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During his installation address, Leahy invoked the words of\nPresident John F. Kennedy, who during a 1963 speech at Amherst College asked,\n\u201cWhat good is a private college or university unless it is serving a great\nnational purpose?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat question is more relevant, more challenging, more urgent\ntoday than ever before,\u201d Leahy said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we can educate students of competence, creativity, and\ncompassion; if we can make our first-class private education as accessible as\npossible; if we can expand discovery to help solve our nation\u2019s problems; and\nif we can continue to be forces for positive economic, cultural, and social\ndevelopment in our communities, then we private colleges and universities\nreally can serve a great national purpose in the 21st century,\u201d Leahy\ncontinued. \u201cAnd if we here at Monmouth University can do all of this, then we\nwill not only participate in this effort in the years to come, we will lead\nit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n
Polling Institute again Rated A+ <\/h2>\n\n\n
For the third straight time, the Monmouth University Polling\nInstitute has been rated one of the best in the nation by the news site\nFiveThirtyEight. The Monmouth Poll was one of just six to receive a grade of\nA-plus out of 430 polling operations reviewed by FiveThirtyEight. It also received\nthe best \u201cpredictive\u201d score among these pollsters. <\/p>\n\n\n
Big Wins for Model UN <\/h2>\n\n\n
Monmouth\u2019s Model UN team had major wins at competitions in London and Washington, D.C., last fall. At the Oxford University International Model UN, where teams from Oxford, Cambridge, and London School of Economics were among the universities competing, several Monmouth students won individual speaker awards: Kristen Gomez (Best Delegate), Nick Boice (High Commendation), Payton Collander (Honorable Mention), and Mackenzie Ricca (Honorable Mention). In D.C., Monmouth\u2019s U.S. Delegation took home Outstanding Delegation honors while Monmouth\u2019s Jordan Delegation received Honorable Mention distinction. <\/p>\n\n\n
Two Firsts for the Debate Team <\/h2>\n\n\n
In October, Monmouth debaters Payton Collander and Anthony\nCendagorta finished first, and Mia Ardovini-Booker and Billy Siefert finished\nsecond, at the University of Rochester\u2019s Brad Smith Invitational Debate Tournament\u2014the\nfirst time the Debate Hawks have captured the top two team awards in a competition.\nThe following month, Ardovini-Booker and Siefert won first place at the Rutgers\nUniversity Newark tournament, securing the Debate Hawks\u2019 first-ever back-\nto-back championship wins. <\/p>\n\n\n
Ensuring a Safe Place for Civil Discourse <\/h2>\n\n\n
Last semester, a two- day Conversation and Action event brought\ntogether experts from the legal, advocacy, law enforcement, and higher education\nfields for a provocative discussion about sexual assault and Title IX on\ncollege campuses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Panelists left their talking points behind as they debated\nhypothetical scenarios based on real-life cases of campus sexual assault,\ndiscussing a wide range of topics including reporting procedures,\ninvestigations, support and advocacy, adjudication, and penalties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The discussion, which was moderated by Peabody- and Emmy-award\nwinning journalist Jack Ford, was based on the popular Fred Friendly Seminars:\nParticipants were not meant to reach a consensus, but rather to engage in\n\u201chigh-level conversation … that allows for diverging perspectives,\u201d said Lisa\nDinella, director of Monmouth\u2019s Program for Gender and Intersectionality\nStudies, which organized the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUniversities have been criticized for presenting only one side\nof issues and for shutting down conversations that are controversial,\u201d said\nDinella. \u201cThat Monmouth University hosted this event is progressive. We\u2019re not\nshying away from this conversation, and that\u2019s really important.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The action part of the event featured a full day of workshops in\nwhich students learned concrete skills they can use to end sexual and\ngender-based campus violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dinella said the goal now is to find sponsorship that will allow\nthe Conversation and Action series to become an annual event, so that other\nrelevant topics can be explored. While elevating the public discourse on\nmeaningful issues, the event teaches students \u201chow to have a conversation about\ncontroversial topics in a way that allows them to see all sides of the issue,\nand how to use that information to make an impact in their community,\u201d she\nsaid. <\/p>\n\n\n
School of Nursing Ranked among the Best <\/h2>\n\n\n
The Marjorie K. Unterberg School of Nursing and Health Studies\nwas ranked as the No. 3 best nursing school in New Jersey, and among the Top\n100 best private nursing schools nation- wide, in the annual 2019 Nursing\nSchools Almanac report. <\/p>\n\n\n
DEP Lauds Monmouth as a Recycling Leader <\/h2>\n\n\n
Last fall, New Jersey\u2019s Department of Environmental Protection\nrecognized the University as an institutional leader for its broad-based\nprogram that resulted in recycling 46% of the waste generated on campus in\n2018. Monmouth\u2019s program includes initiatives to recycle glass, plastic, metal,\naluminum, used light bulbs, batteries, toner cartridges, and more. The\ninstallation of hydration stations to encourage use of reusable containers and\nthe donation of old electronic equipment, clothes, and books to charities were\nalso cited as contributing factors to the University\u2019s successful program. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The scene at West Long Branch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":8754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-currents","category-tides"],"thumbnail":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/02\/14-President_Installation_20191018_TC_HR_066-300x208.jpg\")
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