SANGMIN SONG

17 schools and colleges and 38 offices at Boston University are led by more than 59 different administrators, where they all operate independently to fulfill their respective roles. Frequently, hyena-like journalists seek comments, statistics and official statements from those administrators, making each of them easy prey to relentless media inquiries. Though working in different fields, they all share one common response: “For any inquiries, please contact Colin Riley in BU Public Relations.”

All different types of inquiries via email, text messages and phone calls from media outlets are destined to Riley’s desk, where Riley holds the microphone on behalf of the entire University. His words are quoted extensively in the media, and all communications flow through his fingertips.

“I have to reach out to multiple individuals for guidance and it takes a bit of coordination and balancing of different perspectives in order to arrive at a final decision on what to say,” he says. “I’m here to help them frame responses to media inquiries with the information and content [based on] how they explain it to me.”

He is always available, both on and off-campus, ready to help with any BU-related matter, regardless of the time of day. Even if he’s just making home-made coffee before on his way to work, he is the go-to person for anything happening at BU.

“When I get calls at home, one of my [two] daughters or [my] wife would say ‘the phone is buzzing,’” Riley says. “It was, and is, a regular occurrence.”

What sets Riley apart and accounts for his 32 years at BU is that he is not just a conventional university spokesperson. According to Marshall Hook, former news desk assignment editor at Channel Seven News in Boston, Riley was consistently responsive and provided in-depth information whenever he answered a call.

“Relative to other people, who are doing his job at the other universities [like Harvard and Northeastern] … even if I didn’t know him and didn’t like him, he is the best at his job,” Hook says. “When I got the call, everything was already thought out ahead of time, which is a tribute to not only Colin but the entirety of the University.”

Each morning, Riley sifts through his inbox on his iMac, responding to inquiries from major publications like the New York Times (NYT) to the independent student newspaper of BU, The Daily Free Press (FreeP). Despite occasional unprofessional questions from the student reporters at FreeP, Riley still finds pleasure in interacting with them and providing information for their articles.

“FreeP keeps me kind of busy,” he says. “One time a NYT reporter said, ‘It must be really tough to deal with those students,’ and I said, ‘Not really, [because] I was one [of them] back in college.’”

Riley also shares his insightful views on editors of student newspapers, noting they have a unique challenge in that they can’t compress the necessary and valuable experience that an editor needs into one or two years of working.

“Role of an editor is to pose questions, to ensure the reporter has done a fair and thorough job, and also [tell writers,] ‘Be sensitive in what you write,’” Riley says. “I want [student] reporters to think of their readers [because] sometimes family members of the students they are writing about are reading it.”

Jesús Marrero Suárez, a student in the College of Communication who was a campus news editor for the FreeP, values their relationship with Riley, noting he is, “both the head of PR at BU and the face of it.”

“He doesn’t ever fully shut the door, and if anything [spicy,] he’ll [just] take a while to respond to the emails,” Suárez says. “He always kind of has a smile for all the kids, he’s not jaded like a lot of old school reporters are.”

Appreciation on him does not stop there; Katherine Gianni, assistant director of Public Relations for BU’s central Public Relations and Social Media team, praises Colin’s extensive knowledge and connections at BU, highlighting his team-oriented approach.

“It’s been a long time for him at BU so he really knows everything, and people kind of joke but it’s also sort of true; they call him the ‘mayor of BU’ because he’s very well connected,” Gianni says. “Colin really puts his team first and anybody that he collaborates with across the BU’s campus, [and] he’s always looking to be as supportive and collaborative as possible.”

People always complain about not getting along with their bosses at work and they hate their working environment. But it becomes different if Riley is the boss according to Gianni, who says Riley has been both her mentor and a friend ever since she joined the team.

“I’ve learned so much from him in my time with the PR team and I really appreciate him always taking the time to kind of slow things down, especially when I was new and showed me different elements of the job,” she says. “To everybody on the team, he’ll [easily] be offering a ride or [favors like] ‘You want this?’ or ‘I can grab you this.’ He is so, again, just very genuine and kind.”

Riley can’t be more polite and warm in conversations. Ask him one question, he invites into his personal life — from how he chose love over his career, the time he met all of his daughter’s colleagues at Cornwall’s and even his experience competing in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s handicapping contests.

When posed a question about his future plans in the next five or ten years, Riley offers a succinct yet powerful response.

“Where do I want to be? I think I’m here, or on the golf course,” he says.

Although no one knows what the future holds, for now Riley continues to hold the microphone for over 36,000 students and 10,000 faculty and staff to the best of his ability.

There is no doubt Riley is an invaluable asset to BU, as Hook attests, “He’s just a swell fella, and at some point, he won’t be there anymore and that’ll be a loss for the University.”

If you want to see a rainbow, you always need rain; and if you want information about BU, you always need Colin Riley. He’s like rain, covering everything from the sky to the ground, who is always there to provide the information anyone needs.