Paying Lip Service to a Good Cause

Chapman University President James L. Doti faced the razor’s edge Wednesday in what all agreed was a selfless act of charity.

The sacrifice: the mustache that Doti claims to have sported since birth, except for a brief period in 1988 when it was sacrificed for another charitable effort.

The reward: raising nearly $1,500 to help send a 30-member Christian student group to a Disciples of Christ convention in Denver this summer.

“I regret that I have but one mustache to give to my university,” Doti said.

Students had donated money to see Doti faced with the pink and blue disposable razors and a can of shaving cream on the Argyros Forum Patio.

Given the honor of shaving him were Vice President Gary Brahm and Dean of Students Joe Kertes, who lost his facial hair in the same cause two years ago.

Kertes said later that he grew his beard back soon after losing it in 1995. “My son, who was 13, had never seen me without a beard,” he said. “He was blown away.”

But Doti, whose face now bares an untanned swath of white skin above his mouth, said that would not be a problem for him.

“My wife, Lynne, has been asking me to shave it off for years,” he said.