William Russell White

Special Police Officer/Security Officer
Age: 63
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Time at Georgetown: 1 year

Describe a typical day.
My life consists of work right now. I am working. It’s a normal routine type day, nothing special happens. I’m either working or I’m sleeping. 

What are the typical hours for your job?
This job here with the students here is a 12 to eight shift. If the student’s not here you have all shifts open. You know, the eight to four, the four to 12 and the 12 to eight in a 24-hour shift.

Do you work other jobs as well?
I work other stations and other buildings, things like that. I have worked the Georgetown Law School. And every dormitory here. And I do government buildings outside of here like National Geographic, National Educational building, 20th and F Street, 1200 19th St. I’ve done a lot of different buildings.

Do you have a favorite building on campus to work in?
Ok I have to say this to all the people in Darnall Hall. Darnall Hall is my favorite dorm to work here, so don’t forget that now. Say Russell the security guard said Darnall Hall because a girl asked me today. 

What do you think of Georgetown students?
Most of the students are young and they have a long way to go, yet another education is fine. I see a lot of drinking going on. If their parents knew that these kids were coming in just to get drunk, they would be totally upset about the kind of money they are spending for their kids to drink as they do. Drinking is a part of growing up but the thing is you need to know when to hold it and when to fold it. So that’s my perception of students, but most of them are nice and they are achieving the things in life that are important right now at this stage.

Do you have any crazy stories?
[Laughter] Not really. The only thing I’ve seen that’s terrible, per say, is students coming in that have fallen down and are bloodied and so forth, getting sick, that are drunk out of their minds coming here, people have to bring them in. Just think, if they were out on the street somewhere they would be laid up somewhere without any of those things happening. 

What do you like to do for fun?
I don’t do anything for fun anymore. I am too old for that. [laughter] I do the fun things, I go out and I dance at times, things like that. But what I do is I sing. I sing contemporary gospel. I do concerts and things around the D.C. area. 

What is contemporary gospel?
That is like the here-and-now gospel. It is up to date. You have all sorts of genres now, you have the Southern, the jazz, pop, rap, you got all those. And contemporary is a contemporary style, you’ve seen contemporary art. It’s art that more up to date, that’s present. 

Where do you normally sing?
I sing in church. And I go around to some of the homes in the district, the old folks’ homes. Oh they don’t call them old folks’ homes no more, they call them nursing homes and hospices. 

How does singing make you feel?
It’s a good thing in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ. I am a Christian man and it wasn’t always that way. [laughter] It makes you feel good if you can help just one person. If you can soothe the soul of one person, then you accomplish what He intended you to do.

Interview by Ian Tice