The Fordham Ram Volume 106, Issue 6
Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 TheFordhamRam.com
Duffy Fellow Applications Open
Student Activties Fee Referendum Begins By NORA MALONE
By JULIANNA MORALES
NEWS EDITOR
FEATURES EDITOR
Fordham University’s Duffy Fellows Program recently opened their applications for the 202425 school year. The program states that their mission is “to provide support to a select group of Fordham students and recent graduates to advance the study of issues arising at the intersection of religion and public life.” Duffy Fellows is named after the late Jim Duffy who made the program possible through his endowment to the Center on Religion and Culture (CRC). The program is open to undergraduate students, graduate students and recent graduates, and they receive stipends to conduct creative projects or original research. It is not required that the applicants belong to any specific faith tradition, nor must they belong to one at all. However, the work they set out to do must advance the Jesuit mission and engage with issues involving religion and culture. CRC Director David Gibson SEE DUFFY, PAGE 4
COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM
The newest docking station is on E 191st St. and Bathgate Avenue, between Walsh gate and Finlay gate.
New Citi Bikes Dock at Fordham By SOFIA DONOHUE EDITOR IN CHIEF
In late 2023, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) installed a Citi Bike docking station on E 191st St. and Bathgate Avenue, right outside the gate by Finlay Hall. Citi Bike, powered by Lyft, originated in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the installation is part of NYC DOT’s expansion of Citi Bike stations throughout the New York City boroughs. First launched in 2013, Citi
Bike is available for 24-hour use and bikes are accessible at hundreds of stations across New York City. Currently, Citi Bike has over 25,000 bikes and over 1,500 docking stations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Jersey City and Hoboken. “Citi Bikes are what are called in the transportation industry as ‘flexible infrastructure.’ They’re super easy to install, don’t require electricity and operate wirelessly,” said Bill Colona, Fordham University’s
assistant vice president for government relations, federal and urban affairs. In order to prepare for the installation of a new docking station, NYC DOT holds a series of public workshops that provide an overview of the Citi Bike system. NYC DOT also engages in community outreach opportunities to gauge where people want the bikes to be. “DOT engages in, what I would say, a collaborative process. Whenever they’re thinking SEE CITIBIKES, PAGE 5
President Tetlow Elected to AJCU Board By JULIANNA MORALES FEATURES EDITOR
COURTESY OF COLBY MCCASKILL/THE OBSERVER
President Tetlow met with members of the student press and discussed plans for the future.
President Tetlow Hosts Press Conference By SOFIA DONOHUE
& ALLISON SCHNEIDER Fordham University President Tania Tetlow met with reporters from The Fordham Ram and The Fordham Observer, Lincoln Center’s student newspaper, on Feb. 27. Tetlow discussed a variety of topics such as her plans for the future, rising tuition costs,
March 6, 2024
admissions and campus life. When asked about her signature goals going forward, Tetlow said that she wants to focus on Fordham’s impact on the world. She stated that $40 million of Fordham’s $50 million EPA grant will be passed to community groups. The remaining $10 million will be used to staff those who will distribute
the funds as well as facilitate faculty research. Tetlow stated that the most pressing issue facing Fordham and its students is climate change and environmental justice. Regarding undergraduate financial aid, Tetlow emphasized that a Fordham education is an investment. “In terms of broad systemic issues we know that the investment in a SEE PRESS, PAGE 5
Last month, on Saturday, Feb. 3, Fordham University President Tania Tetlow was elected to serve as the next chair of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) by their Board of Directors. The AJCU’s announcement states that her term will begin on July 1, 2024. The announcement includes a comment from Tetlow, saying, “I have been very fortunate to have the guidance of the AJCU’s board since 2018, when I was a new president at Loyola University New Orleans. It is an extraordinary group of leaders and I am humbled to be one of them, much less to chair our board.” Tetlow is both the first woman and first layperson to serve as chair of the AJCU. This experience is not new SEE AJCU, PAGE 4
Fordham University Rose Hill United Student Government (USG) is holding a Student Activities Fee (SAF) Referendum from March 4 to 18. The referendum will decide if the SAF will increase by $95, going from $135 to $230. The fee has not increased in 11 years, in which it went up by $25. Clubs are funded in two ways: block funding and event funding. Block-funded clubs receive a set amount of money each semester; only 13 clubs are blockfunded. Event-funded clubs make up the 151 other clubs on campus; these groups request money on a weekly basis. “I wouldn’t be surprised if when the referendum passes, there will be more clubs that apply for that block funding status. You would likely see bigger clubs like Outdoors Club and Ski and Snowboard apply for that block funding so that they can guarantee their funding every single semester,” said Vice President of Finance Lucas Hjertberg, FCRH ’26. “Which is something that very much helps when it comes to programming because if you’re trying to program something a semester in advance but you don’t know if you’ll have the funding to do that, things get a little sticky.” Last spring, USG held the referendum but was unable to get enough student involvement because they used electronic signatures, which require 15% of students to participate. This semester, they are switching to paper signatures, so they only need 10% of students to vote, which amounts to around 600 students. When they held the referendum last spring, it passed by 70%. “Our feedback from that was that students agree with the $95 number. It’s just changing the SEE REFERENDUM, PAGE 4
in this issue
Opinion
Page 12
Culture
Page 14
NYC Migrant Crisis Overwhelms Education System Floral and Fashion at the New York Botanical Garden
Sports
Page 19
Swimming and Diving Breaks Multiple Records