Former President George W. Bush meets students outside of Fondren Science Building Tuesday morning. (Hillsman Jackson)

There was something different about Fondren Science 152 on Tuesday. It was difficult to spot, though. The teacher was the same, the students were the same, even the furniture was the same. The change was a piece of paper that had been taped over the window, keeping wandering eyes from peering in or gazing out.

Thirty of the 34 students enrolled in Harold Stanley’s American Government class were present, sitting in the first five rows as instructed by their professor. It wasn’t until a group of people, including President R. Gerald Turner and Provost Paul Ludden, walked in that their interest really sparked.

“The students saw President Turner and said ‘Hmm, President Turner, why is he in class?'” Stanley said.

Then the 43rd president of the United States entered the room.

“It was all such a blur,” said sophomore corporate communications and public affairs major Hillary Heinke. “I remember seeing four or five men in suits and George W. walking in. I was in complete shock because I had no idea.”

Heinke said that Stanley sent the class an e-mail the night before telling them to arrive early. As soon as they walked in, she said, they were told to turn their cell phones off as part of his “new teaching style.”

“I was totally star struck,” Heinke said. “I think the majority of the class was as star struck as I was. I had to pinch myself a couple times – I’m still speechless.”

For just more than an hour the former president talked to students in what Stanley described as a “direct, small-group experience.”

“In those types of settings Bush is very personable, whatever your politics are,” Stanley said. “There are things he cares about but he is not out to turn you over to the cause.”

Bush asked for opinions about his upcoming book concerning his personal life while in office, and spoke about a president’s decision-making process. He highlighted the fact that if judgments are made by principle it is easier to live with those choices.

“I’m a conservative so I always backed him with his decisions even if I didn’t agree,” said Heinke. “But [Tuesday] he put reasoning behind some of his decisions and it made me respect him even more.”

Heinke described Bush as secure, funny and down to earth. He told the class he plans on becoming more active with SMU and its students, and Heinke hopes to see him around campus more often.

“Being popular is not what he cares about,” Heinke said.

Heinke was not able to snap a picture in the classroom, but when she joined the crowd outside she whipped out her phone and took a photo to send her family.

Morgan Wiley, a junior human rights and religious studies major, saw the crowd forming outside and decided to investigate. The throng of students and Secret Service agents was so large she decided to take matters into her own hands.

“There were big guys in suits so I couldn’t see, but I pushed my way forward and waited and shook his hand,” said Wiley.

Wiley, along with Heinke and many other students, managed to take pictures on their cell phones to save the moment.

“One of my students got a hug from him and put it on her cell phone,” Stanley said.

But not everyone was excited to see the former president. Liz Wazny, a senior Spanish and corporate communications and public affairs major, opted not to join the crowd because she simply is not a Bush supporter.

“I just wasn’t interested in meeting or seeing him,” Wazny said.

But Stanley is pleased with how the visit went.

“I think students tremendously enjoyed the opportunity,” said Stanley. “It was a very valuable moment. I think the memories and the impressiveness is something that will live with them forever and a day.”

For manageability purposes, Stanley purposely kept his students in the dark since Feb. 16 when Provost Ludden asked him if he was interested in the visitor. He feared non-American Government students would show up to his class.

“After he left students were asking me how long I knew,” said Stanley. “Then they said ‘Oh, that’s why the paper was on the window!'”