By Luke Hunter
Correspondent
The New Jersey College Civility Tour visited campus on Oct. 2. The Civility Tour is a statewide dialogue series aiming to bring students from both sides of the political aisle together through civil debate and conversation. The tour was headlined by Andrew LoMonte, vice president of the College Democrats of New Jersey, and John Rendzia III, chairman emeritus of the New Jersey College Republicans, who engaged in a moderated political discussion in front of a crowd of students.
The Civility Tour is sponsored by College Democrats, College Republicans, Bridge USA, Gen Z for NJ and Jersey 1st.
The New Jersey College Civility Tour was originally started by two members of the New Jersey Legislature following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The aim of the tour was to bring the political temperature down throughout the state by encouraging civil political discourse.
After scheduling conflicts fizzled the Legislators’ tour out, students John Rendzia III and Andrew LoMonte picked the tour up themselves with full approval from both legislators, Republican State Senator John Bramnick and Democratic State Senator Joseph Cryan.
Their visit to campus marks the second stop of the tour, the first being at Rutgers University. The tour’s next stop will be at Rowan University, followed by two more college stops in the fall, with another five planned for the spring.
The Oct. 2 visit to campus consisted of two portions. First, LoMonte and Rendzia answered and debated prepared questions, with the debate being moderated by the College’s Student Government Vice President of Government and Community Relations Francis Karanja.
The prepared questions included issues such as immigration, artificial intelligence and addressing the rising cost of living. Throughout the discussion LoMonte and Rendzia found common ground on issues such as regulation of artificial intelligence, while also still finding areas in which they held to their own respective partisan stances.
Upon the conclusion of the prepared questions portion, the audience was given the chance to ask both speakers questions.
Audience members asked the two speakers a variety of questions regarding the future of the U.S. role on the global stage, the Epstein files, term limits and whether or not a New Jersey processed meat product be referred to as Taylor Ham or Pork Roll.
As they had earlier, LoMonte and Rendzia found areas of agreement and disagreement.
Francis Karanja, reflecting on his experience moderating the event, said, “My biggest takeaway was how important it is for college students to have spaces where we can engage with different political perspectives respectfully. We don’t have to agree with one another to have a meaningful conversation.”
Audience member Ryan Geddes, a freshman computer engineering major, said, “My biggest takeaway is that both sides of the political spectrum can come together and agree on specific issues, especially relating to Gen Z, the cost of living, and the sort of disagreements that come along with the political landscape.”
Andrew LoMonte, when asked prior to the event who were some exemplars of civility that inspired him, answered, “the biggest people who are leaders in civility are not the ones who are on Mount Rushmore, talked about in national polls – they're the people who I interact with in my hometown locally every day.”
In a world of hyper partisan politics, the New Jersey College Civility Tour serves as a reminder of how important civil dialogue is to the American political process.
