Though I wrote in my previous blog about Stockton’s newly founded Food for Thought group in an attempt to garner awareness for the newly formed discussion group, I am writing this blog post as an update on the progress of this group as it has undergone major developments since my last blog post and seems a topic worth revisiting. While there are a lot of discussion based events that Stockton University offers to its students, Food For Thought is one of the few events that meet more than once, giving students multiple chances to enjoy the learning experience and broadening of viewpoints that it offers.

Food for Thought was founded by a Stockton University senior psychology major with the intent of garnering an understanding of student’s experiences with various aspects of the Stockton University experience while allowing students to benefit from this experience by having a chance to listen and learn from the viewpoints of students from differing backgrounds and origins. I reported in my previous blog post that I thought this organization had a great deal to contribute to the environment of Stockton University, as unlike many similar presentations it offers students the chance to talk to other students with different viewpoints. Unfortunately, the organization did not have many students taking advantage of this opportunity at its beginning, and I was worried the event would dissolve as a result.

Luckily, however, more students have taken an interest in Food for Thought since the last time I wrote, and the last two events were regularly attended by over 20 individuals. We spent the last meeting largely talking about how the town’s, schools, and backgrounds differed from the current environment that Stockton University offers to its students, and I learned a great deal from this experience. Compared to the small town I was born in I have always found Stockton University to be a diverse and accepting environment, though I have learned that in some instances that is not the case. One member present at the event who suffered from a physical disability and was wheelchair bound, explained that while Stockton did attempt to make accommodations for its students there were still many areas of campus that she has trouble accessing, and that it made her upset that she could never visit her friends in certain housing situations on campus due to the lack of elevators.

Another aspect the group ended up discussing in length was the extracurricular clubs on campus, specifically those with a cultural aspect. Many explained from experience their fear of trying to join a club that represented a culture in which they were interested in learning about but had not been born into. These students feared that because they were not a part of the club’s culture the other club members would never truly accept them, and therefore they would never be able to enjoy and learn from the club to the best of their ability. While this fear had kept many in attendance from joining these types of clubs, those that had overcome this fear and joined in spite of it felt that the cultural clubs on campus had in general been very inviting and accepting, often eager to educate others on their culture.

Food for Thought caused me to think in depth on a lot of issues I had not previously considered, and opened my mind to the opinion of others. It is an event I think others would largely benefit from, and hope that they will attend in the future.

On Tuesday, October 17 an event known as Food For Thought was held for the first time by a group of Stockton Faculty and Students. While the meeting was open to the public few students chose to attend, which is unfortunate because the meeting itself and the topics it covered were quite interesting. The purpose of Food For Thought, an event which going forward will be held every other Tuesday in J 202, is to gather together students and faculty of Stockton with differing opinions and values to encourage intelligent debate and find solutions for the events occurring not just in our University but in our society as a whole (and, as the name implies, there is food present). While I may have been one of the only students in attendance at this first meeting, it really was a shame because those who did not attend missed out on a wonderful opportunity.

Some of the events we discussed at this meeting included how both students and staff felt about the diversity and inclusivity at Stockton University, what issues we found with the culture and structure of the university, and ways in which the university could potentially improve its flaws. Before this meeting, I felt that Stockton offered a fairly diverse cultural society, as it tends to host many events and discussions where different cultural viewpoints are introduced. However, the longer the discussion went on the more I realized that this was not, in fact, the case. In reality there is far less racial diversity in the Stockton student body and in the Stockton tenured staff than in many universities of comparable size, which came as a bit of a shock. 

Another issue that we discussed in detail is how disjointed the Stockton University campus truly is. While Stockton University campus offers a wide range of clubs and activities to participate in, a major difficulty for students with interests in a wide range of activities is that most of these clubs occur at the same time, with the majority occurring at 4:30 pm on Thursdays. Club leaders who were present explained how the university often made it extremely difficult to schedule club meetings outside this narrow window, and will generally resist when a club attempts to do so. While this makes sense in that they are trying to insure that clubs do not schedule events during class times so as to insure the opportunity of inclusivity for the entire student body, they are in many ways doing the exact opposite by forcing students to make decision between, say, an academic versus a cultural organization.

The last thing we discussed was probably the most important area to improve, and that was the poor organization and communication of information at this university. While sites such as OspreyHub and the weekly email convey some information they generally do not contain all of the events and clubs active around campus, and so prevents proper communication between organizations and clubs that would massively benefit from it. Everyone seemed to agree that a solution to a of these major issues would be to put all information on one single source where it can be easily found, and possibly the creation of a monthly meeting where various club members could gather to share information, thus creating a sense of university. Hopefully attendance rates will increase as time progresses.

Recently, Stockton University hosted its Constitution Day lecture on campus, an event which examined the workings of our government structure as well as some historical presidencies relating to some of the crises that our current legislation has brought today. This event was interesting for a variety of reasons, one of which was providing a new perspective on some of the current fears and issues our country is struggling to overcome, as well as offering a better understanding of exactly how our government works and some of the flaws that exist within that system.

One thing that came as a surprise concerning this event was how much it focused on the history of our country, while many in attendance expected that the event would relate aspects of the constitution directly to the current ongoings of the new legislation which has sparked fear in many. While this certainly would have been an interesting lecture, what Julian Zelizer decided to to in place of this seemed like a better idea overall, and helped to shed light on the events occurring in the media today and, in a way, alleviate some of the fears that it has caused. One important aspect that the speaker touched on was that, despite what many might believe, President Trump is far from the first to act in the brash, confrontational, and aggressive manner he often assumes. As Zelizer pointed out, there are several examples of presidents with similar behaviors from both the Democratic and Republican parties, including presidents Reagan, Truman, Roosevelt, and Johnson, along with several others.

Another aspect of this current presidency that has caused such alarm is not necessarily Trump’s behavior and tactics, but rather the fact that at this time the majority of the senate is republican which, in theory, should make it easy for Trump to push through any act or law he desires. As Zelizer explained this is not, in fact, the case. Instead in many cases, especially with a president with mannerisms similar to Trump, the senate will often strongly oppose any decisions made by the president, even if they run along party lines. This is because these individuals recognize that Trump’s image is not one that the public will appreciate, and in many cases his actions have undermined the desires and instructions of  the Republican Party as a whole. As a result, the senate will often make it so no acts or laws touched by the president can be passed, in a kind of damage control attempt so that his actions do not destroy the reputation of the party.

This is very similar to what happened to president Johnson in many ways. As Zelizer explained, Johnson was known for using his imposing figure to attempt to persuade individuals to make the decisions he wanted them to. When he tried to do this with the senate at the time in order to get them to pass a bill, the senate began to reject his ideas the instant they were put forward, even though the senate was mostly composed of members from his own political party. In all, this conference event provided a new outlook on the current state of events, and was a wonderful learning experience that granted a better understanding of the world today. It is, perhaps, an indicator that a more thorough understanding of the past by the public at large could be helpful in preventing political crises such as those we face at this moment.