Salon Series: A conversation with Senate President Steve Sweeney

Montclair State hosted New Jersey’s top-ranking lawmaker, Senate President Stephen Sweeney, on October 22 in a salon-style conversation on civic engagement and the future of New Jersey politics.

Brigid Harrison, professor of Political Science and Law, led the conversation on Sweeney’s ideas for economic and fiscal reform. The senator recently released a report that includes recommendations for turning around the state pension system, merging school districts, and sharing municipal and county services.

With financial support for public colleges and universities declining dramatically, the conversation also touched on making college affordable and providing equitable funding for higher education.

Andrew Lyons, a freshman political science major, posed the question: When it comes to funding for higher education, “I was wondering specifically, what do you mean – scholarships to students or investing more in public universities?”

Answering as if posed as multiple choice on a midterm exam, Sweeney said, “All of the above.”

The conversation with Sweeney was the first in this year’s Salon Series, programming that brings notable policymakers and speakers to campus and shapes the University as an intellectual center for the community. With its focus on civic engagement, the first event integrated all corners of campus and academic life.

“Senator Sweeney essentially controls our state legislature’s agenda, and particularly given the climate of the state and the crisis with the pensions, I thought it was important that Montclair State students and the broader community have the opportunity to hear his ideas,” Harrison said.

Coming two weeks before the closely watched midterm elections, the Salon’s focus on politics resonated with students. The audience included many first-time voters (the Office of Civic and Voter Engagement has registered nearly 750 new voters), student volunteers for candidates across the state and journalism students who will be reporting on election night from the University’s multi-platform newsroom. There are “higher levels of participation of young people because they are more aware of what is at stake,” Harrison said.

For Joseph Dybas, a sophomore studying political science, “one of the greatest takeaways from listening to Dr. Harrison and Senator Sweeney’s discussion was a reminder of how political discourse is able to occur in a respectful and productive manner. In our current political atmosphere, it feels as though discourse is guided by attacking those with opposing views and inciting violence rather than respectfully disagreeing and attempting to find common ground.”

Sweeney, when asked about the level of participation by students, said, “I tell people all the time, this is their future and they need to get engaged in order to ensure that decisions that are made and what government does actually works for them. If they’re not engaged, they’re not heard.”

The event was co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and Law, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, The College of the Arts, the School of Communication and Media, the Office of Civic and Voter Engagement, the Political Science Club, College Republicans, and College Democrats at Montclair State University, as well as InsiderNJ.

Gov. Jim Florio will share lessons on his life in politics at the next Salon Series conversation at 4 p.m. on November 27. The event will feature discussion of his new book Standing on Principle and will be free and open to the University community and public.