I realize that most people don’t even know the name of their university president and definitely could not point to the guy if

they saw him. Dr. Diether Haenicke, president of Western Michigan University, was different. During the first days of every school year, while parents and students were busily moving their belongings back into their dorm rooms, Dr. Haenicke would drive around in his golf cart greeting students and parents. He was warm and friendly and you would think that he was in charge of a small high school instead of a large state university. It was important to him that the school truly felt like a home away from home and so the grounds were immaculately kept with fresh flowers constantly being planted, shrubs trimmed and grass mowed. He kept open office hours where anybody could come and talk to him about anything and these hours were published in the student newspaper every semester. It was during these open office hours that my friend Kym and I went to visit him.

At the time we worked for the residence hall system and as a staff that had faced everything from a suicide to drunken brawls we were feeling under appreciated. We went to Dr. Haenicke’s office in order to garner more benefits for student employees. Dr. Haenicke greeted us and invited us to sit down. His office was large and warm but not ostentatious. We firmly laid out our complaint. We worked long hours, we handled tough situations AND we were students and although our room and board was paid for that just didn’t seem like enough. Our argument was weak, but Dr. Haenicke never let on that he knew that. He carefully listened and then in his heavy German accent said, “So, you vould like more varm fuzzies no?” Kym and I smiled at each other, giggled, and said “yes.” He perked up, called in his assistant and in a most serious tone said “Please note that ve must plan a special dinner for a student staff.” He then turned to Kym and I and said, “Vill that be okay?” We nodded silently. He stood up, shook our hands and said “my little vhiners. Ok, ve vill do this.” Three months later the entire university student staff was invited to a catered dinner and free tickets to see Bill Cosby live. From that moment on, whenever Kym and I saw Dr. Haenicke he would hug us and say, “my little vhiners”.

Dr. Haenicke loved being president, he loved Western Michigan University, and he loved his students. You would see him everywhere and he was always excited to see you. This past Sunday Dr. Haenicke died. It feels strange to shed tears over somebody that I knew so little but his influence was felt everywhere while I was in college. He was a great educator, a wonderful administrator and WMU was lucky to have him as a president.