Matt Harmon: The first week of the semester coming to a close on campus at Monmouth university with university president Patrick Lehe. This is faculty member, Matt Harmon. We talk about week number one, we remember nine 11 end preview today's fall convocation. This is episode 17 of our Monmouth weekly program. Thanks is always for joining us. Matt Harmon: The first week of the fall semester is up and going at Monmouth university, some classes in person, some remote and some, a variety of ways in the hybrid direction. I'm faculty member, Matt Harmon. This is mammoth weekly episode number 17, and good to be back with you as we turn the calendar into September, I say a very good morning on a, uh, Soma morning, certainly across the country, based on the date September 11th, go back to 2001. We'll spend some time talking about that, just how the first week has been going and, uh, get into a little bit of the message of fall convocation, which takes place later on today as well. Good morning. However, too university present in Patrick Lehe. It's been, uh, a couple of weeks since you and I have chatted. How was, uh, first and foremost, how are things at home? I know you've got, uh, the four kids and in kind of a variety of directions in terms of who's taking what, and who's where, and probably, uh, you know, thinking of Monmouth, having all these different ways that classes are being offered. You're probably seeing the full spectrum, uh, within your own house as well. Patrick Leahy: We are good morning, Matt. Nice to be with you. Uh, yeah, our house and the four kids and their educational pursuits. This fall mimic exactly what we're trying to do here at Monmouth. And that is to provide as much flexibility, as you mentioned as possible. We have, uh, in the house here, a couple of our kids going remote, couple of our kids, uh, one of our kids back in school, one of our kids taking a, uh, taking a break this fall. So, uh, I think my micro community of the Lehe family mimics the, uh, broader Monmouth university community as we begin the fall semester, Matt Harmon: You know, you and I have had some fun kind of, uh, talking during the course of, of, of the summer months for sure. Um, and I always kind of, you know, I would say how was labor day weekend, the end end to the summer. But, um, I actually feel like your, your kids in a lot of ways have been cheated just a little bit because they have not had the traditional Jersey shore, uh, summer where it's, it's, it's a lot, there's a lot more happening than probably, uh, you guys saw during the course of, of the last few months. Patrick Leahy: Yeah. You know, unfortunately I don't think we, we got the full Jersey shore experience this year. Um, I think we have a sense for how great it can be, but, uh, you know, because of the different state, uh, guidelines, the, that restricted activity, we didn't get the full experience, but it doesn't, uh, in any way, uh, make us any less enthusiastic to be here. It just makes us think that, uh, this really is a great place to live. And, um, you know, we, we hope we'll be here for a while. , Matt Harmon: You know, while I hope, uh, I, I would echo that as well. You're just getting, you're just getting yourself settled in. There's no reason to go anywhere. Patrick Leahy: Just one year now. Right? You, Matt Harmon: You think of it. And as we record here this morning, we, we're actually kind of right in the middle of what would've been 19 years ago. One of the craziest days in our country's history on September 11th, uh, 2001. And, and again, we're where you and I are recording right now on, on mid, mid to late morning. This is when everything was happening. I mean, I can remember vividly, uh, being at home and actually getting ready to go to Monmouth, to teach a class when I was just an adjunct at that time. Um, and, and, and essentially the world kind of stopped, um, yeah. For, for you. What, what, what do you recall about that, that day, that time? Um, obviously you weren't at Monmouth, um, but, but not too far removed from, from your days at Ithaca. Patrick Leahy: Yeah. Um, actually you mentioned that we're right in the, the midst of those activities 19 years ago. In fact, just outside here on campus, the bells told to, um, commemorate, uh, the third plane hitting the Pentagon, I think. Uh, so, um, we are right in the midst of those terrible tragic events of that morning. Uh, our bells will toll, um, four times this morning to, uh, to recall the events of that morning, but, uh, yeah, as I think back on it, I, I was living in Ithaca, New York at the time. Um, I remember so vividly Matt, that I had, I had gotten up, uh, early and was at the barber of all places. , uh, trying to get my haircut in before the day's activities. And I'm sitting in the barber chair and they had the TV on, of course we saw the events unfold the way everybody else in the, in the world. Did I always tell the story that I went home that day and my kids at the time were, uh, my oldest two girls were just three and one. And so we spent the day, I basically took the day off and spent the day watching the, the events unfold with my wife, Amy and our two daughters helping them out. And it was later that night that I put them, um, you know, rocked them to sleep and then put my youngest daughter at the time down in her crib. And, uh, as I always did, I, I jumped to the floor to wait for a few minutes to make sure that she was asleep. You, you, you remember those days as a, as a father? Matt Harmon: I sure do. Patrick Leahy: And, um, it was then in, you know, in the quiet of the evening with the lights out and, um, sitting there, lying there next to my infant daughter that I, I think the events of the day first, uh, first really hit me emotionally. And, uh, that's when I first, uh, cried about the situation. So, um, on days like today, I always remind people that, um, you should hold the people, uh, that you love the most in a long firm embrace and just, uh, tell them what they mean to you, because you just never know. Matt Harmon: Yeah. I think, uh, you, you know, again, everybody kind of has their own memories of that day. And as I said, I, I, I had always had, and still to this day have a Tuesday class that I was preparing for, um, later on, later on in the day. And I can remember dropping off. It's funny. You talk about having two daughters, you, your family has grown since that point with, with two more, Patrick Leahy: Right. Matt Harmon: I have three kids. And at that point it was one, you know, I, I, I can remember taking, um, my oldest son now who at the time was not quite three, taking him to, you know, preschool for the day and then coming home and, and literally walking in to my wife and just watching this unfold on TV. And, and you were, you know, you were thinking, do you, do you go pick your son up? Do you not go pick him up? You know, is, is, is the, is the city, it, it turned out not to be it, because then, then what happened in Washington DC and then the plane crash in Pennsylvania. So it certainly was a crazy day. And, and I do have to, um, I do have to, to think that on September 11th, one of the things that I think Monmouth has, has done very well, because, you know, essentially on, on some days you could go out to the long branch coastline and, you know, on the right day, you could almost see New York city sure. Or drove a little bit farther north. You're certainly gonna see it from Sandy hook or sea bright or one of those places. So the connection was there immediately and right away. And certainly the, the surrounding Monmouth university community was, was impacted greatly. Um, but I I've always thought that one of the real good things that the school does is you just referenced is have those bells go off to mark some of the, some not all, because it, it, it just wouldn't probably be feasible, but some of the major, uh, events of that day and, and I'm, and I'm so happy that as you have continued, um, that theme and tradition, because I think it's an important one for people to remember just how that day took place. Patrick Leahy: I I'm so, so proud that Monmouth university does that. I, I saw on Twitter this morning that of 3000 lives or so lost that day 700 of whom were from New Jersey. So, uh, this state Bo uh, disproportionate brunt of the, the pain that day. So the least Monmouth university can do is remember, uh, remember those, uh, those events every, each and every year, Matt Harmon: You know, and, and on a day, where on a Friday on September 11th here, um, as I said on our open, it, it marks the end or close to the end that by the end of the day, today of the first week of classes being back up and going, not quite a full week, because the university started on Tuesday after labor day, which they always traditionally do. Um, I, I think just a, a broad question of saying, how is it going, uh, would, would at this point be appropriate? That might not be my best journalistic question, but I think, I think right now, that's kind of what people wanna know. How are things week? Number one, Patrick Leahy: It's the most honest question. So I guess that's good journalism. Um, I would tell you at this point, uh, the way I would characterize it, Matt is simply so far so good. Uh, we have been moving students back into campus, again, everything we're doing here over the last, uh, 10 days or so to reopen the, the university is compliant with the letter and the spirit of the New Jersey state guidelines. I wanna make sure you, and, and any of our listeners know that we've been following those guidelines as you, as you know, very, very carefully to make sure that we are abiding, uh, by the, not just the letter of them, but the spirit of them. So we've been moving students in since more than a week ago. Uh, right now we have about half of our residential capacity, which is actually good Matt because, uh, the state of New Jersey requires us to, uh, keep our residence halls at lower capacity than normal. So, um, we have about half of our students back living with us. Um, as you know, we have, uh, the majority of our academic coursework online, uh, something close to 50 to 60% is online. The maj, the, uh, remainder in person and hybrid. That's a good mix for students. Um, it allows them, the, the options that we talked about earlier either to take their fall coursework online and stay home, or to come back to campus and get more of the full experience, not, not the full experience, but more of it. And, uh, we are as diligent as we can possibly be about, uh, the health and safety protocols. And to this point, I feel very positive about how the first, uh, three or four days have gone. Um, you, we've got tents up all over the campus, and I remarked the other day, Matt, that those tents look so good, um, that I'm not sure, uh, those tents won't, aren't here to stay. , you know, they, they provide extra, uh, space for our students to congregate. It's mostly there for, uh, our, our residential dining, uh, and a little bit of academic work, uh, as well, actually some classes will be held in outdoor tents, uh, but they're, um, erected in a way that it just, uh, adds to the, uh, already incredible campus that we have. So in a word or two, uh, so far so good, Matt Harmon: You know, a couple of things to follow up on that. And, and from a personal perspective, I always say, you know, in our intro and, um, during the course of it, faculty member, Matt Harmon, I I've been a, a proud member of the faculty since 1999. And I, I, I will say that I have, um, seeing three of my four classes so far in person. And I think the students not only are excited to be back, even though it, it is very different. There's the, there's not the interaction. There's not maybe, um, the connection that, that you would have, but I think for a lot of students, it's nice just to be back in a classroom. Um, hopefully, hopefully that continues and it's not just a quick one off, and then they, they think that it's easier maybe online, but, um, you know, of, of the three classes I saw you talk about the outside space and, and how things have maybe been either reconfigured or from a faculty perspective, can you be creative? Matt Harmon: I, I had my first class Tuesday morning and we met on the steps of the garden, you know, on the side of, of great hall and the early gardens. And, and it was fantastic. The weather was great. We had a, a nice, you know, conversation to kind of get the class up and going. Um, and I did tell that class specifically, I said, we can do this as, as long as the weather cooperates and, you know, we can, we can do different things. We can find ways to be creative, um, and socially distant and keep your mask on. Um, but you know, especially here in the fall in New Jersey, September, October, and, and, you know, if you get lucky into November, I, I would say those outside areas would be something that the university can really take advantage of. Patrick Leahy: I think so, um, you know, I just had this philosophy, Matt, that, uh, education is complicated as we tend to make it boils down ultimately to one thing. And that is the engagement between a faculty member and a student or students as the case may be. And I'm just so grateful to hear you talk about the, the innovative and unique and, and maybe unusual ways that our faculty members are trying to connect with our students. And I think some of our faculty members believe like you evidently do that. You know what, let's try to do it in person, even if we have some constraints to work with. And other faculty members think the best way for, for, for them to connect with their students is to do it in an online, you know, good online virtual environment. Um, I don't really care how you do it as long as that, uh, direct engagement happens because to me, that's when the magic happens in education. So the image of you being out on the steps there next to the grade hall, uh, with, uh, some number of students, even in that, you know, constrained environment, I is just, I think, a perfect image of, uh, what we're trying to deliver for our students here at Monmouth. Matt Harmon: Yeah. And clearly the reputation that that Monmouth has, and probably one of the reasons that, uh, led you to be interested and then ultimately get, get the job, uh, as the university president was, was the fact that the small class environment, the one on one that so many students get and thrive off of, of working with faculty. Uh, and you do look at the way that the schedule in the fall, at least for right now has been put together with the classes in person. Um, again, all of my classes are hybrids, so I'm gonna try and mix and match those students don't feel super uncomfortable having to come all the time, but, but trying to see them at least once a week, I, for me, at least that's really important. Um, and I know other, other faculty members feel the same and, and, and others, as you said, feel like they can still have that one-on-one engagement doing things remotely, but it, it was actually in the strangest way. It was interesting because I, I, whoever has been running the, the Instagram, um, and some of the social media, you know, they'll pick up on some of the pictures that people will post and tag Monmouth, um, to see people taking advantage of the spaces outside has actually been pretty, pretty creative and, and pretty unique. And I do hope it's something, um, that continues. I, I, I do ask you this though. Do, do you wake up? Um, and, and I was just watching the news a little bit ago. Do you wake up every morning and think, I, I hope that this is not the day that somehow COVID creeps in to Monmouth because it is happening everywhere. It's happening in local schools, um, in Monmouth and ocean county, it's happening on other college campuses across the country. Um, so, so from just, just the idea of, of being in that leadership position, are you keeping your fingers crossed or are you just hoping upon hope that it doesn't happen at Monmouth? Patrick Leahy: Well, I, I don't wanna make light of the situation. I, uh, I don't, if I go to bed thinking that I don't wake up worrying about it because, um, I don't actually sleep if I'm, if I'm, uh, dwelling on that and that, um, we are doing, we, you know, obviously you've heard the old adage hope is not a strategy. So we, we put a plan in place that we think is gonna give us the best possible chance of being successful and containing the number of cases that we might have here on campus in the fall, so that we can keep our, our operation up and going, uh, throughout the, the entire fall semester. Um, and then once we have that strategy in place and we, we get well, meaning people com committed to that strategy on top of that, yes, I will hope for hope for the best, but, um, you know, we know we're gonna have cases on campus this fall. I, you know, even the state of New Jersey knows that college campuses are gonna have cases because they've required us to set aside quarantine and isolation space, which we happily did in our residence halls. So that's a, you know, a recognition that we're gonna have cases on campus. The question is let's make sure that we have really good protocols in place to ensure that when a case does emerge, that it's contained and it doesn't become, um, more widespread and, and we're working really diligently to ensure that that doesn't happen. And, you know, when I do wake up in the morning, um, the first thing I report I get is from our head of our crisis management team, you know, anything happened overnight or anything happened in the last 12 hours that I need to be aware of so that we can keep closed tabs on it, but we're, we're watching what's happening around the country. And you hear, uh, about the cases where institutions have had to adjust and, and shut down, or, or sort of isolate in place for a two week period, um, and that's troubling. But remember that you hear about those cases, you don't hear about all the other colleges and universities that are up and running and have ha have not yet had to do that. So, um, I think we put the most responsible plan in place that we can execute it as well as possible. And then lastly, hope for the best, Matt Harmon: You know, I, I wanna, I wanna follow up on, on one part of that answer, which was, uh, extremely thorough and complete when, when you say, um, at some point, you know, that Monmouth will encounter some case of COVID. Um, I, is that, is that president Lehe talking from just the reality of the situation or is that president Lehe anticipating a, a worse case scenario? If that question makes sense? Patrick Leahy: Yeah, I think more the former, I mean, I think it's a reality of the, of the situation. I mean, I, I, I just don't believe that we can be open all fall and, and not report any cases. I mean, I, you know, um, I think it's a dealing with the blatant reality of the situation. Um, one commitment I've made to the campus community is that we will keep a running total of the cases that occur on the campus within the community. We will report those very transparently. We're not required to do so by the state of New Jersey we elect to do so to try to keep our campus community as informed as possible. Um, our hope is, as I mentioned, that, uh, there'll be a limited enough number of cases that once we identify those individuals, isolate them, do the appropriate contact, tracing, notify everybody within that, uh, contact trace, uh, of the situation decide who needs to be quarantined, who just needs to be more vigilant. Um, if we stick to those protocols, uh, we think we have a, a really good chance of, um, containing the cases that we no doubt believe will occur. Matt Harmon: I know you are often, um, you, you, your daily I'll say routine for, for lack of a better term is to be out and about on campus, engaging students, talking to students, um, you know, see seeing people because that's one of the things that you love most about the job. And, and you've shared that with me. Has it been, has it been challenging to be the president that you, you essentially wanna be even in this first week and not being able to really have that engagement with the student body and, and faculty and staff? Patrick Leahy: Yes. It's, um, it's taken a lot of the joy out of the job. to be honest, Matt, I, I just, um, I, as you know, I, I, I live here on campus and as we've talked about a previous podcast, you know, I've been walking to campus, um, even, even during sort of, uh, the lockdown, you know, it's my backyard. So I've been walking to campus, you know, April, may, June, July, August, and, uh, I, as I've said before, college campuses were not meant, were not, they were not built to be quiet places. They were, in my opinion, built to be high energy places and, uh, to, to walk the campus for the last four, four or five months, and to not feel that energy is, is just SAPs me of a lot of the enthusiasm, um, for the job. I will tell you, though, that starting with the commencement ceremonies that we had, which had to be, you know, very carefully executed because of the state, uh, mandates that started to restore the energy to the campus. I started seeing for the first time in months in person, uh, many of my colleagues to see our students back on campus and their families and the energy that those events created. And then you follow that quickly with starting to bring students back to campus and starting to see them around even, you know, even masked up and, and not being able to get closer than that, you know, six to eight feet. Um, it's still nonetheless starts to restore the energy to this campus. And I may say, starts to restore the energy to this president as well. Matt Harmon: You know, you, you mention, uh, commencement, which brings to mind another word that starts with the letter C and that is convocation, which take place, uh, later on today, I know the date had to be adjusted a little bit because of the weather that we've had in the area of the last couple of days. Um, you think complication from, from last year, which was your first and now your second here this year, the circumstances are very different, but when you think of the overall message and, and kind of the direction that you hope the day goes, what, what is it that you're hoping to accomplish with the ceremony today? Patrick Leahy: Well, you know, as long as I've been a university present, I felt it was important two times a year, the beginning of the fall semester. And then a again at the beginning of the spring semester, uh, for me to deliver some hopefully thoughtful, uh, prepared remarks to the campus community. A as you know, Matt, I, I do these, uh, very regular open zoom calls with the entire campus community. It's been one of the actually great silver linings of this is the ability to use zoom to connect with, and some, sometimes seven or close to 800 of my colleagues at one time. Um, so I've been doing that for, for months now, but, um, even though I've been doing those, I felt like it was important to continue that tradition to have that fall convocation, where I could prepare some remarks, deliver them in a more formal way to the campus community. We'll do that this afternoon. Um, we debated like we did last year, whether to have it on September 11th or not, you know, should we go about our daily business on this Solom day or not? And I just decided that, you know what, there's, there's no better time to gather the Monmouth university community together than on September 11th. You know, before I provide my, my business oriented remarks, I'm gonna ask everybody to stop and together as a community, you know, remember, um, uh, September 11th and, and those who were lost, and those that are still dealing with the effects of, uh, that horrible day, as well as some other, some other things that we wanna remember. So I, I felt like, you know, moving it to September 11th was quite quite appropriate. Um, but I get an opportunity to share with the campus community, a, a, a few important remarks about sort of the last semester and summer, you know, from the spring convocation through to today, I talk a lot about what our plans are for the fall semester, specifically, you know, knowing that I'll have spring convocation to update those remarks. And then I take some time toward the end to lift people's imagination beyond just this, this coming semester to what we might be able to achieve here at, at Monmouth. And, uh, so that's sort of the model I use, you know, a little review of, of, uh, what's happened at the university since the spring convocation, uh, uh, uh, a focus on what we're gonna do together in this fall. And then, uh, third part is, um, some thoughts about the future together. And so that's what I will plan for our convocation today at three. Matt Harmon: Well, listen, you know, that, um, my, my background in broadcasting and, and presenting I've taught public speaking, uh, on, on campus for the better part of, of almost my entire 20 plus years there and all the broadcasting work that I do and, and teach. So I am a believer in, uh, preparation and practice. Those are two of the things that I always talk about. Um, and I'm gonna put you on the spot here, half put you on the spot, because we did kind of talk about it a little bit. Um, I, I know that you have a, a poem that you're gonna read at convocation today. Is it something that you you'd be willing to share with us here on the podcast and, and it, and it can, it can live on, Patrick Leahy: Of course. Um, may I share it now, Matt? Yeah, Matt Harmon: That would, that would be fantastic. Patrick Leahy: So, so I mentioned that the way I structure my convocation and, um, I've been thinking a lot about a, a, a poem that, uh, really speaks to me. It's from Marge Pearcy, she's an American, uh, poet, and she wrote a poem called to be of use. And I've actually used this with my, uh, senior administrative team over the course of the last, uh, few months. And I just felt that that now was a good time to share it with the broader university community. And, um, I'd like to just share it with you, it's in four stanza. So I hope you'll just gimme a, a moment to go through it and absolutely, Hopefully You'll see why I think this is as, um, pertinent to us at this university at this time, as it is. She says the people, I love the best jump into work head first, without ding in the shallows and swim off with shore strokes, almost out of sight, they seem to become natives of that element. The black sleek heads of seals bouncing like half submerged balls. I love people who harness themselves and ox to a heavy cart who pull like water Buffalo with massive patients who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done again. And again, I wanna be with people who submerge in the task who go into the fields to harvest and work in a row and pass the bags along who are not parlor generals and field desserts, but move in a common rhythm when the food must come in, or the fire put out the work of the world is common as mud botched. It smears the hands crumbles to dust, but the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies clean and evident Greek amphoras for wine or oil Hopi VAs that held corn are put in museums, but, you know, they were made to be used the pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work. That is real. Patrick Leahy: So I just can't imagine, um, a poem that is more suitable for the incredible, incredibly hard work of this Mout university community over the last six months. And frankly, as I look ahead to the next six months, then, um, then Marge Pearcy to be of use, uh, I think we all as individuals yearn for work in our lives, that is real. And, um, I can't imagine more real work than what we're trying to do here at Mout university. Matt Harmon: I think that's a great way to, uh, frame it with the work ahead and, and in a lot of ways everyone has to be in it together. Um, I, I, I think the idea of having complication and having people come together to go back to our first topic on nine 11, I think is something that is, is something to be, um, you know, it, it's a way to gather and remember, it's a way to on convocation, spread the message of the university and, you know, continue to promote the direction that we are headed. So I do thank you for, for taking that, um, more personal moment of, of the poem that you're gonna read a little later on today and sharing with us here on the podcast. And, um, I, I think that's a good, I think that's a good way for us to, to wrap up this episode 17. I I'm sure that as I said, you listen, you have to prepare and practice. So keep running through, keep, Matt Harmon: keep running through those notes for today. Um, and, and I know our plan moving forward is, is to continue this, um, something that we started in March. Something that I, I, I don't think the idea of it has ever been lost on myself or yourself to continue to, to be able to promote Monmouth, to be able to give you a platform to talk, um, a little bit longer. So it'll be something that will continue through the fall and, and hopefully over the, the next few months, few years. And, um, I, I, I, I look forward to seeing everything, um, continue under your leadership in the direction that the university is going Patrick Leahy: Well. Thanks, Matt. I, um, I look forward to continuing these broadcasts. Uh, it's such a, such a good way to inform the campus community and other interested parties about what's happening at, at Monmouth. We try to keep them as authentic as possible so that, uh, people really know what's going on. I, I would like to turn the tables on you here in the next, uh, session or two, as I've indicated before, and, uh, give you a platform to, uh, to talk a little bit about your experience at, at Monmouth and from the faculty perspective. So at one of our future ones, I will ask to be the host and you on the contrary, the guest. So we're up for that let's plan that one of our next episodes. Matt Harmon: That sounds fantastic. I think that would be a lot of fun, uh, for, for both of us. And I know we've got, um, you know, now that we're back up and going in the fall and people are a little bit, maybe more connected. We'll, we'll have some guests coming back on over the course of the next couple of weeks. Um, and, and certainly lots more to talk about. I, I wish you nothing, but, uh, good luck and success. I'm sure you'll hit it outta the park, as you just did, um, reading the poem today and all of your remarks at convocation, um, later on this afternoon, appreciate you, you obviously the personal side of things from all the way back on nine 11 and giving us the first week update about what's taking place on campus. Patrick Leahy: It's my pleasure, always Matt, thank you. Matt Harmon: University president Patrick Lehe faculty member, Matt Harmon, episode 17 in the books. Thanks as always for joining us, we'll be back, um, within the next two weeks for episode number 18, for more information on Monmouth, go to monmouth.edu. You can find all of these podcasts archive on any of the podcast platforms and of course on the school's website at.edu. Remember those from September 11th, continued health and safety during this COVID pandemic. We'll talk to you again real soon.