Stockton University President Joe Bertolino sat down with Editor-in-Chief of The Argo Matt Cavallo for a one on one interview on January 18, 2024. He discussed his transition to Stockton from his previous institution, the Israel-Hamas War, Stockton’s financial woes and what is ahead for the Spring Semester. 

Bertolino, who was named Stockton’s sixth President on March 3, 2023, spoke candidly about his first semester on campus. He acknowledged that transitions can be challenging and said “Starting over is hard, and it can also be very exciting. It probably helped that folks were really warm and welcoming and helpful. As you can sense, I’m a pretty social guy,  and so I do think that being out and about and being visible and accessible, and meeting folks is just really important. So I think the transition has gone well.”

He then spoke about the University’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, which broke out just one month into his Presidency. Saying he thinks the University did a good job handling such a sensitive topic to so many, he stated “I think we’ve done the best we could under the circumstances. When you’re dealing with a crisis of this magnitude, and when you’re dealing with tragedy that is close to home for individuals. It’s emotional, it’s painful. It’s also challenging. I think, as a leader, because you are asked to speak on behalf of multiple groups. And those groups know what they want you to say, and where they want you to stand.” 

Bertolino reflected on his decision to cancel his State of The University Address, which was set to be held just days after the conflict broke out and tensions were running high. He said he “needed to bring the community together” and “needed to be willing to listen.” Citing its importance and significance he added;  “I told the entire leadership team, you will be there. You will sit there, you will listen. But I also think that it’s okay for the University President to say, I don’t have the answers. I don’t know. I need us to be a community. And we need to figure out how to support one another. And I need your help.” 

The President then spoke to the mental health crisis that is plaguing College Students. A recent statistic shows that 60% of College students suffer from mental health issues. Bertolino said that statistic does not surprise him and proclaimed “the whole mental health component is something that is front and center for me.  So I’m always asking the question, what are we doing to take care of not just students, what are we doing, to take care of the mental health of our students, our faculty,  our staff and our personnel? We’ve expanded our mental health services, the number of counselors we have, the number of resources we have, the number of external contracts that we have. With the help of the New Jersey office of higher education, we have a new online Telehealth program for students to participate in. Then on the staff side, we’ve expanded our programs, which provide services and support for personnel that are struggling, so we’re just going to continue to talk about it. We’re going to continue to be open about it. We’re going to continue to provide as many resources as we possibly can.”

During Bertolino’s State of The University Address, he revealed that the University is $10 million in debt, and is projected to be $12 million in debt by the end of FY 2024. He shared some ways that himself and Stockton are taking steps to mitigate the problem; “I presented the budget to the community in a way that I think was more transparent, we always talked about our surpluses,  and that was true. But there was a whole bunch of other stuff going on over here that we didn’t talk about. So when you add up all the numbers, what does that mean now? Yes, we were $10 million in the hole at the end of last year, but we also had that money.” One way he hopes to help with the issue is to increase enrollment. Another metric that is not in Stockton’s favor. He stated “I think what has really helped is our dual enrollment program. With the high schools, we have almost 2000 students in that program. So we have to spend more time getting a good number of those students who come here, but we really need to spend to raise that yield, if you will. You’re taking Stockton courses. You’re getting Stockton credit. Now, I need you to come.”

Another piece of information that Bertolino highlighted in his address was that Stockton was exploring the prospect of expanding another Phase to the Atlantic City Campus. When asked if now is the right time to pursue more spending in Atlantic City while the University is experiencing other struggles and concerns from students regarding  shuttles, meal plans and issues with Galloway housing,  he said “I think it’s not more investment in Atlantic City but more investment in both Galloway and the Atlantic City Campus. We need to decide what it is we should be investing in. That’s the question. So I have assembled two groups, one a task force to explore. If there was a third phase, what would that look like? And how would we pay for it? We received a million dollars from the state to engage in all that work to hire consultants and we couldn’t use that money for anything else. It’s important for folks to understand that when we get money from the state, they tell us not to use it.”

When it came to issues on the Galloway Campus he said “we’ve had a lot of conversations about shuttles. We’ve had a lot of conversations about meal plans. We’ve had a lot of conversations. I’ve actually visited all of the residence halls. And we have some work to do there. I do think that it is important for folks to also understand that the money that we got for Atlantic City, if Atlantic City didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have gotten that money for Galloway.  So it’s almost like, well, let’s take what we can get and do something with what we can get. But by the end of the year, I need to make some decisions.”

Bertolino closed out the interview by sharing what he thought was his biggest strength of the semester. He said “I think, being present, I think that matters. We are a community and I want folks to know who the person is that’s responsible for the place. I also think it’s important for people to feel comfortable coming up to the President and having a conversation.”

More information about President Bertolino can be found here.