Joshua A. Barro ’05 came into the FM office sporting a blue button-down shirt and a slightly prideful smile. He is aware of his achievements streamlining the UC’s finance committee. He arrived looking slightly uncomfortable in FM’s territory, but as things got moving Barro opened up, revealing his favorite porn site, why he sweats Tarzan and what he’d name University President Lawrence H. Summers’ ass, if given the chance.
Fifteen Minutes: What is your favorite Steven Segal movie?
Joshua A. Barro: You know, I’ve never seen a Steven Segal movie. I love crappy movies, and I have yet never seen a Steven Segal movie. I’ve heard Executive Decision was cool because they killed him off in like 20 minutes, which was surprising. That’s an area I need to pursue that I haven’t yet, and that’s something we will definitely do in a Josh-and-Christina [L. Adams ’06] administration: more Steven Segal movies.
FM: It has been alleged that you leaked the Paris Hilton sex video. How do you respond?
JAB: [Guilty laugh] I could comment on that, but I won’t.
FM: What would you say is the last thing you were wrong about, and why were you wrong?
JAB: Oh, I’ve been wrong about lots of things... in my life. Uh, I was wrong...I had an argument with my blockmate yesterday about...what was it...I vividly remember...[long pause]. Well, the very last thing I was wrong about was that I would get up at 9:00 this morning, but that proved to be false. I changed my alarm about eight or nine times, so that’s the claim I made less than 12 hours ago that proved to be wrong.
FM: How about in an argument?
JAB: In an argument... Okay. I did win a bet with the UC secretary about whether or not Utah bordered Oregon... But, [a time] that I was wrong in an argument, I....[Very long pause, phone rings and briefly breaks the silence. Phone stops ringing, and lengthy silence continues.] I can’t remember what it was, but I’m sure it’s happened. It’s happened many, many times.
FM: What is your favorite pornographic website?
JAB: I’ve always liked whitehouse.com just for the irony, although what they market on there doesn’t appeal to me particularly.
FM: How has being the son of Robert Barro shaped the economic policy for your UC candidacy?
JAB: Not that much. I mean, it shaped my economic world view. I was like the only 14 year old using the term moral hazard and things like that. On UC, I’ve been very conscious about making sound fiscal decisions where we price the services that we give at what they’re actually costing us. I like to say that the students pay for it either way, it’s just a question of whether they pay for it through their term bill or they pay for it through the fee for the service.
FM: What is in your underwear drawer that might be surprising?
JAB: I have about 14 pairs of exactly the same Abercrombie and Fitch underwear. So, I think that’s unlikely to be shocking.
