Matt Harmon:
As we keep you updated with the latest news and happenings around campus university, president Patrick Lehe talks about the most recent news summer classes to be held remotely along with the impact of all the other events planned during the course of the summer months. This is Matt Harmon and it's time for episode four of Monmouth weekly. Thanks as always for joining us. Well, it is certainly crazy to think. This is the fourth episode of our Monmouth weekly show. I'm Matt Harmon member of the communication faculty alongside president Patrick Lehe, who is of course the university president. Uh, this idea, certainly something that I would've hoped president Lehe by now maybe would be able to do this in person, but, uh, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve, um, we are still in our house. I'm at mine. You are at yours. I wish you a very good afternoon here on a Tuesday in early April.

Patrick Leahy:
Yeah, it's good to be with you again, Matt, even if we have to do this virtually yet again,

Matt Harmon:
You know, you think of it and because this is now the fourth episode, it means we're about a month into, uh, essentially the, the shutdown of campus. The idea of how things have changed and evolved over the course of a month is, is staggering in a way decisions continue to be made. Things continue to happen. We've got a lot to catch up on this fourth episode, but I wanna start with something that has become near and dear to your heart. Last week, when we talked, we finished with the president's relief fund. And I think at that point you said just about 200, I wanna say one 70. Maybe that was the number that you said checks were on their way out, uh, as that continues to, to come about. I'm sure there are more students who have applied, which means there's probably more students have been granted some sort of financial relief.

Patrick Leahy:
Yeah, I am. I am really proud about this, uh, project, because it, uh, is so typical of the Monmouth university spirit and, uh, so many people around the campus have been in, involved in making this happen. Yes, last week, I think I told you, we sent out 170 checks. Uh, this week, today I think in the mail will be 217 more checks. Now these are remember small grants. I don't wanna overstate, uh, the size of the grants. Uh, in fact, the average, uh, grant size is about $330. So I don't wanna overstate it, but for the students who are facing really hardship situations, Matt, this money is coming at a critically important time. Uh, it allows them to pay for food, uh, access to the internet, uh, from, from home that they wouldn't otherwise have. Uh, if both parents are outta work or whatever the case may be, we just wanted to make sure that our students know that, uh, help is on the way, even if it's deemed modest, help, it's nonetheless on the way from their university. So I'm really thrilled with how this is developing

Matt Harmon:
And if, if memory is serving me, correct. Um, and it would be something that I'm sure we'll talk about from, from weekend to week out, this was in a way, um, money that was just set aside for you to use at your discretion when needed. I mean, who would've ever thought it would've been in, in a situation in a case like this. Um, but, but like anything else, I mean, at, at some point that money, um, once it goes out, it's certainly not gonna come back unless there are people that are interested in donating and becoming part of it, which is something I, I know that you're open to.

Patrick Leahy:
Yeah. You know, I'll just tell you a little bit about it. It was, uh, this president's discretionary fund that I, that I inherited, of course when I arrived last summer. And, um, the only time we had tapped it to this point was when one of our superstar students, uh, was granted an opportunity to study at Oxford university. I mean, only two Americans are invited to study in this particular study abroad program. And one of our students, Mackenzie RKA was one of them. And, uh, she just flat out, could not afford it. So, uh, I tapped the president's discretionary fund for a small grant to help make that possible for her. Then when this global pandemic arrived in Monmouth county, and we started hearing these stories of students and some of the real, genuine financial hardship, I thought of this fund. And as you point out figured, there's no better use for this discretionary fund than to offer this kind of relief.

Patrick Leahy:
We have spent it down already through, through just the first two rounds we've spent it down. So, uh, we're looking around the university to try to find some other unrestricted endowments that we could tap. Uh, some people both on the, the Monmouth university campus and in the community have heard about it and have asked me how they might support it. I've made a very clear map that I'm not gonna aggressively go out and raise money right now. I just don't think that would be appropriate for our university, but let's be honest if our students are in this kind of financial hardship, there are people in our community that want to help. And of course, I, I welcome that if, if they're interested and all they have to do is go to monmouth.edu/relief and get more information about the relief fund. And, and there isn't a, a, a button on that page where someone could make a, a gift if they were so inclined. Again, I'm not going out aggressively and raising money for it. But, uh, I just know there are individuals in the Monmouth community who, uh, when they hear about this would want to be a part of it. And of course, I wanna make it available to them.

Matt Harmon:
You know, president Lehe from where you came from before you were at Mammouth, uh, small university in, in Wilkes where you were the president there for seven years. And now in your first full year at Monmouth, um, you know, tight, tight knit communities, I think would be the idea here and listening to your last answer, thinking even in a small way, um, can Monmouth reach out to their student body and feel like they are connecting during this time? Um, I, I would think it would be the same thing if you were still at a university like Wilkes, where there is that kind of small, small knit community field to it. But I know for you having almost now a one-on-one relationship, uh, with the students that are applying and then you sending out and giving them some sort of financial relief probably makes you feel in a way really good.

Patrick Leahy:
Yeah. Oh my gosh. Does it ever, I mean, it, it does, it does provide an opportunity to, uh, feel connected to the students. Uh, I mean, I try to do that anyway. I mean, we're not so large. Um, I always feel that even at 6,000 students, we're not so large that the students, um, they should expect to, to, to know their university president, you know, know who I am at least, and, and maybe more importantly, get to know me a little bit. And, uh, I try to do that by being as engaged in the life of the university as possible, but in a situation like this, we always say, we, we can't help our students if we don't know about their challenges. And I, I gotta be careful cause I can't overcommit what we're gonna be able to do. But this relief fund just gives us that little bit of extra that we can send out to help relieved attention that exists.

Patrick Leahy:
We know in students' lives as a result of this crisis. But remember Matt, this is the, the relief fund is the least of it. We've already talked in previous episodes about the institutional commitment to refund. I don't know, on a pro rat basis room meal and parking fees, the institutional commitment to keep any student who had on campus work whole on those on campus jobs. Even if it's gonna be hard to do that work over the next few weeks. I mean, we are trying really hard to make sure that our students know that, uh, the universities got their back, uh, during this crisis. And it does bring the community together in a way that I think is really meaningful. For those of us who are engaged in this work,

Matt Harmon:
You can find out more information about the president's relief fund, go to mammoth.edu. You find all the information, uh, right there, president Patrick Lehe joining us. This is mammo weekly. Uh, I'm Matt Harmon and president Lehe. You know, as you look at it, having that connection, I know you have done some things via social media and, and you are in contact with members of, let's say student government, the SGA. How, how often would you say during, uh, a week to week basis, how many students are you having one on one or group, you know, whether it's zoom or text messages, phone calls, how many people of the student body are you talking with on a week to week basis?

Patrick Leahy:
Uh, not nearly enough. I, I wish I could be even more actively engaged, you know, during this crisis. Uh, whenever I send out a message to the campus community or to the, to the students, I say at the, at the end, um, very intentionally that if you have any questions or concerns, or if you have any feedback, I hope you can, you know, that you can reach out to me directly. And my promise to all of our campus constituents is that they'll get an answer from me directly. Now I may need to get others involved to get them the best information, um, to answer their question or what have you. But, um, I just feel like it's an important role for the university president, especially the school of our size to be that actively involved in, uh, in helping our community through this crisis. So I think, you know, even though we're physically separated, I I'm in touch with 300 or 400 people, um, on an individual basis every, every week, uh, answering emails mostly or making telephone calls.

Patrick Leahy:
And then I think, you know, I do these, uh, these large sort of open calls with faculty and staff and I tried to do one with the students. It did not go very well. So I'm gonna try, try that again. But, um, you know, I'm just trying to stay as connected as possible. I, you know, my mantra that while we're physically separated, we need to stay emotionally connected and, and, uh, I just feel like it's, it's fun for me to be in that role. And, uh, it's something that, uh, I feel about, which I feel very strongly,

Matt Harmon:
You know, this is something that I thought of asking you last week and it, it just didn't come up in conversation, but as we changed gears and maybe update on some of the latest news, uh, in terms of summer schedule and things like that, which we can get into in a second, H how much time do you spend, if any, um, talking and working with other universities of mama size, whether it's in New Jersey, outside of New Jersey, private schools that are in that, you know, 6,000 student range, when you factor in undergrad and graduate students, um, in order to just have, other than mammoth people have to bounce ideas off of,

Patrick Leahy:
It's a great question. And it's very important for, um, I think probably all university presences, but for me in particular, not only to get that, that, uh, thought leadership from, from other, uh, like-minded institutions, you know, they get that, that intellectual exchange because, um, they're dealing with the same problems that we are. And I think there's, there's, uh, opportunities to learn from one another. But I think there's also the, uh, sort of emotional support <laugh> if, if you will, uh, that we can lend to one another. So, uh, there's two groups in particular, uh, with whom I'm very engaged. The first is the association of independent colleges and universities of New Jersey, which is the 14 private higher ed institutions in the state. I'm on the phone with them every few days. And now it's settling into just about every week with them, but at the beginning of this crisis, it was every few days on the phone with them. And then the other, uh, great opportunity I have is that I was just, uh, elected to the national board for, for, uh, the national association of independent colleges and universities. In fact, I just joined the board, uh, a few weeks ago and that plugs me into college and university presidents, private ones in particular, all over the country. So, um, I have plenty of individuals, uh, whose wisdom I can tap, um, and whose support I can, uh, count on during this crisis

Matt Harmon:
When you think of it. I, I, I hate to say that it probably was not unexpected, but I'm sure still disappointing to have to meet the announcement that you did, um, yesterday. And that is that summer classes all during the course of the summer, no matter what the session will now be offered remotely instead of, uh, on campus and in person,

Patrick Leahy:
We're making these decisions on a rolling basis. Uh, uh, and this was the most recent set of decisions that we needed to, to make Matt. And as you point out, we elected to go remote instruction and learning for the entire summer. There's a new session. As you know, we'll finish up, we'll wrap up and complete this spring, this spring semester. But then of course we, we offer as robust, uh, summer, uh, a set of courses as possible to allow students to continue to progress. They may want to catch up if they've fallen behind, or they may want to get ahead. And over the years, as we've grown that summer activity, Matt increasing amounts of it have migrated to online delivery anyway, to make it convenient for students who are working during the summer and wanna bang out a class when they can, or they want to go home of course, for the summer, but they wanna take the course from Monmouth university, not from their, you know, local institution back home, online delivery in general allows for that flexibility.

Patrick Leahy:
And we were trying to encourage that anyway, well with this coronavirus situation, we just had to make the decision that all of that programming has to now migrate to remote, because we're just not sure when we're gonna be allowed to bring people back to campus. Uh, if you listen to the governor, he'll tell you, he thinks this is at least gonna go well into to may. And remember when he starts relaxing the social distancing, it doesn't mean it's gonna get turned off all at once. He's gonna have to probably wind that down over the summer. And we just don't know when we'd be able to offer on ground courses again. So we just made the decision that all of the summer programming will be delivered in a remote fashion, uh, in a high quality remote fashion. And our, and our hope is it will, it will still allow students that flexibility that they, they seek. Anyway, the one thing I'll add is we're holding out still an opportunity if in the latter part of the summer, the social distancing is relaxed enough that we could add some on ground on campus courses for the latter sessions that we would, you know, hold out the flexibility to, to do so. But right now we've just made the declarative statement. All the programming that's scheduled now will be remote.

Matt Harmon:
Well, I think too, if, if you factor in the, you know, the idea that there are five summer sessions, a, B, C, D, and E you know, different dates of start different dates of finish, I, I would think just from ease of use for someone who might be thinking, Hey, I still want to take my summer class. They don't have to worry, well, oh, summer a that's gonna be remote summer. E as of right now, that could be in person, but it might be remote. I, I think the idea of it is, is probably just to try and make it as user friendly as possible, right?

Patrick Leahy:
Yeah, exactly. Just, just give as much clarity and an uncertain world as possible. <laugh> um, the other thing that we, we were able to do as part of that, which might be really relevant to our students is that our faculty council, uh, passed a resolution to continue this flexible grading, uh, policy that we instituted throughout the summer as well. And, um, my hope is that that will give students some comfort that, uh, there there'll be flexibility in the way in which they can be assessed, uh, for this summer. Uh, like they are this spring,

Matt Harmon:
As you mentioned, president Lehe in, in a previous answer, you know, trying to get maybe the summer, um, classes to, to go a little bit more of that hybrid or strictly online format, because it does certainly make it maybe more attractive to students or flexible for students. I, is there a scenario even in a crazy world as we're sitting in right now and for the foreseeable future, is there, um, a scenario where you could see actually classes maybe being busier or more populated because all of them now are just remote and online?

Patrick Leahy:
Absolutely. I mean, I'm not, I'm not counting on it yet this year, Matt, because there's so much other uncertainty in, in our world, but, but going forward, I could see the, uh, the, uh, expansion of online programming in the summer growing our summer numbers. I mean, that is clearly, um, uh, a, there's a flexibility that our students, uh, want. And I've always say that I want Monmouth university to offer those online courses, because my fear is if we don't that those students might find those online opportunities elsewhere and just let the transfer the credit in. And I would rather, our first class faculty have the opportunity to teach our, our students. So, um, I think online delivery in the summer, um, is a particularly attractive application for, for students,

Matt Harmon:
You know, in a, in a strange way, during a strange period, this, and a lot of the things that Monmouth faculty wise university wise is trying and attempting whether it's the remote instruction, how faculty can interact with students, the idea of the, of the summer classes now being all done, uh, remote and online, it, it's almost becoming in a weird way, a testing ground to see what could work and what could not work for the future of the university going forward.

Patrick Leahy:
<laugh>, you know, I, I, I'm a huge fan of online delivery in certain student segments. Matt, I always have to make clear that, uh, I believe very strongly in the four year residential experience for undergraduates. And I don't see that changing anytime soon, but I think there are other students who, who, uh, because of their life situation or what have you are, are really interested in online delivery. So I've been a huge fan of being able to, to serve students how they want to be served and have wanted to encourage online delivery. Anyway, I never, in a million years imagined having to change so abruptly as we've had this spring, but I do think one of the silver linings of this global pandemic might be that faculty were, were forced to try some things that they might not otherwise have had to staff have been forced to try to support faculty in ways that they otherwise not have had to, and that we might learn some things that will make us a better university in the future. So, um, I know that the transition, um, given how abruptly it had to happen, um, you know, was tough, but my hope is as we settle into it and we learn some things and we're willing to share what wor what's working and what isn't that, um, that, that we can come out at the other end of this, uh, stronger instruc than, than we were even before it,

Matt Harmon:
Let's talk a little bit about, uh, some of the other pieces of the announcement, the email that went out to the campus community, uh, yesterday, unfortunately, um, as Monmouth makes that transition into summer classes being held remotely and online, there are a couple, and I'll say casualties along the way, alumni weekend, uh, which was scheduled for June 12th through the 15th. That is something that right now has to be postponed.

Patrick Leahy:
It is. And, uh, I was really looking forward to that. Would've been my first alumni weekend. I've met a ton of our alums over the, my first, you know, eight or nine months, but was really looking forward to that opportunity to connect with more of our alums. We just decided Matt, that the prudent thing to do right now is to give people the clarity that we're canceling it. And, and it was a little bit easier because we know that we can fold a lot of those component pieces to alumni weekend into an even more robust, exciting, enthusiastic homecoming weekend in October. So, because we knew we had a good alternative, I think we just decided it was best for us to, to make that call now. And to be honest in mid-June, I, I, I don't see the governor allowing us to have 2000 people events, uh, that quickly, I maybe I'm wrong, but, uh, we just decided that, uh, we could give people the clarity that they are seeking right now, especially given that we had a very good alternative for those, uh, for those events.

Matt Harmon:
And then if you've ever been up towards, uh, campus during the course of, of any time, really of the year, it's always busy and there's always a lot going on. And you might think, ah, the summertime, it kind of quiets down, but there are so many things that take place. Um, whether it's events, camps, sports camps, other types of camps, the, the campus in a way during the course of the summer could be perceived as, as busy, if not busier with just a different population. Um, what's the latest on some of those in terms of, Hey, I wanna sign up my, my son, daughter for a program or event a camp that they've been going to for years during the course of the summer in Monmouth. Um, I, I know right now that that probably is I can, I, can I say accurately, the pause button in a way has been hit on that in terms of making a decision?

Patrick Leahy:
It, it has in part because we, we don't wanna, um, remove those opportunities to prematurely. So we've committed that we'll have answers to those, uh, to the question around whether those events are gonna go or not, by May 1st that gives us, you know, three weeks or four weeks still to get a feel for how, how this public health crisis is unfolding. That, but we didn't wanna go ahead and cancel those because a lot of our staff and faculty and others in the community rely on those summer camps, uh, to, you know, to keep the kids sort of active, uh, during those, those periods. And we just didn't wanna, um, remove those opportunities just yet. Um, so we'll give ourselves a few more weeks and then we'll commit by May 1st to, to making a call on those so that if we have to cancel 'em, we can give, uh, parents, uh, enough heads up to find, uh, other alternatives.

Patrick Leahy:
You know, some of them may, I'll just add too, if I may, that you are absolutely right about how active universities are in the summer. And I want them to our, our university to be even more active. I have this thing that I want Monmouth university to be a 12 month university that is, I wanna make sure that even those three or four months in the summer where we're not in our traditional academic year, that we're doing as much as possible to look and feel and act like a university, more academic programming, more camps, and conferences on campuses, more athletic opportunities. Um, it is very busy as it is at already. We want it to be increasingly. So, uh, in the summertime, it's just that this year we just have this, uh, this, uh, pandemic, that's this casting appall over all of those other very interesting activities that we would have in this phone.

Matt Harmon:
You know, president Lehe, I, I took a, um, I mean, listen, you have nothing but time on your hands in a way, depending on the day, I took a nice long bike ride during the course of last week up towards campuses and I kind of Pedald through. And, um, I, I came across one of the few people that was there. Uh, one of the members of the, the, the grounds personnel on campus, um, spent a minute or two just saying hello, and kind of checking in. Uh, I know you have done a really good job in these Monmouth. Weeklys kind of pointing out a couple of people who have either helped make decisions, kept the university up and going. I mean, the, the staff, people that are there right now, uh, have really done, and, and the campus was absolutely pristine as I bike through it, they have done an amazing job of making it look like if needed and necessary. The campus could open up at a, at a moment's notice.

Patrick Leahy:
What I hate more than anything right now is the fact that the campus is about as pretty as it it's, it's gonna be. I mean, the, uh, the springtime on most college campuses in particular, ours is just a special time and the campus looks beautiful. We have at any given time, 10 or 12, only 10 or 12 staff, people on the campus keeping an eye on things. Um, they're doing such a great job. I'm so grateful to them because, uh, you know, the rest of us are staying at home per the executive order to try to help bend this curve as they keep talking about. But there's our, there are a few of our staff members that have no choice, but to come in and to check on things and to keep an eye on the campus. Um, the other day, I, I remarked that our, our Monmouth university police department who's here every day, keeping an eye on things and helping out, uh, uh, people who are on the campus if they need it.

Patrick Leahy:
And, uh, when the governor decided to lower the flags at half staff in honor of all the people that we've lost due to the COVID 19 virus within I think, five minutes, uh, the flags at Monmouth university were lowered to half staff, um, out of, uh, you know, reference or deference, excuse me, uh, to the governor's order and, and all the people we've lost. And, um, it's just a satisfying thing for me to see the, the members of the Monmouth university community come together, the way they've had, the way they have during this, this pandemic.

Matt Harmon:
Yeah. It's been, uh, and again, ha having, you know, biked up there. I, I was extremely impressed. Uh, and even the quick conversation I had with one of the members of the grounds crew, um, to, to make the campus look as good as it does right now, it was, it was, uh, comforting in a way to kind of see, um, you know, well, let's wrap with this. You and I have, have kind of kicked around a couple of ideas, and I will tell you, I did a successful test of having multiple people hop on, uh, and record a, a podcast that I did within my house on three different computers. And it did work. I will give you the update. It did work. So I know we've kind of had the idea of maybe having, uh, a couple of people join us during the course of the next couple of episodes. We can, we can kind of delve into how other members and areas of the, um, Monmouth university community are dealing with this. So I think that should be a go if you, if we wanna give that a shot, maybe, uh, episode five, we'll, we'll start our second month of doing this and we'll, we'll have some fun, and we'll kind of check in with some other people around campus

Patrick Leahy:
Who says you're not a technology guru. I mean,

Matt Harmon:
We, we, we established last week, right? You always go to the youngest person. So I'd like you, I have younger kids at home. And I said, okay, this is what we're gonna try. And everybody kind of recorded something. I was able to put it together. Uh, but it did look like it was gonna work. Um, so I, I think you, and I can have some fun kind of check in some other people over the course of the next couple weeks.

Patrick Leahy:
I mean, I think that'd be really important. I'm, I'm pleased we're gonna be able to do that. Uh, you've been so gracious Matt in having me do most of the, most of the talking here as we get through the, the key decisions of this, uh, pandemic. I'm very grateful to you for that, but I would love to open it up a little bit more and get some other voices involved talking not only about this current crisis, but, uh, about, uh, where Monmouth university's gonna head once this, uh, crisis, uh, subsides. And, uh, I would welcome that opportunity to get some other people involved.

Matt Harmon:
Well, it'll be fun. We'll set it up and we'll, uh, hopefully have something in the, in the, uh, hopper for next week as always present at LA. Hey, I appreciate your time. Um, kind of talking us through the, the latest happenings and updates in terms of what's going on with the campus community, all the summer stuff. Uh, and as always, I wish you and your family the very best during this time enjoy spring break with the kids. It should be nothing but a lot of fun running around the lawn of, uh, the, the president's residents on campus.

Patrick Leahy:
I have two weeks of spring break coming, two weeks, uh, with my two younger boys. Uh, so we'll have to figure out there'll be a lot of pick up basketball games out on the, uh, out in the driveway. But, uh, um, I wish you Matt, uh, health and, and safety during this time, I wanna shout out at a special way. All of the Monmouth university, students and alums who are engaged on the front lines of this healthcare crisis, I'm hearing some really, really inspiring stories. And I want them all to know that, uh, their Monmouth university community stands with them during this really, really tough time. One, one of them wrote to me and she just signed off Monmouth strong. So I just feel like maybe that's, uh, inspiration for all of us.

Matt Harmon:
That sounds like a great episode. We'll be able to spend some time coming up, talking about some of those that are Monmouth connected, uh, up and working in the front lines. He is president Patrick Lehe. I'm Matt Harmon. Thanks has always for giving us your time. This has been episode four of Monmouth weekly. Look forward to talking to you next week.