Throwback Monday (Posted on Tuesday)
Going through old photos, the kind you meant to frame but never did. This one reminded me of a day something unexpected happened.
It’s about 25 years old: former FBI Director Louis Freeh, one of his colleagues, and Saint Anselm College President, Rev. Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B., standing in a campus hallway, handing me an “FBI” hat. Freeh was in New Hampshire with former Senator Judd Gregg, on a visit focused on internet safety and cybercrime. Their stop at Saint Anselm made sense: the college could host a lunch and bring senior law enforcement alumni. The Senator was at one table. Freeh and our president at another. I ended up across from Senator Gregg. My colleague, politics professor Dale Kuehne, was at his side.
Between soup and dessert, Dale and I talked with Gregg about an idea we’d been tossing around, a space on campus that could channel the energy of the New Hampshire primary year-round. Like the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics, but with a hometown, Live Free or Die feel to it. A place where students didn’t need VIP status to meet members of Congress or presidential candidates.
We imagined a place where students from any major could learn from journalists, candidates, and campaign staff; where reporters could file stories over coffee; where the community could gather for lectures and debates. The college hosted events already, but usually when and as asked by outside organizations. This idea was different. It created a headquarters — conference rooms, a research center, an auditorium, and a green room. A place where parents from Presque Isle, Maine, would drive six hours to watch their son or daughter introduce John McCain or Hillary Clinton in Goffstown, New Hampshire. A place where civic engagement would be intentional, not accidental.
Senator Gregg listened politely as he ate his salad. Candidly, I wondered if we were boring him or if maybe he just didn't like the raspberry vinaigrette. Louis Freeh gave his concluding remarks, and soon after, I went back to my office, placed my new hat on the bookshelf, and returned to the next issue of the alumni magazine.
A week later, word came that Senator Gregg wanted to know more. He was intrigued. What, really? That conversation … on an ordinary Monday … eventually became the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm.
Professor Kuehne and I would both serve stints as executive director in the years that followed, along with Professor Paul Manuel, our third co-conspirator in all things political.
It took supportive trustees, a federal appropriation, and the complete gutting and rehab of a former National Guard facility. It also took a few large leaps of faith from the Benedictine monks who founded Saint Anselm, especially the college president who wanted to ensure that civic knowledge and engagement was more than a footnote in the college experience. Today, the Institute reminds many students and community members alike that participating in democracy, regardless of partisan affiliation, should not be an occasional co-curricular activity like attending a football game. It's actually the whole point. As Thomas Jefferson and other founders recognized, education needed to be rooted in understanding the complexity and fragility of democracy. Jefferson wanted students at the university he founded to graduate knowing there was a whole lot more than just a future job at stake.
This photo reminds me what can happen when a good idea meets the right moment and the right people. I thought it was just another Monday. Turns out, it was the start of something that changed many lives, including mine.
So if your week ahead feels long or ordinary, take heart. Be prepared for something consequential.
As for me, I think it’s time to frame this.