The Compass

Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Campus Life

COMPASS: You used to be a preacher?
EALEY: Yes…
COMPASS: Were you a preacher before you were a teacher?
EALEY: Yes.
COMPASS: What made you change from preacher to teacher?
EALEY: Well actually I haven't changed. I do teaching in the church.
COMPASS: What about teaching at college?
EALEY: Well teaching at a college is the income part of it. I do it in church as a service to the community. The other part of it is I don't separate them, I bring them both together. One is not more of a vocation than the other.
COMPASS: As a customer service representative for the IRS, what did your job entail?
EALEY: Talking to customers, reconciling accounts, and answering questions like why they didn't get their tax return.
COMPASS: Did you deal with a lot of rude customers or bad apples?
EALEY: In general the people I talked to really were good people. I had more difficulty with the people I worked with.
COMPASS: Well how do you feel about the fair tax?
EALEY: I haven't really looked at it enough to even think about it. I don't think that the tax system itself is broken the way most people perceive. The flat tax or fair tax, I think all of them are regressive.
COMPASS: What's your opinion on separation of church and state?
EALEY: In U.S. politics, neither are ever far from the other. When you talk about religion in politics, that debate will always occur. The good thing about politics is that the system itself does not allow other people to evaluate you according to your religious belief.
COMPASS: Does religion play a role when you vote?
EALEY: It does, but for me it's more about the issues that are germane to public policy. In class I try to be very neutral and try to clarify for my students the issues.
COMPASS: When you were growing up, what did you want to be?
EALEY: Well my passion has always been teaching. As a kid, I really just lived life, I never thought about being a fireman or those types of things. I always liked sports, but I never had the passion for them.
COMPASS: What were your favorite sports?
EALEY: The normal sports- football, basketball, baseball and I wrestled in Junior High. I was undefeated until high school; they didn't offer it at my school.
COMPASS: What is your greatest fear when you are teaching in the classroom?
EALEY: Probably that my students aren't open because that shuts down the process and you can't engage the students. I'm always fearful that students might perceive me as forceful.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools