Quincy University honors students gathered in the Hall of Fame Room in Health and Fitness Center for the fall Honors Colloquium, where Brian McGee, Ph.D., president of Quincy University delivered a thought-provoking speech linking servant leadership to the recent election and its polling data.

The bi-annual colloquium, hosted by the Presidents’ Honors College, is designed to foster community among honors students and provide opportunities to engage with university leadership. The Honors colloquiums’ traditionally have students sign in, find their seats, help themselves to refreshments and cookies, and listen and engage with the President or guest speaker.

The last spring colloquium held in April featured Provost Sarah Vortriede-Patton as the guest speaker.

This fall, McGee’s speech centered on the role of polls in shaping election outcomes and highlighted the importance of servant leadership during politically charged times.

“I really like being a part of the honors program here at Quincy because it does feel like a community,” Elissa Warren, a QU honors student, said. “I really enjoy these meetings every semester so I can meet other people in the honors program and hear the president speak.”

McGee acknowledged the heightened tensions surrounding both candidates’ campaigns and how they were many things said on both sides true and untrue but noted that, historically, the election results were not particularly surprising. His casual but informative approach to discussing the election and its implications intrigued many students.

The president spoke in depth about the election and how polls contributed to the election results. In addition to explaining that polls don’t really differentiate between enthusiastic voters to indifferent ones. He informed students about the way polls only take a sample of people from an area to represent millions and that its a great way to see where a community leaning but it’s still likely that isn’t giving the full picture. This conversational take surprised some students who attended the fall colloquium.

Alyssa Welko, another QU honors student, expressed her appreciation for McGee’s perspective.

“I actually found it really interesting,” Welko said. “I thought it would go a different way, and I was really pleasantly surprised. I actually agreed with a lot of what he was saying, and I thought it was a really mature take on everything.”

More than 60 students attended the event, which reinforced the program’s sense of community and intellectual engagement. Professor Daniel Strudwick, director of the honors program, closed the event by inviting students to a holiday celebration at the end of the semester.

The next Honors Colloquium is scheduled for the spring semester. Honors students are encouraged to monitor their QU emails for updates on upcoming events.