Samuel Negus, director of program review and accreditation, spends his quick hits talking all things giant rabbits, dorm pranks, and soccer losses. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
If you could have an unconventional pet, what would it be?
My wife and I used to have these Flemish giants. We had one who lived about eight years called the Count of Monte Cristo. He was three feet if he stretched out. Otherwise, my daughter would like a horse or a pony to ride around, but I don’t really trust horses. They’re too persnickety. They’re very elaborate pieces of kit but you never know when they’re going to bite you.
Do you have any hidden hobbies or talents?
I brew my own beer. People keep telling me I need to do some stand-up comedy but it’s pretty intimidating.
Of all the US states you’ve visited, which is the best and which is the worst?
It’s just an empirical fact that the worst state is Ohio. Ohio is rubbish. The best state is North Carolina. The state has some of everything. The Blue Ridge mountains are just stunning.
Have you ever played a really good prank on someone?
As an undergraduate, I participated in switching two people’s dorm rooms around. That’s a classic.
What is the most memorable gift you’ve ever given?
When I was a kid, about 13 or 14, I would take a bag of cans of pop to school and sell them to the other kids at a slight markup just to save money to buy my dad a jersey of our beloved soccer team that had “Dad” printed on the back as the player name.
What is one cultural difference you’ve noticed between the UK and the US?
Americans’ willingness to just get on and figure something out for themselves versus that sheepish British mentality of waiting for the man from the government to come and fix things. That’s been the big cultural difference for me and probably the reason why I came to America in the first place. I was raised a Thatcherite conservative and I really hate that sheepish mentality and it is rife in Britain. Gun ownership, too, is a profoundly American idea–that an ordinary person could have the power of life and death in his trouser pocket and be trusted to be sensible with it.
What is one thing that you used to believe that you have since changed your mind about?
When I was a boy I fervently believed that I would see England win a world cup in my lifetime and it’s not looking good. You put Englishmen with a Three Lions jersey on their chest in a penalty shoot-out, and they’ll find a way to miss the goal. Creative ways. I would have to say at this point that I’ve lost faith.
What is one thing you used to believe that you still believe today?
The abiding value of being forthright. I was raised in a family where no one was ever laboring under any misapprehension about what we thought about anything. My friends would come over to hang out and would say, “Sam, hanging out with you makes so much more sense after I’ve been to your house. Why is your family always arguing about everything?” Because we think it’s important to be right and if something’s true, it’s worth making sure that everybody knows it. That can get pretty toxic. You can use commitment to the truth as an excuse to be a real jerk to people. The underlying principle in my formative moral compass was that honesty and integrity and loyalty are the most important guiding principles.
What is one piece of common knowledge you learned way too late in life?
Only a year or so ago, someone pointed out to me that the gasoline icon on the dashboard of your car has a little arrow on it that points to the side that the gas cap is on.