stones aside some braided sweetgrass atop a snow-dyed cloth greets guests as an emblem of Jim’s connection to tradition and ceremony.