Gov. Phil Murphy, sporting an open collar during a public event with Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber on July 25, mentioned jokingly to him that had he worn a tie, “it would have been orange.”
“I’ve got one, I’ve got one,” Murphy said in a remark that got a laugh from his audience.
The leaders of two powerful institutions in the state found themselves together at the Princeton Innovation Center BioLabs, a business incubator on College Road in Plainsboro, where Murphy announced steps to aid start-up companies. In their remarks before public officials and others, the two men traded bouquets and even weighed in on a hot-button social issue.
“I thank you for your leadership at Princeton and for the university’s commitment to not just this space literally, but to the broader innovation space,” Murphy said.
Eisgruber, speaking moments earlier in introducing the governor, called Murphy “a leader and public servant who really needs no introduction.”
“But I will say that I have been personally impressed with his commitment to cultivating a thriving innovation economy here in New Jersey,” Eisgruber said.
Murphy is a Harvard graduate with an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, two rival schools of Princeton in the Ivy League. But as the state’s chief executive, he serves as an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees of a university that has called New Jersey home since its founding in 1746.
Murphy, a Democrat, took office in January. In that short time, he has already attended one board meeting and a committee meeting.
“Having just passed my six-month mark, one of the singular honors of this position is that ex-officio capacity on the Board of Trustees,” Murphy said.
“I think he’s the first governor, in my memory, to have actually come to a committee meeting,” university Vice President and Secretary Robert K. Durkee said after the event. “I think he’s been very attentive to the university and we appreciate that.”
Earlier, Murphy and Eisgruber touched on the conversations they have had.
“We met before I was elected. We’ve spoken several times since privately,” the governor said in calling the university “one of the great gems of this state, of this country, of the university ecosystem in the world.”
“And I’ve had the privilege of talking with him on several occasions,” Eisgruber said of Murphy. “In each interaction, I’ve greatly appreciated his attention to education, innovation and entrepreneurship and, above all, his faith in the extraordinary human capital that we have in the great state of New Jersey.”
Murphy is the second New Jersey governor that Eisgruber, in his role as university president, has had to deal with since assuming control of Nassau Hall five years ago. Former Gov. Chris Christie, whose oldest son, Andrew, attended Princeton, was the first.
During the Christie administration, the state played a key role in the university’s arts and transit redevelopment project, which involved moving an NJ Transit shuttle train a little farther away from its previous location.
On bolstering the innovation economy, Murphy and the university are on the same page.
“We have a strong alignment of interests here,” Durkee said.
In an issue that could have implications for Princeton and other universities in New Jersey, Murphy is in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana use for adults; a view he reiterated at the event with Eisgruber.
When asked if Princeton and other universities in the state had expressed support, concern or opposition to marijuana legalization, Murphy replied, “I have not been a part of any deliberations at Princeton in my short time as an ex-officio member.”
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has said marijuana is “the most widely used illicit drug among college students,” at a rate of 1 in 22 who use it “daily or near daily.”
“We haven’t taken any position on this,” Eisgruber said of the possible marijuana legalization in the state. “We watch the debate with interest, obviously. What we are focused on is making sure our students, as they grow up, are able to be civic and engaged adults and dealing with all the pressures that come from the use of whatever substances, including the ones that are legal now, are a part of college life. That’s a challenge for us.”
This week, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal asked municipal prosecutors in New Jersey to adjourn marijuana cases until Sept. 4 or later. He said he intends, “by the end of August,” to issue a directive on “the scope and appropriate use of prosecutorial discretion” in such cases at the municipal level.
“We follow the laws, so whatever the state law is, that’s what the town will follow,” said acting Princeton Mayor Lance Liverman, who attended the Murphy event.
