[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We are joined once again by the President of Stockton University, Dr.

Joe Bertolino.

Good to see you, Dr.

Joe.

- Good to see you, Steve.

Thank you.

- Just let everybody know that I'm not just calling you President Joe.

That's what you're called on campus.

- That's what I'm called on campus.

Hopefully it's affectionately known as Dr.

Joe, President Joe, yes.

- Yeah, well, by the way, Stockton University, one of our newest higher ed partners, to fully disclose.

Joe, let me ask you this.

- Yeah.

- What would you say as we enter 2026, the most pressing, I know there's so many issues, you and your colleagues, as university and college presidents deal with, the top couple issues you are dealing with right now?

- Well, I think at the top of the list for a place like Stockton is always the issue of access.

Are we making the proper investments to ensure that students have an opportunity to secure an education and formulate a positive career, a positive life?

I mean, as you know, in this state, about 50% of our students who graduate from high school actually leave the state.

And so within this state, I think it's pretty important to ensure that we are keeping our students here in this state at this time, more so than at any other time.

I think that's pretty incredible in terms of what we need to be seeing happen.

- Where does campus safety fit in that conversation?

- I (indistinct).

- In terms of a challenge that you and your colleagues have?

- Yeah, as you know, this has been particularly challenging last week or so, and quite frankly, it's been a challenging year with everything that's happening on college campuses.

But safety is always our top priority.

The safety and security of our entire community.

Not just our students, but our faculty, our staff, and those that we serve.

We have, I think at Stockton, and at many campuses, we have a police department.

We have strong emergency services and systems.

We have resources for the wellbeing of our students.

But at the end of the day, Steve, I think the most important thing is that we are creating environments that allow for civil discourse, that allow for individuals to agree to disagree, and to listen and learn from one another in hearing and sharing different perspectives.

And for us at Stockton, the core to that is what we call an ethic of care.

And that is that everyone in our community, regardless of who you are, what you believe, needs to be treated with dignity, respect, kindness, compassion, and civility.

That's the core.

That's where we start with everything that we do.

- Stay on that.

- Yeah.

- In this, I can't even imagine how hard it to be successful and protect students and faculty members and others and people who come onto the campus.

But the other side of this, which I often struggle with is, the definition of academic freedom and free speech.

Is it this, Joe?

Is it a constant balancing act?

Or is it- - It's a constant balance.

- I think that academic freedom and free speech is a core value within our democracy.

And as a result of that, I think it's critical that if it is important, and if it is something you fight for and stand by, then that means that you support not just your right to academic freedom and free speech, but those with whom you disagree.

And so, as an educator, I think it's my responsibility to educate students on how to listen and learn from people that you disagree with, and how to shape your argument and your debate so that you can engage in civil discourse.

- Yeah, let's shift gears dramatically.

- Yeah.

- Artificial intelligence and higher education.

Go ahead, President Joe, you're on.

(Joe and Steve laugh) - Oh, well, thanks so much.

- There's not even a question, I'm just trying to make sense of it.

- Well, first, I think it's important for us to remember that all of our students are already engaged in using artificial intelligence.

In fact, we all are, more often than not, we just don't realize we're doing it.

And so, assuming that artificial intelligence is already a given, like any technology that has come before us, the technology is going to continue to grow and expand.

It's our responsibility to learn how to work with artificial intelligence, and use it to ensure that we're creating a better community, a better society.

Look, artificial intelligence at the end of the day is still artificial.

And you want to meld the technology with humanity.

And so from my perspective, the artificial intelligence technology is there as a tool, and we as educators have a responsibility to focus on the human part.

- Doctor, you have a strategic plan - Explain to folks why it's even called a strategic plan and these key themes and priorities, many of which we've already talked about.

- Yeah, look, often folks find that strategic plans tend to become very thick documents that collected dust over the course of time and become door stoppers.

From my perspective, a strategic plan is a living document that ebbs and flows with the changing demographics, the changing seasons, if you will, of any institution and of the world around it.

And so, for Stockton in particular, we spent the last year creating a new strategic plan, focused on including about a thousand different individuals in the development of that plan.

And at the end of the day, the goal of the plan is to ensure that we are retaining students, that we're graduating students, that we're preparing them for not just good careers, but a good life.

What most people don't realize, Steve, and I think this is important, most college-educated individuals in this country are actually educated at public, regional universities like Stockton.

Not just the big names, but those institutions that are in your backyard, which from my perspective, means we have an awesome responsibility to prepare both the employers and the employees, and the educators, and good citizens of the future.

- Before I let you go, Dr.

Bertolino, for those who question, "Hey, the four year degree in a college isn't what it used to be."

And you know, "I'm not sure the value of a four year degree."

Got a minute, go.

- Yeah, tell that to the 2,500 students that graduated at Stockton University last year, 55% of the incoming class this year are first generation college students.

And so I can assure you that as an institution that's top 50 in the country for first generation college students, we're making a difference.

And it will change the course and the trajectory of the lives of those students and their families.

So as I shared with you at the top of this interview, from my perspective, the most important issue facing higher ed is access, access and affordability.

And we're providing that at Stockton.

- Dr.

Joe Bertolino is the president of Stockton University, one of our new higher ed partners.

And Dr.

Joe, I cannot thank you enough, you and your team, for joining with us and wish you all the best down in South Jersey moving forward.

- Thank you so much, Steve.

Appreciate the time.

- That's Dr.

Joe, I'm Steve Adubato.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

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Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

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And by New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program.

Promotional support provided by NJBIZ.

And by Meadowlands Media.

- (Narrator) This holiday season, the Community Food Bank of New Jersey the state's largest anti-hunger, anti-poverty organization, together with the hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens and nutrition programs it serves is calling on all of us to unite.

Unite to end hunger.

Together we can make the holidays brighter for our New Jersey neighbors in need and help build a food secure future for our state.

New Jersey, now is the time.

Unite to end hunger.