The Fordham Ram Volume 106, Issue 21
Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 TheFordhamRam.com
Bronx Music Hall Opens as a Cultural Beacon
November 13, 2024
Fordham Opens Waterfront Center for Club Sailing By LUCAS THRESS
By NISHANTH ADUMA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Bronx has long been a hub of musical innovation, serving as the birthplace of hip-hop and a melting pot for genres like salsa, jazz, R&B and Latin jazz. This vibrant legacy now has a permanent home with the Bronx Music Hall (BMH), a newly constructed venue dedicated to preserving and celebrating the borough’s unique cultural heritage. Officially opened last week, BMH is not only a music venue, but also a center for community engagement, arts education and youth empowerment. Located at 438 E 163rd St. in the South Bronx’s Melrose neighborhood, BMH is the first independent music venue built in the Bronx in over 50 years. Developed by the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) as part of the $165 million Bronx Commons development, the 14,000-square-foot facility stands as a testament to the
Fordham University alumnus Dennis Ruppel, FCRH ’68, and his wife Pat Ruppel, purchased a piece of land in June 2018, overlooking Palmer Inlet on Eastchester Bay, four miles east of the university’s Rose Hill campus. The Ruppels donated the land to the university soon after they purchased it. Construction is currently underway on this property to provide a new waterfront center to Fordham’s sailing and crew teams. According to Mike Mullarney, FCRH ’68, the vice-commodore of the Fordham sailing team and Ruppel’s first-year roommate at Fordham, the original reasoning behind purchasing the land was to support the Fordham sailing team. “To get to the point where we wanna be, continually challenging for the national championship, we need to have the facilities,” said Mullarney. Both Ruppel and Mullarney were members of the Fordham sailing team as undergraduates. Now, being the commodore and vice-commodore of the team, Ruppel and Mullarney are benefactors. Raising the money for the waterfront center can be attributed to the alums and supporters of Fordham Sailing. “We have three or four people who have put up big numbers, and there are a lot of other people who have put up not-small numbers,” said Mullarney. The team has a large alumni network, which contains a group of donors, many of whom sit on the sailing team’s executive board, according to Mullarney. The development of the waterfront center was one of the main reasons that head coach
COURTESY OF ADITHI VIMALANATHAN/THE FORDHAM RAM
YDSA members table outside Faculty Memorial Hall to get students to sign their petition.
Young Democratic Socialists Launch Dual Campaigns for Free Speech and Bodily Autonomy By ADITHI VIMALANATHAN ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
The Fordham University Young Democratic Socialists Association (YDSA) is running dual campaigns for bodily autonomy and against club censorship after being recently told that they could not gather on campus. In the last few weeks, YDSA has tabled outside Walsh Gate and Faculty Memorial Hall (FMH) to distribute Plan B and gain
signatures for their free speech and club approval petition, “Democratize Fordham!” YDSA is a chapter of the nationwide Young Democratic Socialists Association but is not officially recognized as a club at Fordham. They have been active on campus since 2023 and have been pursuing official club status since last December. Recently, the YDSA tabled on Oct. 25 distributing Plan B and
SEE BRONX, PAGE 5
encouraging students to sign their petition. A follow-up tabling was held Nov. 1 outside of FMH. Matthew Smith, FCRH ’27, co-chair and founder of the YDSA, says that the club provides a space for left-wing students who feel out of place with the two-party system. “Fordham doesn’t have any left-wing groups besides the Fordham [College] Democrats. SEE YDSA, PAGE 4
Fordham Begins Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive By JACK MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Tetlow condemned the graffiti and reiterated the university’s Jesuit ideals. “We risk expanding the impact of cowards scrawling anonymous graffiti by broadcasting their words,” Tetlow said. “But this message was seen by our students,
Fordham University kicked off its annual Thanksgiving Food Drive last week, sponsored by Campus Ministry. Monetary donations from the Fordham community go directly to providing meals for families in need and facing food insecurity in the New York community. Donations are being accepted until Nov. 30. Gil Severiano, director of Campus Ministry Operations, Budget and Community Engagement, spearheads the program each year. Severiano works at the McShane Campus Center with student interns to put together community events with Campus Ministry, the food drive being one of the largest annually over the last 10 years.
SEE BIAS, PAGE 4
SEE DRIVE, PAGE 4
COURTESY OF ALLISON SCHNEIDER/THE FORDHAM RAM
The second incident was found in Dealy Hall on a whiteboard by a professor on Monday.
University Reports Two Bias Incidents Over the Past Week By NORA MALONE NEWS EDITOR
Fordham University shared an email on Nov. 11 detailing two bias incidents that have occurred over the past week. In both instances, racial slurs were written on whiteboards on campus. Currently, Public
Safety is investigating the events but has no camera footage or witnesses. These events come after reports of text messages across the country that told Black people they had been “selected to pick cotton.” In her email, President Tania
SEE SAILING, PAGE 5
in this issue
Opinion Page 9
Have a Heart, Do Your Part: Organ Donation Blues in the Big Apple
Culture
Page 11
The Christmas Spirit Hits Bryant Park
Sports
Page 18
“The Epitome of Brutality”: MBB Upsets Seton Hall on Johnson’s Buzzer Beater