WEST LONG BRANCH — Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean will participate in a Monmouth University panel discussion on the increasingly acrimonious politics at both the federal and state levels over the past two decades and the resultant decline in good government.
The university’s Office of Academic Program Initiatives and the Department of Political Science will co-sponsor “The Politics of Civility” from 1-2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 2, in Wilson Hall Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.
The “Politics of Civility” exists when members of the two major political parties can be intellectual and ideological opponents without being personal enemies, according to a press release from the university.
Two of New Jersey’s most respected governors, Democrat Richard J. Hughes and Republican Kean were outstanding practitioners of this style of governing, the press release states. The program will focus on how they practiced “The Politics of Civility” and how this has become a lost art.
Moderated by Alan Steinberg, public servant in residence at Monmouth, panelists will include Kean; Alvin Felzenberg, author of “Governor Tom Kean”; John Wefing, professor, Seton Hall Law School and author of “The Life and Times of Richard J. Hughes: The Politics of Civility”; and Michael Murphy, former Morris County prosecutor and stepson of former Gov. Richard J. Hughes.
For additional information on the panel discussion, contact Petra Ludwig at 732-26.