探花族

探花族 Haskell Public Policy Institute: Ten Years of Policy Matters

Public policy matters. It affects everything we do.

If anything we do at this university is taking its rightful place in the national debate, it's the Public Policy Institute.

Public policy is attached to everyone. Everyone is impacted by public policy and this program recognizes that.

Public policy really touches all businesses in all aspects of our society. You can't really escape public policy. It's part of everybody's life, and society just doesn't work without fluency in how public policy is made.

We need people who are school educated in public policy to facilitate conversations.

I think it's a great blessing in your work if you're blessed with a sense of purpose, and you think it matters. I believe this matters. I think if you went back to the Board in February of 2012, if you'd have told them then that the next 10 years would look like it's looked, I think they would have found it hard to believe.

鈥淲hat do you make of these numbers in Orange County and Duval County 鈥� fact that it is 49 to 48 percent with Trump leading here in 探花族?鈥�

鈥淲ell, you don't want to overreact to a small sampling; however if these numbers鈥︹��

Rick Mullaney came to me and Bob Shircliff ten, twelve years ago and said he wanted to start a public policy institute at JU. And of course, we asked him 鈥渨hat is that,鈥� and he described what he had in mind. And based on Rick's reputation and our knowledge of Rick and our long-standing friendship, we knew he could get it done.

So, Rick's idea about a public policy institute struck me as almost grandiose, but I knew the man, and I knew he would accomplish what he set out to do

Rick Mullaney was sort of the visionary of this idea of bringing into universities a better understanding of everything, from what we used to call civics to the role of policy in the making of laws and legislation. I thought it was a brilliant idea.

One of the things we saw was reaching out to respected civic business and community leaders could be important. We established a 25-member board that Preston Haskell once called one of the best boards in the state of Florida. That board has played an instrumental role in establishing the institute and giving it guidance over the last decade.

The real shift came in 2013. In 鈥�13 we had established the MPP curriculum for our MPP program, the first in the history of the state of Florida. Governor Scott came to visit at the very next board meeting in February, and then we established the Policy Matters radio program and our first public policy program that fall with the Affordable Care Act.

 鈥淲elcome to today's program. I鈥檓 Rick Mullaney, the director of the Public Policy Institute at 探花族 and welcome to Policy Matters, the radio program that takes a close look at public policy issues that matter to you and to the future of our city, state and nation.鈥�

In 2015 we reached out to Channel 4 and suggested that we have an on-campus televised debate that we would co-host in the mayor's race. They were receptive. They thought it was a good idea, and that spring we had a televised debate on campus 鈥� the first in the history of the university, the first time this had been done by Channel 4.

鈥淣ow from the campus of 探花族, your moderator Channel 4's Kent Justice.鈥�

鈥淕ood evening and welcome to our Election 2015 Special: The Mayoral Debate in 探花族. Thank you so much for joining us鈥︹��

It was so successful that it led to 12 televised debates in the future in the years that followed, in particular, the governor's race in 2018, televised statewide where we had the Republicans one night and the Democrats the next night.

鈥淚 believe that our values ought to guide us our experiences, ought to lead us and make us ready and what I can say is that on day one I'm ready to lead this state as governor.鈥�

I can remember Rick's original ideas around we could start bringing in people of real note. So, whether they were sitting mayors or sitting governors or those who'd run for president, that was a huge idea. And that I think was very enticing to the students who like to be able to see people that they were reading about or watching.

Being able to be a part of debates 鈥� political debates, gubernatorial, mayoral debates 鈥� and seeing that from the front row and literally the front row.

鈥淏eing mayor is about governing and I'm the mayor right now and I'm going to do anything I can to work with any organization have the best practices to put 探花族 first.鈥�

Since 2013 we've had over 90 public policy programs on the 探花族 campus.

So many amazing events that we've been to we even had someone who's now a supreme court judge come in and talk to our classes and that was absolutely incredible.

In partnership with Notre Dame, we started the annual Hesburgh lecture, and in 2016 the lecture from Notre Dame was professor Amy Coney Barrett. We talked about Roe vs. Wade and abortion. We talk about constitutional law.  We talked about a variety of issues on the role of judges and the role of the Supreme Court and what it meant to the future. Later on, when the president nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020, that interview with Amy Coney Barrett literally went viral. Nearly a million views on YouTube alone.

鈥淲hat would we have in a trump court? Who knows鈥︹��

Channel 4 WJXT reached out and asked me if I would do some commentary on a Saturday morning. I did, and after that morning they reached out again very quickly. And then that began to grow. It went from Saturday morning to news broadcast, the morning show, This Week in 探花族, special events.

鈥淵ou recall ever having the court's internal process the behind-the-scenes discussion revealed before the court actually made its opinion known?鈥�

鈥淭he short answer is 鈥榥o.鈥�  It was stunning. Fortunately, it's rare, don't recall anything quite like it, especially with the stakes being this high.鈥�

Since 2015, we've been on television and radio more than 600 times.

鈥淚f Joe Biden wins the Duval County, do you think he then wins the state of Florida?鈥�

鈥淣ot necessarily.鈥�

In 2018, thanks to the vision and generosity of Chuck Wodehouse, we established the MPP Minority Fellowship and Scholarship Fund. That has really been a significant development that has dramatically improved the quality and diversity of the MPP program. A big milestone.

There are more and more minority students applying to get in the program, and some of the folks on our advisory board and elsewhere have stepped up, and they've given scholarships. And it's growing. It's got a momentum of its own, and the quality 鈥� I mean you just get you're stunned at how good their resumes are.

It's really amazing to just sit down and chat with some of these wonderful young people. They come from different walks of life, and to hear their experiences and what this program is doing for them, it's just really rewarding to watch them as they progress and be very proud of them.

Throughout my career, I have seen so many organizations who tout the notion that they are focusing on minorities. In this particular program, minority participation has been a focus, and I feel very, very proud, because of the success of a program. It certainly has gone beyond just checking the box.

There is no doubt that the number one way in which this institute hopes to shape the future is through our students. Our MPP graduates are extraordinary, and they are doing some extraordinary things.

The level of talent of these young people and the passion they have for getting involved in the affairs of their community has just been staggering to me.

During the time that I was in the Public Policy Institute, we started encountering in America and around the country and around the world social justice issues. It became a passion to be that advocate for the communities that looked like me and the communities that I come from. So, advancing equity became really my focus for the capstone and researching specifically how it has impacted 探花族.

So, my capstone is focusing on lionfish. They鈥檙e something that's always triggered me. It鈥檚 something that I found absolutely fascinating is the invasive species issue there I fell in love with it whenever I was doing a short master in Honduras. They are completely destroying the reef system, and the beautiful side of it is that they're tasty. That sounds weird, but sometimes one of the solutions for public policy is actually 鈥渃an we eat it?鈥�  At least in the marine science realm. And that's one of the reasons that I love this crossover on the program is I get to bring my marine science knowledge to the public policy front. I get to help create informed reform.

What we really hope is that our students, armed with the knowledge, the skills and, importantly, the core values we talk about here at the institute 鈥� those values of integrity, of courage, of community stewardship 鈥� are going to help shape a better future in the end. I like to think over the last decade we've become trusted. We've become an institute in which the community looks to us and they trust us. They believe we're an honest broker, that we try to do the right thing that we live by the values that we're talking about.

What I've been really impressed with and I think people feel good about for the university is this kind of outsized role that a small light tight fast smart institute that we call Public Policy institute has begun to raise up the conversation it has been so successful it makes me think in even larger terms about the future I hope that the public policy institute enlarges its vision enlarges its influence. I had no idea that it was going to turn out the way it is. I mean we are the nexus for political debate in this state

and a model for other universities to follow as well. There's a huge opportunity here to send these young people out into the community armed with knowledge, experience and, most importantly, integrity. It is a huge win-win for everyone.

In my opinion the next 10 years goes under the heading 鈥淵ou Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.鈥�