Have you ever met someone whose spirit is so infectious that you can't help but feel uplifted in their presence? Chip Murdock from Wilmington College is precisely that kind of individual. In our latest episode, he shares his extraordinary journey and insights on empowering young people with love and respect. His philosophy, shaped by gratitude, joy, and a surprising career shift from music to education, casts a new light on the power of authenticity and dedication in students' lives.
Our conversation with Chip unfolds his unique path, marked by resilience and adaptability, as he moved from delivering pizzas to becoming a beacon for diversity and unity on campus. The stories he shares are not just his own but a mirror reflecting the generational shifts and the challenges faced by today's youth, especially in the pandemic era. It's a compelling look at how patience and understanding are crucial to unlocking the potential within the Gen Z population and how vital it is to support them with the same fervor as a family does.
As we wrap up, Chip gets personal, revealing his aspirations for a post-retirement life filled with music composition and the joy of continuous learning alongside loved ones. His experience reminds us that no matter where life takes us, the essence of family support and the drive to pursue our passions remain integral to personal growth. Tune in to this heartfelt episode to gain a fresh perspective on life's unpredictability and the richness it brings when we embrace it with love and empowerment.
Have you ever met someone whose spirit is so infectious that you can't help but feel uplifted in their presence? Chip Murdock from Wilmington College is precisely that kind of individual. In our latest episode, he shares his extraordinary journey and insights on empowering young people with love and respect. His philosophy, shaped by gratitude, joy, and a surprising career shift from music to education, casts a new light on the power of authenticity and dedication in students' lives.
Our conversation with Chip unfolds his unique path, marked by resilience and adaptability, as he moved from delivering pizzas to becoming a beacon for diversity and unity on campus. The stories he shares are not just his own but a mirror reflecting the generational shifts and the challenges faced by today's youth, especially in the pandemic era. It's a compelling look at how patience and understanding are crucial to unlocking the potential within the Gen Z population and how vital it is to support them with the same fervor as a family does.
As we wrap up, Chip gets personal, revealing his aspirations for a post-retirement life filled with music composition and the joy of continuous learning alongside loved ones. His experience reminds us that no matter where life takes us, the essence of family support and the drive to pursue our passions remain integral to personal growth. Tune in to this heartfelt episode to gain a fresh perspective on life's unpredictability and the richness it brings when we embrace it with love and empowerment.
Aisin' Land. Through it all I've had my own kids. I remember what people have done for me. So through this process of admission process I learned to build a relationship with families and try to love those kids as much or honor the love that their families have for those kids. I've never been able to love them as much as they own, yeah, but I gotta recognize that love. So I always had that approach. Jason, I'm treating every kid like I would, with my kids to be treated and treat them like they were my own kids.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Mic'd Up and Motivated Podcast, where we interview passionate professionals who empower young people, impact lives and create positive change in schools, organizations and communities. I've only never mind them.
Speaker 3:I'm a liar, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker, a smirker. Be myичего, be my mountain base. Thank you for tuning in to the Mic'd Up and Motivated podcast. I'm your host, jason A Dixon, and in this episode I interview Chip Murdoch, who is a Senior Director of Diversity and Campus Activities at Wilmington College in Wilmington Ohio. Brother Chip Murdoch, how you doing? It's great to see you, man. I appreciate you joining us today. You too, you're too great, Miss Coach. Hey, man, again, it's great to see you and I want to start off by just sharing this with the audience and you as well.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you knew this, but every time I play back videos of when I've spoken at Wilmington College, there's maybe like three or four where I'm speaking and I hear you in the background. You're like my cheerleader man. I hear you saying I mean, it's noticeable, anybody that's trying to change it to the video can hear it. I just want to. I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I really appreciate you, man, and just having that encouragement, man, when you speak, it's priceless. So I wanted to share that with you before you get started. Appreciate it, my man, appreciate you, appreciate it, yeah, and I get the feeling, man I know, of Mineralogy. You're that way all the time I've seen you working with students.
Speaker 3:you know, just on campus You're that way all the time. Where does that come from?
Speaker 1:Man, it's my mother, you know, and all the people that have poured into me. You know, through the years and you know, going through life as we all have, I've just been conditioned to have an attitude of gratitude, man, and just appreciate the things around us and the people that have poured into our students, the fact that I've been, the, fact I even wake up. You know what I mean. I think Thursday or last week, you know, I was in the middle of the student center just telling people how happy I was to be alive. Yeah, you know, and it's just it, just, you know, it's a spring inside of my heart. You know, and I think you know, god has placed that joy in my heart.
Speaker 1:Man, for real, and I love to celebrate people and I, you know, I really do, and I get excited when I see others pouring and sharing their gifts. You know, that's what. That's what it's all about, yeah, and it's not about competition, it's not about being threatened or jealous by anybody. It's about opening up our campus, opening up our hearts, open up our heads to others who have things to share. So I think it just makes it stronger, man. So that's kind of stuff that motivates me, jason.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love it and I can attest to it because I've seen it up close and personal and I'll say this as somebody who's been on college campuses you know, and you're the energy and authenticity you bring to what you do I got to say it. You don't see it much, especially on the college campus, from adults. Do you notice that? And is this something like where you say, oh man, you know, I'm a little bit different, you know?
Speaker 1:and Bruh, I tell you, I don't know man, I don't look, I got blinders on sometimes, right, and I don't toot my own horn. Sometimes I feel like I won't call it imposter syndrome, but it's like man, I'm here every day. You know, I'm working in the higher ed and I never try to judge or not even call it judge. But I, you know I come into a relationship with naive thoughts. Right, I'm naive. To believe that everybody is means. Well, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, that same thing. So I don't have time to sort it out and I just go forward, man, and try my best to have fun and have people walk away from me with their dignity and feeling good about life. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. And you can see that I mean it's just your energy is infectious, man. Obviously the students love you. It's inspiring to see so 20 plus years at Wilmington College, right, yeah, yeah 24 years man and counting.
Speaker 1:Actually next March or next month, I'm sorry. In March, on the 20th, I'll be getting my 25th year. Wow.
Speaker 3:Congratulations, congratulations over that and we'll dive into that, man, but I just I want to go back, man, because this is really what you know what the podcast is about humanized our heroes, people who work with young young people and power young people with different spaces and I know a little bit about your story from last time we had a chance to connect. But take me back, man. Okay, how did you? How did you? How did you wind up doing what you're doing right now? Tell me about that journey.
Speaker 1:Wow, you know, brother, I didn't start out with a pursuit, you know, to be in higher ed. I grew up, was born in Cincinnati, grew up in Michigan, the son of a anthropology major at University of Michigan, and this was in the mid 70s, so I'm a product of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and on, right, yeah, and we were up in and our bird during, you know, just post Vietnam, there was a lot of social people. You know, my mother and I were together. It was just us and we were. You know, she was young, so she had me at age 17. So she was figuring things out and we moved up to Michigan for her graduate work, so she was in her mid 20s figuring some things out. So she was taking me to a lot of different places, man, to Indian powwows, to synagogue, to the shrine of the black Madonna in Detroit. You know, just learning about people, right, yeah, and she's a free spirit, so I would meet other folks and I was always didn't realize I was being prepared for this journey at that early age, right, but she was also a singer and and you know, she never had a chance to really get out and be in bands, but she'd always sing at home and she'd have an expansive music library. So I was always tapping into that. Yeah, she moved us away. She graduated in 78.
Speaker 1:And she came home one day, jason, honestly, and said, chip, we need to be near the continental divide. So we're gonna move to Arizona and you can pick the city, but we're gonna move to Arizona. We need to be near our Hispanic and Native American brothers and sisters, we need to be near the continental divide. And I was like I don't even know what the continental divide was. I know nothing about iconic, you know shifts. So only thing I knew in Arizona knew the Phoenix Suns, because I was a little sports geek, okay, and I knew about the Tucson open and I was like, you know, Tucson open sounds cool. I said, how about we go to Tucson? So this is the honest truth, man, we, we, we moved to Tucson for a year and on February of 1979, during my eighth grade year, man, I went to a Santana concert, saved up my allowance. I think it cost me maybe 16 dollars or something to go see Santa Ana in this arena and and the kale center I think was it was the name of it in Tucson University, arizona, mm-hmm. And saw a gentleman come up and do a percussion solo and at that age I knew I was gonna do that the rest of my life. So I just Got into music.
Speaker 1:Wow, we ended up moving back to Michigan and we were near the Ann Arbor FC, detroit area and I begged is just garage band and let me in the group Mm-hmm. Yeah, it took me a long time and I learned my bet, you know, played this at some down-to-summer disco. Yeah, that was a song audition with those bad girls and I did this bongo roll and they let me in and I didn't realize that that that union with that group was gonna Change the course of my life. And I'm not saying that to be dramatic, jason, I'm saying that because the mentorship I have from the manager and and and the head of the band Saved me from getting involved in a lot of things, because that gentleman would come and he had a distinguishable, big, distinguishable red van that he would drive around and pick all of us up who was in the band, all young black men that were in the band, and he would get us after school. You know, a lot of our friends were getting in the dope. They were getting them to sling in like that. Rob Williams will come and pick me up every day, take me to his house after school. Never asked where it died, but we were. We were a good, Good little band man. So that that got me going, right, yeah, so I had some, some, some, some structure. You know, thank you to Jimmy Carter at the time because he has government programs for kids that went to privilege. So I work at the job and had a Jerry curl and all that made it out of high school, went to the army and and Serving in the US Army for a Few years and and after that journey I went off to college and that's when I started studying music.
Speaker 1:Long story short, that music career led to a wonderful career at Pizza Hut where I was a delivery driver for a few years. Right, yeah, fireball offense one, you know, a pizza hut is to run out of gas. Right, and here I am in Oxford, ohio, because my mother had moved from Michigan and start working at Miami University in Ohio. Oh, I'm a shot out to Miami and I Ran out of gas man in the rain and they didn't come business pre cell phone man, you know. So this family all back to the store and they were like a chip we can't come get you, man. We got our delivery over here on Mabel Street or whatever, so I had to walk about four miles in the rain. You know that force game, right? What happened, man, is it hit me and I was like I don't have to do this, I'm gonna go back to grad school.
Speaker 4:This was in August, yeah you know I'm.
Speaker 1:And the next day I'll go into the music department and I Apply. As I go in the music department, say hey, I want to go to grad school here. They say what's your name? I said Charles Murdoch and like chip, I'm like, yeah, they said we've been waiting on you for two years. You apply. Two years ago, you accepted in our composition program. We just never heard from right. Are you kidding me? So all this came to be in the turn of a week. Man, I'll go in there. And I was already accepted. They had discontinued the composition program, but they, they grandfathered me through. Yeah, he said we don't have a grad assistantship for you. But you know what? Go talk to dr Evans in the grad apartment. I go to the grad department. The day I walk in she says we got a fee waiver for you. I went to grad school completely free. The next day after that. I have a mentor, my cause me and said hey, chip, I'm starting the leadership program here in Miami. This is the last. They just gave me an assistantship. This is the last spot. Are you interested? Yes, so I took a grad assistantship at Miami for three years and and what they call MPLP, the minority leadership professional program. So okay for grad school.
Speaker 1:But what it was, jason? That my job had nothing to do a music. My job was to go recruit Black and brown students out of surrounding areas, mainly Hamilton, cincinnati, to come to my their ally or apply sciences. So paper science, engineering, etc. So long story short, fast forward. I Moved to Nashville to go to Tennessee State to study music it. After that I got my master's in Miami but wanted to be near music center. So I went to the last bit, jason. I got called back Up this way because I met my girlfriend at the time who I end up there. So I guess I married my ex-girlfriend, right? So Anyway, she had a job and I didn't.
Speaker 1:When I finished at Tennessee State, yeah, yeah, and the only job position I subbed in the area and, and there was a principal in the area that liked me a lot, I was a substitute teacher and in Wilmington public schools for about six months. Mm-hmm, just, this particular principal like me and said, chip, there's a position at Wilmington College and they're looking for a diversity admission recruiter. Boom, wow, that's how did it? Wilmington man.
Speaker 1:And I say that to say that you, you know, you can tell God your plans. You can tell the University of plans, but those plans don't always work out right. I'm saying best way God laughs is to tell him. Tell him your plan. You're right, yeah, but I was being prepped for all this man. So I've Wilmington ever since and you just never know who you hire. Right? You know they didn't know my heart, they didn't know my deal, they didn't know my passions, but they also were able to allow me to express my gifts here at the campus with fuel. All of that too. Sorry to be so long-winded, but that's the longest short of it, brother.
Speaker 3:No, that's, that's an amazing story, you know, and I've heard Parts of it, but to hear, hear it in its totality, I mean it just hits home and it's all inspiring. And then, what I love about what you do, in addition to know are so many things is that you found a way to, to blend your love of music and with what you do on the campus. I mean, like I, you know, I would be curious to know how many students Understand and know that you love music, you know.
Speaker 1:Not too many. In case you're close to me, I'll talk to you about drums. And, by the fact, on our way back from Pittsburgh today I had a group of students. Any kid that's close to me, any student that's close to me, is going to get baptized into chipmology music, right, right, and you know I'm a Grace Jones fan. I probably won a 34 fan still left in America. But I tell them all the time here's one of my favorite songs and it's, you know, slave to the rhythm. My kids beat down it. So they know my passion and I give them impromptu music lessons, even if they don't care. I talk philosophy with them. The ones close to me know, you know, that to me they might hear, oh yeah, chip city play drums or whatever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, man, but still that's good. You find a way to put that passion into your work and again. I'm out of the fact that you still find a way to indulge in that passion that you have, that gift that you have. And when you talk about when you went to Nashville and how your plans were to be near, you know a hub, you know a musical hub. Then those players got redirected. You wound up back at Wilmington. Were you disappointed at all? Where you're like man, I admire a different plan. No, man.
Speaker 1:And I don't want to get deep with you, but it felt right. It felt like the time was right. Yeah, when I was in Nashville for a little over two years, I went down there at 97, studied two years and actually at the same time was able to do a little bit of road work with a rock fan and, you know, tour the Chitlin circuit down south. Okay, all right. And you know, do the starving musician thing and I was real successful with starving. Okay, I got you on that one. My best friend and brother from another mother, you could call him a fraternal soulmate. His name is Mike Freeman. He's a pastor now up in Urbana, but he and I were a music production team. So we were always writing, we wrote jingles and stuff like that, and what happened was we had latched on to a really strong record label or not strong, but a talented group of writers and a record label up here in Cincinnati. We were writing a lot of material. We had connected with the group that was trying to get signed. So going back, coming back to Ohio, was not a big thing because I figured, you know, I'm just right up the highway from Nashville, we'll stay connected, et cetera. Again, telling God your plans right. I ended up, mike and I ended up joining up with a blues group. Instead, we toured from Ohio. We were playing the East Coast a lot, my first year, my first three years, at Wilmington. Man, I was, I was moonlight, literally. I would, mike, take a vacation day on a Friday. We leave town on Thursday and go play. Next year we plan up in Bleecker Street, up in Manhattan, or we're playing, you know, in Memphis, or playing, you know, detroit, or we hit Sarasota, we hit Delaware, we had all these spots right, but we were doing that over the weekends, man, and it was just a grind, and but I was still exercising the music. And what ended up happening is one day, maybe three years into it, man, I come home one night on a Sunday night, my wife sitting on the couch with our baby son, our youngest kid, and he's breathing so hard. Jason, he's asthmatic, we didn't know it and he had superior allergies. He's breathing, man, and I'm seeing his rib cage. He's sucking so much air so hard and I was like, okay, tim, I'm gonna get off the road and that's it. And so you know, I told the guys at the end of that year you know, we finished that, that that schedule.
Speaker 1:I got to stay home and I think about the scripture man, that this is greater love. Have no man than one who would lay down his life for his brother, not to distort it, but taking life out of the context that we think of normally. Honestly, I'm not too my own horn, but that was a point that I had to lay down my life, my dreams and my you know passions for my kid and for my family, and you know all of that and did it willingly. And then, lo and behold, maybe a week or two later, I get a call from a friend in town to play in a house band at one of the most prestigious restaurants, a five-star restaurant in the city. I was making more money and I'm home every night, you know, and I'm just thinking for other gigs. So that's how I kept it alive.
Speaker 1:And the school has been really, really generous. As far as let me be myself, you know what I mean. And let me, you know I can do programs with drumming. I can do, you know they are. Also allow me to teach on campus. I teach a sound production class, so I'm getting that fixed and I'm being able to, you know, do my thing. So that's how it wasn't hard, man. You know you really do it with the right spirit and I've never held that over my kid's head either. You know I got four kids, man, and they were all gifted musically. One of my sons is was upstairs right now in his room. He's got a little mini studio up there producing beats, yeah. Other son is in New York. He's a DJ yeah.
Speaker 3:Wow, Wow, that was fun, man.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's amazing man To hear you know, like you talked about the description and you talked about laying down your life, surrendering your plans, and you know I run a boys program where we talk about what does manhood look like and healthy masculinity, and when you shared that you know again, that's that embodies what it means to lead and to set the tone for the rest of your family and, like you said, put aside your dreams, your ambitions, and then what happened, what happened to you, Like you share, is just a perfect example of how I believe God honors obedience.
Speaker 3:And so when you talk about that, again it's amazing, man, and again you've been fruitful and amazing what you do, obviously making a great impact. You know, Chip, you talked a little bit about and now you mentioned some names, some people that that guided you and helped you along the way. Talk a little bit more about those people, because you and I know you need people to guide you and help you along the way. So who are some of those people you know? Really, they really helped you get to this point and continue to help.
Speaker 1:Man, I'll give you a few. I'll give you a few lighthouses of buoys across this lake. Here, yeah, in high school there was a mentor. We again thanks Jimmy Carter.
Speaker 1:This CEDA program would have us go out and work. This was ninth, 10th grade. We worked summer jobs. It was for underfunded, under-resourced, you know, black youth or youth in the nation. It could be anywhere. But they gave us jobs. Right to go work.
Speaker 1:But before you worked you had to do a mentoring. There was a mentor there and you get a life skill lesson. Before it went out and picked up trash off the streets of Ypsilanti and prune the flowers of the Ypsilanti Public Library. But there was a gentleman named Carl Williams who was our mentor for our group and Carl just taught me the basics of acknowledging a human being. Just, you know you make eye contact with a person, nod your head and say hello. You know you just connected with a person. Right, when you shake a hand of a person, look them in the eye. You know when you say your name, say it loud. You know just little things like that. So that helped me right there.
Speaker 1:And then, when I started working on, you know, fast forward. Let me just get right up to Wilmington, my predecessor. His name was Art Brooks. He started the Office here, diversity and Inclusion. Back then it was Multicultural Affairs, but he started this office in 95.
Speaker 1:And when I worked at Wilmington, started working at Wilming in 2000,. He kind of took me under his wing because I was the admission of his operation. I was doing the recruiting, he was doing the support of students and he supported me and showed me just what it takes to love students on and off campus because he would go to court sometimes with students A student get thrown in jail or something like that. He was there visiting students, right. So he showed me that I had two great bosses. First boss, her name was Tina Garland in admission and she was a great support and a mentor and work partner. And now I work for another wonderful sister named Sigrid Solomon, who hired me on in 2015. Let me move across campus and get into student affairs, and the list goes on. But those are people that have been real significant in my higher ed life and not to. I want to get into my grandmother and my mother.
Speaker 3:I love the fact that you shared those names, but I can't let you. I got to talk about the mom and grandma. I mean brother, okay, when I first heard you talk about that a little bit, you know and I remember the day when you alluded to it just shared a little bit about that experience and then to hear how it catapulted you in your life, man, in addition to the people that you talked about that have helped you professionally mom and your grandma you know what was it, or what was it? The one, or a couple, two things that they instilled in you that still helped you to this day, man.
Speaker 1:My mother just instilled in me just loving, loving people, respecting people regardless of where they are. You know what I mean. That's the basics, and if you ever meet her, she's incredible. You know, she's about five foot one, walks with a cane, survived a train wreck, literally. So you know I hear people talk about you know this is a train wreck. No, I can tell you about a train wreck, yeah, and she's still walking the day. But her spirit is so positive.
Speaker 1:So I learned that from her and I think I just, you know, with my grandmother it was, our relationship was so different and tight, man, she did so many things that I miss her every day. You know, we lost her in 99. And she was almost like my mother was my mother, but my grandmother was mama. Yeah, and just sacrificial love. And I'll tell you two things she did. That's what I learned from my grandmother, and the sacrificial love and the fact that home was always there and I could go, do what I wanted to do and give my dreams a shot, but home was gonna be there. But two quick things, jason. This is what my grandmother and grandfather did for me once I was going through basic training. I was fortunate enough to do basic training about two hours from Cincinnati where my grandparents lived. I was down in Fort Knox, kentucky, maybe three hours and my mother was still up in Michigan. But in the middle of basic training, man and we know, basic training is hell, hellacious right Back in the days of eight days, three weeks I mean eight weeks, three days of, but they had this thing called family day where your family could come down and visit you During mid cycle I was a platoon leader Actually I was senior squad leader, so I was over an entire platoon and I asked my drill sergeant my family's coming, can I, you know, spend some time with him?
Speaker 1:He said yeah, yeah, yeah, come on base. And I was like you know what? My grandmother wanted to take me off base for a minute. And he's looked at me and you do use that. So think about this Doing basic training to be able to go home. And he said whatever touches his heart. He said, and I'll tell you what you can do anything you want with some family, but you better be back here at 730 for F formation If United formation you were considered AWOL period.
Speaker 1:And he looked at me and I said, okay, my grandmother drove down to Fort Knox, picked me up, drove me back to Cincinnati, had a pot of her spaghetti and my it was my favorite dish and her rolls ready for me for dinner that night, got me home, got me up in the morning and drove me back. You know what I'm saying. So imagine a six hour round trip just to do that for me. And I was like there's no way I'm gonna fail this. So I went on and did that and then actually fast forward, go rewinding my senior prom.
Speaker 1:We didn't have a car and we always wanted to take our dates out in the car. I didn't have a car, my mother didn't have a car and my grandmother and grandfather drove up from Cincinnati up to Ypsilanti, michigan, and they're Capri classic so I can take that car for prom. So those are lessons, and those are lessons that he can't even put words to, but that now I never forgot it and I've learned to. Yeah, I don't know, man, I can't even explain. I don't mean to ramble, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, man. This is your journey, this is your story man. This is what the podcast is all about. What you talking about? A firm foundation I'm a firm foundation and just you. You talking about they sharing those things. And your grandmother her spirit still lives on within you. And your mom you know again as you describe her. I can see your mom in you just in the way you described her. So, brother, you're doing amazing work, man. I appreciate it. Man love you. You're about your journey, your story man. That's transitioned a little bit and talk in your role at Wilmington. You've seen a lot of different things, I'm sure, throughout your years there. What would you say was the most challenging moment that you experienced?
Speaker 1:at Wilmington. Oh man, I think maybe last year we had a really big, big turnover on campus with our administration and things that started with the dismissal of our first African-American president.
Speaker 3:Please welcome, jason.
Speaker 1:A Dixon. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Everybody in here has a talent and you have a gift and you were given that gift so that you can go change the world. There's a world out here waiting for you. There's a world out here that needs your talent.
Speaker 4:From a struggling team to a first-generation college graduate. Coach Jason is one of today's rising youth motivational speakers for middle school, high school and college students. Equipped with passion and the unique ability to create a heartfelt connection, his empowering message of hope and resilience drives lasting change and resonates with audiences on multiple levels. If your school, organization or event is looking for a dynamic speaker to inspire, motivate and help increase student success, book Coach Jason today.
Speaker 3:Well, you talked about what it was like during that moment when everything happened went down with the president. Talk a little bit about what it was like on campus, what the climate was like on campus, going through all of that from the student's perspective and the staff.
Speaker 1:OK, yeah, man, it was tough. There were a lot of folks that were celebrating they might have had all the facts right or they just heard this, this and that, but there were quite a few, especially staff members, that were really, really upset at how things went down the campus. Right now I am the longest-tenured African-American employee on campus. Didn't look at the stats to see if I'm the longest-tenured minority on campus so, yeah, my voice is amplified by my position and my longevity and tenure here at the campus. But for students I served as an anchor for their concerns. Our Black Student Initiative really has some issues and we met with the Board of Trustees. They wrote a letter, they drafted a letter to the board and the students had a voice, right Spoken, a couple of public forums had opinions and things like that. So I was able to express myself. And then one thing I realized, jason, is that one feeling I had through this is being candid I felt butt naked because we did not have a Black and Brown coalition on campus, a subgroup, that we didn't have a safe space that we could talk and there was nothing formally set up. So during that time I was able to establish and suggest that hey, let's get a diverse staff and faculty coalition together where we can talk about these things and maybe draft our own statement about things. So, down the road, leave that kind of legacy right.
Speaker 1:So that was part of what we did, and my boss is African-American, so she was also in positions to exercise her voice, help with unifying the President's Council, things like that. And then I was really close to still really close to a lot of white staff and faculty who were more upset just as upset and not more upset than me and vocal We've had. We lost a lot of people we lost. We had people step away because of this and we were in other positions. Yeah, so we were really in a people man.
Speaker 1:But one thing I said as long as I'm here one of my jobs here is to unify people, is to bring people together right and galvanize the campus. And it got to a point where I said let's do a cookout, so a big cookout, and it was a healing, it was therapeutic for me. I needed to, we needed to keep, we got to keep moving and start healing. So we did that at the end of the year, man, and that was last year, and we just did a soulful competition and somebody came back to me and I guess overheard someone saying about me on campus. That really touched me. It was like man, nobody can bring us together, bring this campus together, shit. That makes me feel good, man, and I ain't about to my horror, because I don't really feel like I'm doing that much. Man. I'm trying and I've got warts, I'm trying to.
Speaker 3:I got my flaws and everything, man, but just I tell you, I know you're not about to, but you've left a legacy and whoever has to follow you, man, they have some big shoes to fill. I'm telling you. I'm telling you because I echo what those students said about you and, being having visited Wilmington, I think, on four different occasions, I've seen it a close and personal. Like you do, you galvanize, you unify the campus, and you know, and so I echo those sentiments. You know, I know that that's been who you are, but was it hard to find a way to be that on a college campus? Because, again, we know that dynamics in college are different, not like high school, right, you know, but that's when I think of that, a unified campus or school. I think of high school because they're, you know, when college just everybody just kind of operating in silos. How did you, how were you able to become that person where you galvanize and you unify college students who want to do their own thing?
Speaker 1:Man, admission work really being an admission, you should already any admission counselor is going to have a 80 to 90% failure rate right when they do the recruiting right. Most students back into my day it was more like one out of four students that apply might come to your school. You know you'll be lucky if you get half of those students to visit. If they visit, chances are they're going to stay, you know, and all that good stuff. So most of the people you're going to lose, right? So I was always learning to celebrate the ones that are there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Jason man, through it all, I've had my own kids. I remember what people have done for me. So through this process of admission process, I learned to build relationships with families and try to love those kids as much or honor the love that their families have for those kids. I'll never be able to love them as much as their own, yeah, families, but I got to recognize that love. So I always had that approach, jason, of treating every kid like I would want my kids to be treated and treat them like they were my own kid.
Speaker 1:You know good or bad, tough love, or you know sugars and cream, right, and that I think was contagious. You know through the students that I knew and they realized that, yeah, chip is legit, chip, you know, and so you know. I tell you. Another upside down blessing too on campus was that all of our officers are understaffed, right. Yeah, we get creativity, we get to be creative, we get to do different things. So I was always able to express my personality in programs and things like that, and then other staff members started to see hey, chip, you know cool. And then I was embraced by the music department when I got here. Yeah, they allowed me performances and stuff. So that's just the location of where I landed.
Speaker 1:If I landed at a bigger school, more political and structured. Don't know how my career would have gone.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah absolutely, and that's a great point to make You're able to bloom where you're planted. You know and shine. You know Absolutely. I love to see that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, I've been on some different soil types, right, right, right. I've always been able to. Honestly, I blossom where I bloom where I'm buried man or whatever that means, would you say blue.
Speaker 3:Blue where you're planted Planted, not buried. Planted, yeah, that's okay, man, but you still shine, you shine, you shine. Well, chip, one of the questions I wanted to ask. You know that I've been thinking about, and who better to answer this question than you? So this is Black History Month and one of the things that I've been seeing around different college campuses. Again, it's always I love to see, like the different types of celebrations and how, you know, this generation pays homage to you, know our history. I want to ask you what's been the biggest difference in how this generation celebrates Black History Month versus maybe when you started, like in 2000? Has there been a big shift? Has there been more excitement? That's excitement when it comes to that and celebrating, recognizing panhomies to our history.
Speaker 1:That's a toughie. It's year to year right. Yeah. Now the ways we celebrate are different because of technology and things. This generation has afforded a lot more vehicles. We can do these Zoom pieces right. You got higher quality movies. You got, you know, the social media right, all those kind of things. When I say higher quality, I'm talking about like digital and cool places that go watch them and all that. There's still great classes back then, but I think the energy honestly is about the same really, especially in this community.
Speaker 1:We've been doing an annual Martin Luther King program with the community for ever since art started it, I want to say, in the late 90s. I've been able to keep that and there was another woman who worked here named Denise Hamilton, right before me, right after art and right before me. She kept things going. So we and in some years, depending on our student leadership on campus, you know, if we get some good, motivated students that get others going, then that amps things up. But one thing I will say is probably now there's probably a lot more on campus. It appears to be more on campus, more options, because when I put a schedule together, I'm giving people excursions, opportunities, movie opportunities. Sometimes I put a podcast link on there Definitely will keep us in the queue, and that menu is bigger. So, yeah, yeah, and I'm a little more intentional than the my predecessors were when it comes to just going at staff and faculty to and inviting them to programs and celebrating our own on campus. So, yes, the energy is the same, but I'm getting more opportunities now.
Speaker 3:Right, right, yeah, absolutely, and I love to see that, and I'm glad you touched on that because I'm seeing you, don't this? After, like this generation, it's a lot of I'm gonna call it anger aggression, you know, and so I think a lot of their voices want to be heard. You know the voices want to be heard, and so I know I love seeing stuff like that, where they have options, they're giving a platform to talk about and celebrate things. Talk about things, which leads me to my next question what are some of the, the trends that you're starting to see on college campuses, good or bad, when you think about the students?
Speaker 1:Biggest trend is isolationism. Oh, wow, yes, they just stay on their phone, man. They isolate and stay on this thing. Yeah, and you know, it's not even a trend, it's an epidemic man. I think that sometimes the apathy bug hits us where they just don't not into it or they want to know who's going my friend go, I'll go, etc. Etc. I think that's combination why I just came back from a conference for campus activities and they even have sessions on how to catch disengaged you know students or get students interest up on a positive note.
Speaker 1:A trend that's happening, I think to via social media, right, is I see, students starting to come back together, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Others, undercurrent and groundswell students that are getting sick of being indoors and they're a little more receptive to you know, come into programming and things like that. So you know it's a seesaw man, right, it really is. Another thing I'm finding, too, is that mental health is a big thing, that and students are encouraged to tap in and do a lot of self-assessment, right, you know. So there's a push for mental health that I had never seen before in my previous you know, previous time, and now we're destigmatizing some of these things too. So it's okay for a person to admit that they're depressed, or it's okay, you know, and I do think, through social media, not to. And what people are seeing on you know, online. This generation is the most diverse generation we've seen, the most inclusive and tolerant, so this, in a way, is helping students accept others, you know, and stay that you know. Now, the flip side of that is sometimes they just don't fend for themselves. Right, we got to encourage them.
Speaker 3:You know what you better advocate and speak up for yourself. Yeah, yeah, you're right. You're right. That's one of the things you know I'm talking. I have an initiative going on in my hometown right now where we're focusing on self-advocacy and resilience, and I think I was reading something the other day. They were talking about Gen Z. You know the column, so it was, you know, obviously subjective, but they were saying Gen Z, this is the least resilient generation. You know. You know you come from an interesting perspective because, again, you're on a college campus. You know we've seen these different students and to that, what do you say when somebody makes a statement like that?
Speaker 1:It's tough man See. I see this generation as resilient because it came from COVID.
Speaker 4:I agree.
Speaker 1:You know it's a pandemic and things in there. They're now finally crawling back out of you know, back into terror.
Speaker 1:You know terra no-transcript but but I would say, jason, man, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:It's the thing that about this generation is that with that there's a lot of sensitivity, right, and so sometimes in personal micro situations, they might not be the most resilient, because if someone says something that in the most friendly tone, oh, you know they're cowering in things or they're thinking somebody is, you know, not to just diminish bullying by any means, but you know, bullying now is blown up to so many categories that everything, everything they identify as bullying, sometimes, instead of sometimes, we just, you know, have to defend for ourselves, right, and you know, speak up, and I'm not supporting bull, I'm not not diminishing anything that people report today, but sometimes we blame things on that.
Speaker 1:When we can, we can have things just through conversation or confronting a situation immediately, you know. So I think, when that comes to that resiliency, no, I don't, I don't think we're the most resilient, yeah, yeah. So with a whole pushing forward, yes, right, and if they're, they're woke, they're intelligent, they're, you know, progressive, they're inclusive, you know they're open to all these things, because they get all this information down to them immediately. So there's a bright future if they, you know, in my opinion, pop into, you know, tap into their power.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you. I I I'll use a sports analogy and I think this is something that when people talk about American athletes versus athletes from overseas and it's specifically basketball thing People's listening to a NBA, nba showing and we're talking about how today's American born players are. You know, they're athletic, they have, they have the talent, but what the European players and the players overseas have is the discipline and their and they train in their focus levels different. And you know, I would say the same thing about the younger generation. It's like you, you bet, you have access to a lot of different resources, you have the talent, you have the the passion or want to see change, but I think it's misguided. I think you know, I think I think you want to do things, you want to put the cart before the horse a lot of times and you don't have, you don't have the right pieces in place. You know so.
Speaker 3:I kind of look at it that way. You know what I'm saying. Does that make sense? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Um, you know, the students would keep me, you know, energizing or live today, but that zeal, without that knowledge or that guidance, right, you know, can get out of hand. And yes, they live in an immediate society where they're seeing 30 second reels on these. Right, they've taken seven or eight hours to to, you know, pull together and post-produce and all that, right, they don't see the grind that goes into the result. Yeah, so now I think that pours into a lot of different, different avenues, because you know, we were raising my kids. Yeah, you know, they had some, some visions and ideas of the real world or the world that they thought was going to be, and they don't realize now, no, no, no, yeah, me and my sons will sit, we'll watch a game and you know, I would use to tell them I'm like, look, nobody on that court is on that court unless they're at the top of their game. The cheerleaders, the refs, the guys with the dustmops, all of them are elite. The cameraman, all of them are even the player, including the players.
Speaker 1:So at work goes into everything, we just don't see it, right, we just see the result of it. Yeah, you know, and that's what I always try to to instill in our kids is that it takes grind, but they just got to go through it to learn it Right. And that's what you do. You know you don't help when you see everything and from musical standpoint, the music today is is the tech, the technology they have at their access. You know the, the shows that they go to and all the, the, the, the high tech, lighting and all that Right, they see excellence every day, they see results in excellence every day. So it's hard to impress. Yeah, you got to, you got to come right and they got to understand the grind behind what it takes.
Speaker 3:That's very true. That's a great word, brother. That's a great word. I you're, you're absolutely right. You know I love this. I love just talking to you about this and getting to know more about your story and your insight on different things that are taking place within that, yeah, the higher education space and on the camp college campus. Uh, last thing I want to ask you, uh, brother, is your family man? You've done a lot of great things. I think this is something that you know. People ask athletes, you know, when they I think LeBron James, right, and I'm not not by any means insinuating that you're you're getting to the end of the end of the end of the road.
Speaker 4:I'm sure you got a lot of years.
Speaker 3:But I do want to ask you what is the future hold for you in terms of just your, your position at Wilmington? Music family, music, music family. Just what is the future hold for chip murder?
Speaker 1:Well, hopefully, to keep waking up Um and professionally, uh, I want to just expand my office. You know we're going through some transitions and I want to stay, stay nimble and be relevant to the kids. So I'm going through new changes. I just picked up a new role this year, so I'm director of uh campus activities, along with director diversity and inclusion. Okay, congratulations, you're making me stimulated and and and going. So I want to expand that and see how far we can go with that Um.
Speaker 1:Once I do retire, uh, I would love to get back honestly into my uh composition and music writing and stuff like that. So I probably would would delve in more about uh trying to do some commercial music and background stuff like that, cause I was mess with that Um and you know. Just. Lastly, you know I'm I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I want to just grow with my wife, you know, and she has been great, you know it's, it's, you know she's I wouldn't be here without her cause. Uh, the support she's provided, um, you know, to me, with to our kids, and things like that has been incredible. I can't even say enough about my mom, but those, those are things that I'm shooting for, man, and just try to keep learning and getting getting better every day.
Speaker 3:It is time to realize your potential, unlock your passion and graduate to greater.
Speaker 2:Thank you for tuning into this episode of the Mike Duff and motivated podcast brought to you by inspire to reach higher, the youth motivational speaking company for students, parents and educators.