The Fordham Ram Volume 107, Issue 8
Fordham Raises Tuition For Third Year in a Row
Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 TheFordhamRam.com
Spring Break GO! Trips Conclude
By NORA MALONE
By JASMINE PENA GARCIA
Fordham University announced on March 31 that they would be raising tuition for the 2025-2026 academic year. The increase is the third in the last three years, and will increase housing and meal plan costs as well as tuition. In an email sent to students and families, Vice President of Enrollment John Buckley said, “We arrived at this difficult decision to increase tuition only after a year of cost cutting and seeking efficiencies that did not have a negative impact on the student experience.” Tuition will be increased by 4.65%, which equals an additional $3,063.48 per year. Housing will increase by an average of 4.3% depending on the room, which averages to around $1,000 a year. Meal plans
Over spring break, the Fordham Global Outreach (GO!) program sent students on volunteer trips to five different locations: Puerto Rico, Ireland, Honduras, El Salvador and Peru. GO! is a student-led service program rooted in learning social justice issues firsthand. Steven Laureano, FCRH ’25, co-led the GO! trip to El Salvador. His team partnered with Christians for Peace in El Salvador (CRISPAZ), an organization dedicated to promoting peace and justice by amplifying the voices of those affected by violence and oppression. “This was my first time leading a trip, and since I was a co-leader, I was able to lead with one of my closest friends,” Laureano shared. “I think this helped boost the trip’s morale and helped the students deal with the heavy content that we all learned.” Throughout their time in El Salvador, the group engaged with community partners as
SEE TUITION, PAGE 5
SEE GO!, PAGE 5
NEWS EDITOR
April 2, 2025
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
NORA MALONE/ THE FORDHAM RAM
The Rats Are Back By NORA MALONE NEWS EDITOR
Large, inflatable rats have been spotted just off-campus around Bathgate Avenue and Third/Webster Avenue. The rats are part of a protest surrounding Fordham University’s contract with Paulina Corporation, an asbestos removal company. According to a sign taped to the rat, Paulina Corporation “pays its workers wages and benefits below the standards in the area to perform hazardous asbestos work.” Asbestos removal has been taking place since last summer in a variety of on-campus buildings, including Cunniffe House, Tierney Hall and John Mulcahy Hall. In September 2024, the same rats were outside the Rose Hill Bathgate and Third/Webster gates with signs protesting Fordham hiring Incinia Contracting for asbestos removal. This is an updating story.
Student Life Council Discusses New STEM Building and Title IX Coordinator By JACK MCDONALD
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
COURTESY OF FORDHAM NOW
Students work on the printer at the press collective as part of their class.
Fordham Professor Partners with Women’s Press Collective By LIVIA REGINA
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Students in Professor Ashar Foley’s Fundamentals of Communication and Media Studies course are volunteering with the Bronx-based organization Women’s Press Collective (WPC). The
partnership provides students with hands-on learning in multiple areas of journalism production, from news writing to operating a press. Founded in 1982, WPC was initially created to amplify the voices of lowpaid women workers by
allowing them to produce their own media. Currently, they run a free benefit program where they teach production and publication skills. “It’s building truly independent, truly communitybased media,” said Lisa
SEE WOMEN, PAGE 4
The Student Life Council convened on March 26 in the McShane Campus Center. The topic of discussion was the hiring of Elizabeth “Liz” Fanelli, Fordham’s new Title IX Coordinator, as well as the new STEM center, which Fordham recently announced alongside a $100 million donation from Maurice Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D.,
GSAS ’71. This sum was the largest single donation in Fordham’s history and will further expose students to rising careers in STEM. Fanelli was appointed Title IX Coordinator on Jan. 27, following an extensive career working for the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office and then Ramapo College, New Jersey. Approximately 20 members of the Student Life Council were present at the meeting. SEE SLC, PAGE 4
in this issue
News
Page 2
Fordham Receives Donation of James Joyce Collection
Opinion Page 10 Serving on the Front Lines: The Value of Working in a Restaurant
Culture Page 12
Sports
Cutting to the Chase on Collaging in College
How Can You Not be Romantic About Basketball?
Page 20