On Jan. 20, Vice President for Student Affairs Celestino Limas announced the retirement of Director of Campus Safety Michael Sweazey in an email to students. Sweazey has been a part of the Kenyon community for seven years, and according to Limas, he “shepherded Kenyon’s emergency response processes and his attention for detail is well known by those with whom he has served.” Sweazey’s final day on campus is scheduled for Feb. 27. In light of his upcoming retirement, the Collegian sat down with him to discuss his time at Kenyon, adventures in the United States Secret Service and advice for his successor. 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Anna Sugg (AS): So, Mr. Sweazey, can you talk about what Kenyon means to you?

Sweazey: I always said, through the years when I was an agent, that when I retired, I wanted to go out and become the chief of campus police or director of safety and security for a small to mid-sized school. And so when the opportunity came to come up to Kenyon, it was exactly what I was looking for. And honestly, the time here, it’s been great. It’s been exasperating. It’s been everything that you can imagine. I always say that Kenyon cares with a capital K, and that translates to the way that they have the [Office of] Campus Safety. My favorite thing is being with the students. You know, I would eat up in Peirce [Hall] all the time, so that if anybody wanted to come up and talk to me, if they needed advice, I was happy to be their Yoda. It’s been a great experience. 

AS: What are you looking forward to with retirement? Do you have any plans?

Sweazey: Well, my son’s graduating from college this year. That’s kind of a lot of what prompted [my retirement], but I’ve literally spent my entire adult life working in service of others, with law enforcement, the Secret Service, even campus police and all that, and especially in the years of Secret Service, my wife was at home dealing with all the stuff at home while I’m in the Galapagos, Gibraltar, I mean, all around the world. And I think it’s time for me to start investing back in [my family] and kind of getting my own life a little bit. It’ll be the first time in my adult life that I will not be sitting there waiting for the phone call at midnight on Friday or on Saturday, and that’ll be hard for me to get used to, but just knowing that I don’t always need to be ready for somebody else, that I can actually be there for my wife and my son. 

AS: I’m really intrigued by your time in the Secret Service. What was that like?

Sweazey: It’s funny, because to me, it was just work. I protected every president or former president back to [President Gerald] Ford. I was [assistant special agent in charge] in [President Jimmy Carter’s] detail for five years and so, lots of strange hours, lots of adventures. You know, fighting crime in New York, lots of interesting nights in alleyways and chasing people across rooftops. It was an amazing time, lots of boredom, there’s nothing like standing post in the hotel hallway at 3 o’clock in the morning. But it was just interesting being close to the mechanisms, the things that were happening and also being detached. You could kind of look at it with an objective eye.

AS: You were the assistant special agent in charge for President Jimmy Carter. What was Carter like?

Sweazey: I had a closer relationship with him than I did any of the other people whose details I was on, because I was one of the bosses. So, probably the most intelligent man I’ve ever met in my life. We actually shared a lot of interests. We were both woodworkers, so we talked woodworking all day long. We both loved the outdoors, the fishing, the hiking, the rafting, all that stuff. I saw his level of care. I mean, a story that I tell is that on Christmas morning, of course, we’re working. He would always be down in [Plains, Georgia] on Christmas and all the Carter family would get together at Rosalynn [Carter’s] mother’s house. They’d have their Christmas dinner and all that, and so we post up the way we normally do. We’ve got the motorcade outside and he comes up to me and says, “Hey, I want the agents to eat.” And I’m like, “Oh, well, thank you, sir.” He goes, “No, no, this isn’t they come in, grab a plate, go out and put it on the hood of the cars. This is Christmas. They should be sitting at a family table.” 

AS: You also worked for President George H.W. Bush’s security detail. Any stories there?

Sweazey: Well with Bush we were outside [Walker’s Point Estate] in Maine. It’s cold and we’re standing post outside the house, and he came out to walk Millie the dog. Bush comes up and he says, “It’s kind of cold out tonight.” I said “Yes, sir, it is.” He says, “Well, yeah, do you want some coffee or some hot chocolate or something?” I reply, “No, sir, I’m fine,” because that’s the answer you give as an agent. And then about three minutes later, he comes walking out with a cup of coffee. “If you’re not going to drink it, pour it on your feet and keep warm,” he said. And so, you know, you have the big, grand things, but those are the things that I like to remember, just them as people.

AS: What advice would you give to the person who will fill your shoes?

Sweazey: Get out amongst the students as much as you can. It’s very easy to get fixated on the ones who tend to become our customers, and you forget that 99.5% of the people, maybe 98%, I don’t know, but most of the students here are doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. They’re having the fun that they should be having. They’re working hard. And so get out amongst those and remind yourself of just the great quality of students that we have here. Your motivation to do everything else right will be there, and you’ll know what to do if you remind yourself of why you’re here, and that’s the students.