Less than a century later, the country erupted in a bloody civil war over one side’s assertion that they should continue to be free to own those slaves.

During World War II and the Cold War era, the U.S. fought the threats to freedom posed by the Nazis and Communism, while Jim Crow laws and segregation made life for many Black Americans nearly intolerable.

And even in 2021, the Confederate battle flag is embraced by some Americans as a symbol of freedom.

Misguided? Yes? But hypocritical? According to Tyler Stovall, Ph.D., dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, not necessarily. These examples from history, Stovall says, show that for Americans, freedom has always been nearly synonymous with whiteness.

“In many ways, our idea about freedom are shaped by our views of race. To be white is to be free, and to be free is to be white, in essence. This idea has been shaped by this racial history, from the Enlightenment to the present day,” he said.

Stovall, a historian who came to Fordham this summer from the University of California, Santa Cruz, tackles this concept in White Freedom: The Racial History of an Idea (Princeton University Press, 2021), which was released on Jan. 20.

Stovall began working on the book in 2014, but the introductory chapter took on a special resonance when a mob attacked and occupied the Capitol while Congress was ratifying the win of President-elect Joseph Biden. Stovall wrote one inspiration for the book was the 2008 naming of Emancipation Hall, a section of the Capitol that was dedicated to the enslaved Black people who helped build the complex.

“It was a wonderful event, but it did beg the question, why would you call something Emancipation Hall to honor people that weren’t emancipated when they worked there? Why not call it Slave Hall? What does the fact that you couldn’t do that say about the relationship of this history to American history in general?” he asked.

He also couldn’t simply dismiss as a paradox the fact that the 18th century was considered an Age of Enlightenment in the United States and France, and yet also the height of the slave trade. In fact, the Declaration of Independence makes more sense, he said, when you understand that one of the biggest demands of the colonists was the right to do with their property whatever they saw fit.

“The biggest kind of property at the time was Black slaves,” he said, noting that it came up 85 years later as well.

“In the beginning of the Civil War, it’s really the Southern rebels who talk about freedom, not the North. Even more forthrightly than in 1776, you had people saying, ‘We’re fighting this war to preserve our freedom—our freedom to own slaves.’”

The Statue of Liberty, which has a more complex history than many understand, gets its own chapter. Although it’s often considered a sort of patron saint of immigration, its creation was rooted more in ideas of liberty. It was conceived by French scholar Édouard de Laboulaye, an abolitionist who was pleased that France has once again become a republic and that the U.S. had finally renounced slavery with the end of the Civil War.

It only became a welcoming symbol of immigration, Stovall said, after Americans began to see European immigrants as white—a perception that happened gradually, and not until well into the 20th century. And the immigrants felt it as well.

“Those immigrants who gazed rapturously at the magnificent statue upon their arrival in New York harbor may have seen a symbol of freedom and prosperity, but they also saw a vision of whiteness, of what they ultimately could become in America.”

Stovall titled the last chapter of the book “Freedom Now? The Fall and Rise of White Freedom during the Cold War.”

“A really powerful assertion emerged in the mid-20th century that freedom had to be universal and could not be just white freedom. In many ways, those struggles were defeated—not entirely, by any means—but they suffered major reverses and major losses,” he said.

He noted that the Supreme Court issued the ruling Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, and decades later, public schools are arguably just as segregated as they were back then.

The events of the last two months have felt made the book seem especially prescient. Stovall noted in his conclusion that “white freedom” has never been just about race, but it advocates racial distinction and white privilege as a way of achieving the ability to live in security and peace, have adequate food and shelter, and raise children with confidence for their futures.

“There’s a basic material level of assurance and prosperity that has been lost. The prosperity may happen, but it may very well not in a world where most of the profits are going to a very small group of people who are in no mood to share,” he said.

“That’s what’s driving a lot of this anger, and it’s racialized because it’s also connected to the growing racial diversity of the U.S. People are really angry, and they’re willing to believe things that have no foundation in reality whatsoever, like this idea that the election was stolen.”

Nonetheless, Stovall is optimistic, because extending freedom to all people is an idea that he thinks a majority can rally around. Anti-racism work has again taken center stage in the American public sphere thanks to the success of the Black Lives Matter movement, and, he noted, the attack on the Capitol has been called out by prominent commentators as a “white riot.”

“The issue of how to make people freer is ultimately something that I think is possible to mobilize all people around. The problem with white freedom is, it ultimately doesn’t persevere. If everybody isn’t free, then ultimately nobody is free,” he said.

“Freedom means the freedom of families and individuals to enjoy all sorts of things in life, and you can’t have that unless everyone is entitled to have it. I do believe [people understand that]and I do believe people will see this through.”

The 2019 Convocation, held in the School of Law’s Costantino Room at the Lincoln Center Campus, paid tribute to the recipients of the Bene Merenti medal and the Archbishop Hughes medal, awarded to faculty and staff, respectively, to mark 20 and 40 years of service at Fordham.

The event also honored three recipients of the Sursum Corda award, given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the life and mission of the University: James Higgins, foreperson of facilities operations at Lincoln Center; Gregory Pappas, assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of student services; and Nancy Perri, senior executive secretary in the controller’s office.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, prefaced his Convocation remarks by acknowledging the accomplishment the women’s basketball team—“among the most wonderful and interesting students we have”—before turning to the achievements of the day’s honorees.

“You are our treasure,” Father McShane said to the recipients. “The treasure that makes it possible for us to form young women and men to be women and men for others.”

“You make the routine miraculous, and you make everything at the University an occasion of grace because of the way in which you go about your work and the generous hearts you have,” he continued.

Nicholas J. Lombardi, S.J., adjunct instructor of computer and information science, drew a rousing cheer from his fellow Jesuit scholastics as he accepted his Bene Merenti Medal for 40 years of service. Father Lombardi first came to Fordham in 1958 as a freshman at Fordham Prep, where he later returned to teach classics before joining the University faculty in 1996.

“It’s great to see that so many of my friends are still here, alive and thriving,” Father Lombardi said.

Father McShane lauded the awardees for not only touching every aspect of life at Fordham, but for also extending their good works to the world at large.

Byron E. Shafer, Ph.D., associate professor emeritus of theology, has exemplified this commitment over his long and varied career. Shafer joined Fordham in 1968 as one of the first Protestants in his department, and later became well known to New York City radio listeners as a co-host of Religion on the Line, a program on religious and social issues featuring a priest, a rabbi, and a minister.

In addition to directing the University’s Middle East Studies program and focusing his scholarly energies on Ancient Egypt, Shafer also found time over the years to serve as pastor at Rutgers Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side and as a visiting scholar at United Theological College in Bangalore, India.  But he always returned to Fordham, where he continues to teach senior citizens in the College at 60 program.

“Although I’ve been around more or less for 51 years, I finally made it to 40,” he said with a laugh upon receiving the Bene Merenti Medal.

Reflecting on her four decades at Fordham, Mary Chilton Callaway, associate professor of theology, observed a special quality present in both the theology department and the University as a whole. “It’s the willingness to learn and grow and change,” she said.

One change, she said, are the ever-growing challenges her students face—and not just from her lessons on the Hebrew Bible and the Book of Jeremiah. Callaway, a Bene Merenti Medalist, has cherished the opportunity “to help students with things beyond just the Old Testament—navigating their lives. For me, that’s a wonderful part about being at Fordham: when they come to my office and can open up about things,” she said.

“That’s what has kept me here for 40 years. I feel like I’m doing something helpful and worthwhile.”

Bene Merenti Medal | 40 Years
Mary Chilton Callaway
William Conlon
Celia B. Fisher
Richard Fleisher
Anne Golomb Hoffman
D. Frank Hsu
Nicholas Lombardi, S.J.
Julia H. Mueller
Byron E. Shafer
Elizabeth Stone

Bene Merenti Medal | 20 Years
Maureen P. Benej
Mary Bly
Richard S. Carnell
Martin Chase, S.J.
Christopher M. Cullen, S.J.
John Drummond
Margo A. Jackson
Duncan R. James
Gyula Klima
Ji Seon Lee
Michael W. Martin
James McCann
Marjorie R. Saltzberg
Mark S. Silver
Lyn K. Slater
Gemma Solimene

Archbishop Hughes Medal | 40 Years 
Serafina De Gregorio

Archbishop Hughes Medal | 20 Years
Maria Aponte
Jedd S. Applebaum
Marianna Balquiedra
William J. Campbell
Damarie Cardona
Jim Castillo
Vincenza Corcoran
Lois D’Amore
Fleurin Eshghi
Monica Esser
Leslie I. Gillette
Helene Jacoby Madigan
Francis C. Katai
Ruben Mendez
Stephanie Milizia
James O’Hara
Ramón Pérez
Lewis Price
Lucille I. Santos
William R. Schneider
Matthew Schottenfeld
Joanne Schwind
Michael Tavas
Timothy W. Zay

Sursum Corda Award
James Higgins
Gregory Pappas
Nancy Perri

–Michael Garofalo

The panel, which is made up of one community leader nominated by each borough president and eight nominated by the mayor, was created in 2002, when control of the schools was transferred from the New York City Board of Education to the Mayor’s office.

Waite, who joined GSE’s division of educational leadership, administration, and policy (ELAP) in September 2016, is a former director of principal pipeline recruitment in the New York City Department of Education. She was appointed to the panel on March 23.

As a member of the panel, Waite will advise the mayor on issues such as curriculum, staffing, school closings, openings, and mergers. The latter is something she is intimately familiar with, as a parent of a kindergartner at P.S. 185 in Harlem. Although Waite had previous experience working in the city’s education department, working on behalf of P.S. 185’s P.T.A. and senior leadership team on the department’s plan to merge the school with another school was revelatory, she said.

“In the early fall, we started having these conversations about what this means for our school, and knowing that the Panel for Educational Policy was the place where those decisions would be made, we developed our own strategy for advocacy and the things that we thought would best serve all students—not just ours, but the ones we were also going to be inheriting,” she said.

She sees her role as an advocate for students and hopes to bring transparency to the panel’s work. Her barometer will always be whether something would be good for her daughter, Zoё. The panel holds monthly public meetings and is a venue for parents to air concerns about the education department’s plans.

“I’m a fan of making sure the people who are being impacted feel like they are invested in the process, because they’ve had an opportunity to authentically participate in the process. That in and of itself encourages transparency, because then it’s not like smoke and mirrors”. It’s not a group of angry people coming to a panel meeting saying ‘There was one meeting, and it was last night,’” she said.

“It’s ‘There were several meetings, we were all there. We may not have all agreed, and we’re still here to protest because we don’t think what you’re saying is in the best interest of our particular kids, but we understand that you think that overall, it’s the best decision for the community, and we were able to participate in the process.’”

GSE Dean Virginia Roach, Ed.D., said the appointment is good for the city and good for Fordham.

“Dr. Waite’s participation on this important citywide committee reflects her strong commitment to all children in New York City as well as her deep understanding of the major education policy issues facing the city today,” said Roach.

“Indeed, she brings these qualities to the Graduate School of Education and enriches our work as a result.”

Waite also expects the role to have a positive influence on her work at GSE, where she teaches aspiring principals.

“It’s important that all of our pedagogical and educational philosophies are grounded in theory, but I’m a practitioner. I take from all of my experiences. Being a part of the panel will give me another lens through which I can help train my future school building administrators,” she said.

“Because again, the students that I prepare in the Fordham ELAP program could be teaching Zoё.”

Both women teach full time at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) and have deep family roots on the island. Gonzalez, a native of the Bronx and clinical assistant professor in the college’s Division of Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy, has been visiting her family in the city of Ponce every summer since she was in kindergarten. She spent several years there as an exchange student while earning a bachelor’s degree at Lehman College.

Nevárez-La Torre, an associate professor of in the Division of Curriculum and Teaching, was born and raised on the island. Although she moved to the mainland when she was 25, her family still lives the town of Guaynabo and some still live in the town of Lares, in the mountainous northeast region.

A Connection to Fordham

They have professional connections as well: When González earned her doctorate in 2016, her dissertation was on public school leadership in Puerto Rico. One of the people she has stayed in touch with is Isaac Ruiz Solá, Ph.D., the principal of Escuela Julio Alvarado Tricoche, an elementary school in Ponce. When she reached out to him after the storm, his response was “We need everything.”

“So, we said, ‘Let’s take something off your plate.’ School supplies are really hard to come by in Puerto Rico schools. Most teachers have to pay for the supplies for their classroom,” said González.

“Parents are not going to think about buying school supplies when they need food, water, and gas for their generators.”

The two reached out to their GSE colleagues and raised nearly $2,000, which they used to buy notebooks, pencils, crayons, scissors, construction paper, and other assorted school supplies.

A Joyful Presentation

On January 10, the day after Escuela Julio Alvarado Tricoche reopened for the first time since the storm had hit, they presented 16 festively decorated boxes of supplies-one for each class-to the students. More than three months had passed since the storm hit, and residents were still struggling to put their lives back together. But the school staff still staged a catered ceremony to mark the occasion.

“The staff was traumatized on their own, but I have to tell you I’ve never seen a group of people come together and selflessly put aside their own traumas and their own suffering to help the kids have a sense of a normal, joyful school,” said Nevárez-La Torre.

“They dressed up as clowns, they brought in music, and they danced with the kids. It was amazing.”

To the women, the ceremony was every bit as important as the act of giving material goods, because they were able to show their solidarity with the students and fellow teachers. Nevárez-La Torre viewed it as an extension of her professional work.

“Being a scholar in education is not just conducting research to benefit others through scholarly publications. It’s also making a difference in the lives of the people that we work with,” she said.

González noted that education is a field where relationships are key.

“We always say that students don’t learn from people who they feel don’t care about them,” she said.

“School supplies don’t fix a house, school supplies won’t put food on your table, but they are a gesture of a human kindness that we can express by standing side-by-side with you.”

Future Relief Efforts

Nevárez-La Torre and González plan to continue spearheading aid efforts, as the island is still in dire need of aid. Power outages are still common, and a recent report indicated that more than 10,000 small businesses-nearly 20 percent of the island’s total-were closed as of March 6.

“I don’t know that school supplies again will be the way,” said González. “We need to talk a little bit more with school principal and teachers and find out what would be the most helpful means of support, and then we can help them.”

Grontkowski, an associate professor of philosophy, came to Fordham in 1958 as graduate student and began teaching two years later. When he was awarded a doctorate in 1964, his dissertation was “Descartes and Galileo: New Views on the Philosophy of Nature.”

He was among the first doctoral students to be inducted into the Fordham chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and in 1961 he was the first layperson to receive a full-time appointment in the philosophy department.

A passionate teacher according to those who knew him, he was director of the Fordham College Honors Program as well as the pre-medical advisor for first year students. This spring marked his 117th semester of service to the University-during which time it is estimated he taught classes such as Modern Philosophy and Epistemology to close to 16,000 students.

His dedication to students was reflected in his Bene Merenti award, which he received in 1981 for 20 years of service. In the citation, it was noted that:

“The whole campus is his office, for he is available to students at any time of the day. He offers advice to them when they seek it, holds extra classes when they need it, visits them when they are ill, and occasionally invites groups of faculty and students to his apartment for dinner, which he prepares himself with [most]gustatorial splendor.”

Margaret Donovan, FCRH ’77, administrative assistant for the philosophy department, knew “Dr. G.” as both a professor and a colleague, having taken his History of Modern Philosophy class as an undergraduate in 1975. In 2005, she joined the department and found herself in an adjacent office. They bonded over subjects as varied as Broadway, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and action movies.

“Ray was a remarkable person. He was kind and generous. He was an incredibly efficient and understanding undergraduate chair, which is why he served in the position for 25 years,” she said.

“However, he was at his best when he was in the classroom, and he was still passionate and dynamic at the age of 83. He loved to teach and he loved his students. I will miss him dearly.”

John J. Drummond, the Robert Southwell S.J. Distinguished Professor in Philosophy and the Humanities, said that in the six years he served as chair of the department, Grontkowski, who was associate chair for undergraduate studies from 1987 to 2012, was an “operational master at getting the trains to run on time.”

“I never had to worry about courses be scheduled, instructors being found, students being advised, add-drops, and the like,” he said.

Drummond said he had fond memories of discussing and debating over Broadway plays, in particular Hamilton, which, much to his chagrin, Grontkowski did not find appealing.

“Over those years, I became familiar with what a marvelous teacher Ray was.  His teaching evaluations were consistently extraordinary-“rave reviews,” in fact,” he said.

Jude Jones, Ph.D., FCRH ’85, associate professor of philosophy, did not have Grontkowski as a teacher when she attended Fordham as an undergraduate. But she recalled classmates speaking of him as “deeply committed, helpful, and uncannily able to bring a kind of human sense of humor even into subjects that tended to be unsettling, like death itself.”

Jones recalled that he was caring for his ailing mother when she joined the philosophy faculty. Years later, when she found herself in a similar situation with her own parents, he was “always supportive and empathetic.” She said he also had a sly sense of humor.

“Some of my favorite memories of Ray are his teasing about assigning me 8 a.m. classes if I didn’t accomplish a necessary task on time, and then immediately shifting gears to tell me about the latest Broadway show he had seen or was about to see,” she said.

“Ray was a unique human being and a cornerstone in Fordham philosophy’s identity through much of the second half of the 20th century. I will miss him and his mischievous but humane humor, and his great passion for life and service.”

Grontkowski is survived by his brother Thomas and sister-in-law Christine Grontkowski, GSAS ’69, who also earned a doctorate in philosophy.

Viewing:
Tuesday, Feb. 27 from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.
McGrath Funeral Home
20 Cedar Street, Bronxville

Mass of Christian Burial:
Wednesday, Feb 28, 10:30 a.m.
Fordham University Church, Rose Hill campus

It’s safe to say this is the first year that a fishman/woman romance flick has been nominated for Tinselstown’s top award. We sat down with assistant professor of Spanish Miguel Garcia, Ph.D., who is an expert in Mexican literature, cinema, and science fiction. Movie buffs beware: Spoilers ahead!

Full transcript below

Patrick Verel: This year, one of the 10 films fighting for the Oscar’s Best Picture Award is The Shape of Water, a film by Mexican Director Guillermo del Toro. And it’s safe to say that it’s probably the most romance flick between a fish man and a mute woman to fight for the top award.

I’m Patrick Verel, and my guest today is professor Miguel García, an expert on both Mexican literature and cinema and Mexican science fiction. Now, a warning for some of you film buffs out there, there may be spoilers in our conversation.

So, what did you think of the film?

Miguel García: I loved the film. I was surprised by the visuals of the film. I was also surprised by the music. Not really a fan of musicals, but I think that the music aspect of it was very well done. For me, that was one of the main reasons why I liked the film, that it was very elegant in the way it resolved different things. This strange relationship between a mute and a creature might be either a great idea for a science fiction film or also, a ridiculous idea.

The structure of the film was very straightforward, but then this relation was very transgressive, the relationship between, well, this inter-species relationship. And to me that was an unexpected way to carry the film, but also, with two characters that don’t speak alike. That was also very interesting, how he was able to connect these two experiences without resorting to language, to verbal language. Because of course there’s communication, but it’s non-verbal.

To me the aspect that struck the most in this movie was the respect that del Toro has for the monster, because even though he’s a monster and he has some human characteristics, he definitely remains a monster throughout the film. When I was waiting for the movie to come out, I was scared that he was going to somehow humanize the monster too much, so the monster would end up being just like a regular human. But he didn’t. I mean, you see when he eats a cat, the creature. That also speaks of that political commentary in the idea of being able to be you even if you are an other.

Patrick Verel: Now, you studied Mexican science fiction. What does distinguishes it from other kinds of science fiction?

Miguel García: One of the things that has been a distinctive feature of Mexican science fiction is the way it combines different genres. You usually have science fiction elements, but you also have horror elements and fantasy elements and comedy elements. So, it’s a strange mix that usually works very well when you watch those movies, especially from the 50s and 60s. And the thing that holds them together, I think, it’s the character of the ‘luchador’ or wrestler. So they would fight aliens but then also, monsters, and then also witches. They would be like the glue that holds everything together.

So now we have this new way of Mexican filmmakers who are doing science fiction. But the difference now is that they’re not using wrestlers. They’re not interested in that imagery of the 50’s and 60’s, because one the criticisms of that period is that they were low budget films.

Patrick Verel: Well, that brings me to the next question is, where do you see this movie within that genre?

Miguel García: I don’t see direct connection to the images or sounds from the Mexican movies. But here what I see is more a connection to his first feature film, which was shot in Mexico and is called Cronos. In that film you have this old man who finds a device that gives him eternal life, but also turns him into a vampire. And in that movie you have his granddaughter who does not speak, and they have this strange bond. Maybe in The Shape of Water, he’s not doing that very explicitly, but I think that he’s drawn from the underlying connections to it, like the combination of genres, as you mention, the go back to comedy, to horror, to fantasy. I think that’s definitely the connection to science fiction.

Patrick Verel: When you think about works that he’s done that really harken back to his heritage…

Miguel García: I would say Cronos and Pan’s Labyrinth. And Pan’s Labyrinth, if you remember you also have this very authoritarian figure. You have a general who is also very obsessed with control. As in The Shape of Water you have Strickland. So you have … and also very strong female characters who are rebelling against that power.

I think that he’s very interested in that character, who is usually male. In this you have the added characteristic of being a white middle-class male.

Patrick Verel: I want to talk a little bit about some of the social commentary. There was one particular scene. There’s a rather biting observation from a general who actually says to Colonel Strickland, the main villain, he says … and I quote, “Decency is an export. We sell it because we don’t use it.”

Miguel García: In The Shape of Water you can very clearly see these political commentaries like the one you mentioned, but I’m not as sure that he’s attacking American culture per se. I think that what he is criticizing is the idea of authoritarianism in all of its forms. So I think that in this case, the authority is reflected in this white middle-class male that is very driven. He wants to use the monster to have an edge in the cold war against the Russians. He wants to use the creature. He’s not interested in any other interesting things that the creature might offer. He’s just interested in the utilitarian aspect of it. And I think that that’s what del Toro is criticizing in this movie and in other movies, the utilitarian drive that many people have, the individualistic aspects of culture that do not let us see or form a community. What he wants to point out is that when we do that, when we focus only in that, we tend to exclude other forms that are different from our expectation.

Patrick Verel: One of your research interests is the intersection of eugenics and race in Mexican sci-fi, so you must’ve caught when the villain … again, this is Colonel Strickland who’s white, and says to Octavia Spencer’s character, who is black, that the Lord looks, and I quote, “Just like me or even you. A little like me. More like me, I guess.”

Miguel García: I definitely made that connection, as well. The point of eugenics is to create homogeneity. The interesting thing with Octavia Spencer’s character, but then also with Elisa’s neighbor, who is a gay character, and then with the monster, is that they are different. All these monsters, I think that they disturb the eugenic model by being different, by being anomalist to the system.

In other countries that employed eugenics, one way to deal with difference was to assimilate, to combine it, to create something new with that difference … to make a new race, let’s say. Like in Mexico, you have this idea of a cosmic race, the idea that all races would combine into a more perfect fifth race.

But in the U.S., eugenics dealt with difference by erasing it. So here, the ambition of this character, Strickland, is to kill the monster at the end. He doesn’t want the monster to survive because it’s the evidence that there’s something outside of his frame of reference.

In the movie, you see that with the monster but also with the other characters that also … Eliza is a good example because she’s also an anomaly because she cannot speak. She would be in the eugenic model, one subject that’s does not deserve to live or does not deserve to reproduce. And here, when you see the sexual act with the monster, you see that fear of reproduction. Because, as I was watching that, I was thinking, “Well, what if the film presents at the end that they have a son or a daughter?” I was thinking of that. How would that be presented in the movie? Of course, you don’t see that.

Patrick Verel: I want to come back to something you said before about the music. Del Toro often paired this sort of jaunty upbeat music along with the scenes that were anything but uplifting, particularly in the lab where the River God as del Toro would have, was living. Is this juxtaposition, is this a common technique for him? Or is this something new?

Miguel García: I think this was something new. I was not expecting this. I was watching an interview with del Toro, and he was asked about how he could talk about these very dark subjects but then also remain optimistic. His short answer was, “Well, because I’m Mexican.” And by that he meant that Mexicans, in general, tend to have this very strong connection to death as something that is inevitable, but is not necessarily an end. And I think that the music in The Shape of Water serves that purpose, as well. Serves to underline that there’s something positive in all the darkness.

Patrick Verel: Where you surprised at the very end when you had the big reveal with her neck?

Miguel García: I was surprised, yes, at the end to see this … her scars kind of become gills.

Patrick Verel: Yeah!

Miguel García: … so she’s able to be underwater and kind of … If I remember correctly, they live together, right? They …

Patrick Verel: That’s they live happily ever after, in a way.

Miguel García: I was surprised, again, because I was expecting something really dark as in Pan’s Labyrinth. But then again, I think I forgot that I was in the presence of a river god. But I think that it was an excellent ending for the movie. I think that it would be a terrible thing to finish on a dark note after you had seen all these contrasts.

Patrick Verel: Any predictions for Oscar night?

Miguel García: I think that it’s offering very Oscar-worthy material when he’s engaging with these issues of race or the role of women in the workplace, right? The idea of harassment in the workplace is there. He’s speaking to something very contemporary. I just think that there’s a lot of competition.

But when it comes to acceptance of sexual preference, it’s much, much further away. In Engabao, being gay is ok. In Guayaquil and in much of the rest of the country, it is not.

A Situation Reversed

For O. Hugo Benavides, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology, this is a source of great interest. In most countries, members of the LGTBQ community are more accepted in cities than they are in rural areas. In Ecuador—one of the most homophobic countries in the world, says Benavides—the situation is reversed. But why?

One clue may lie deep in the past, long before Spanish colonizers arrived.

According to historical writings, when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, they encountered Enchaquirados—men and boys who wore ritualistic, high-status beads and engaged in same-sex relations with the male leaders of the community. The Spaniards looked down on them, but the Enchaquirados responded that they were chosen for the role, which they believed expressed a higher social status.

Fast forward to present-day Engabao. Since the 1990s, gay men there have been referring to themselves as Enchaquirados, said Benavides.

“The gay community did a lot of what we would call political work in claiming this historical identity,” said Benavides. “They said, ‘We shouldn’t be discriminated against because we were actually here before the Spaniards arrived. There’s a heritage that’s historical, but it’s a sexual heritage as well.’”

One document that modern-day Enchaquirados have relied on to conduct workshops on the subject is “The Representation of Guayaquil’s Sexual Past: Historicizing the Enchaquirado.” Benavides, who grew up just 90 minutes away from Engabao, wrote it and, in 2002, got it published in the Journal of Latin American Anthropology .

An Ethnographic Exploration

This past summer, Benavides returned for a three-week-long ethnographic exploration of the village. His visit was part of larger project on pre-Hispanic sexuality being spearheaded by the anthropology department at the Jesuit University Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) in Quito.

His colleague and research partner, Maria Fernanda Ugalde, Ph.D., professor and chair of anthropology at PUCE, has written extensively on two-thousand-year-old figurines from the region. She found male/female and female/female combinations, and figurines sporting large hips and breasts that are dressed in male attire.

“You have all these combinations that have been put aside, or interpreted in a particular heterosexist way,” he said. “We’re trying to look at those not as exceptional, but rather as normative.”

And Engabao is not unique. “All of these small fishing villages in the central and southern Ecuadorian coast have very similar elements, structures, or situations,” he said.

Benavides said he’s working to fund a larger ethnographic project to take place in the summer or the fall. Oddly enough, he found the biggest challenge in last summer’s research was simply trying to convince Engabao residents that their Enchaquirado identity was a unique phenomenon.

“They really see themselves and their identity as quite normal,” he said. “We’d ask them, ‘What does it mean to be from Engabao?’ and they’d answer like, ‘We live here, and we fish.'”

Benavides feels that the story of how Engabao’s tolerance came to be is an important piece of anthropological history for Ecuadorian culture.

“Professor Ugalde and I see the work we’re doing as important in trying to make the country, as a whole, more sensitive to both its historical and contemporary gender and sexual diversity,” he said.

On Feb. 2, Fisher, a professor of theology, used his final address to his colleagues to tell his own families’ story.

“I was determined not to do one of those ‘My family is crazier than your family’ kind of histories, because I wouldn’t know how crazy anybody else’s family is,” said Fisher, who is retiring in May to spend more time in California with his son Charlie, who is autistic.

“But the complementarity of [mine and Charlie’s]cognitive systems is such a positive thing, I started to get much more positive feelings about my own family’s history. I wondered about people who may help me understand who we are.”

He discovered, among other things, that his great grandfather moved from Brooklyn to Panama in 1906 to work as a plumber on the Panama Canal. There, he became Chief and Senior Sagamore of the fraternal organization the Improved Order of Redmen.

“They wanted to transplant all the putative virtues of white American Christian Republicanism to this utopian community on the Isthmus of Panama. The Improved Order of Redmen was one of these kinds of organizations,” Fisher said, noting dryly that membership was not, in fact, open to Native Americans.

“I had to readjust the longevity of my father’s side of the families’ devotion to the Roman Catholic Church. I’d been off by 12 to 15 centuries. My great grandfather was nobody’s idea of a Roman Catholic. He was in fact, a pagan.”

He died under mysterious circumstances, and Fisher’s great grandmother moved back to Brooklyn, where Fisher discovered she lived in Vinegar Hill, next door to William Sutton, the infamous bank robber who was credited with saying he did it, “Because that’s where the money is.”

His family, which would also later call Woodbridge, New Jersey, home, also belied the popular model of Catholic immigrants flocking to parishes to create a sort of “old world communal setting.”

“My father’s family presented itself as the ultimate exemplar of just that model, but empirically it was not true. They lived where the work was; they lived on the waterfront in Brooklyn, Manhattan and North Jersey,” he said.

And although his grandparents experienced the terror of a resurgent of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920’s, they did just fine in the end.

“They were homeless in the 1930’s. By 1946, because of the war, my grandfather worked up in his job, and sent their sons to the University of Notre Dame—the eighth wonder of the world for American Catholics,” he said.

Fisher’s talk was part of Arts and Sciences Faculty Day. This year, honorees included
Christopher Aubin, Ph.D., associate professor of physics, who was honored for excellence in teaching in science and math;

Jim Fisher, Ph.D.,professor of theology, who was honored for or excellence in teaching in arts and humanities

Christina Greer, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, who was honored for excellence in teaching social sciences;

Maryann Kowaleski, P.h.D., Joseph Fitzpatrick SJ Distinguished Professor of History and Medieval Studies, who was honored for excellence in teaching in graduate studies.

The evening also celebrates 12 members of the arts and science faculty who have been chosen to work together to discuss innovative teaching techniques. The group, which includes graduate students and cuts across campuses and disciplines, meets five times a semester for two semesters to share recent scholarship in the field of teaching stories, and techniques. This year’s cohort includes:

Emanuel Fiano, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology

Abby Goldstein, associate professor of visual arts

Henry Han, Ph.D., associate professor of Computer and Information Science

Carey Kasten, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish

Christopher Koenigsmann, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry

Jesus Luzardo, Ph.D. candidate of philosophy, Graduate School of Arts and Science

Jason Morris, Ph.D, associate professor of biology

Meenaserani Murugan, Ph.D., assistant professor of communications

Silvana Patriarca, Ph.D., professor of history

Kathryn Reklis, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology

Margaret Schwartz, Ph.D., associate professor of communications

Richard Teverson, assistant professor of art history

Dennis Tyler, Ph.D., assistant professor of English

Alessia Valfredini, Ph.D., lecturer of Italian

The gathering is an annual occasion to honor employees with Bene Merenti and Archbishop Hughes medals for 20 or 40 years of service.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, noted that this year the celebration was taking place in a world gripped by anxiety and worry. Such uncertainties make it even more important honor the professors, lecturers, caretakers, designers, fundraisers, bursars, DJs, secretaries, managers, librarians, public safety officers, and more who help make the University function.

They’re a “paradoxical lot,” he said—wonderfully adaptive and yet unchanging, and remarkably diverse but united.

“In response to the many challenges that an accelerating, evolving world has presented to them, they have displayed a rare combination of wisdom and courage. They have brought to the University a broad array of interests and talents.  In spite of this, they are and have remain united in their devotion to the mission of the University,” he said.

“Therefore, we celebrate unity in diversity, and a constancy grounded in our history that is combined with a zest for new challenges.”

Many of the honorees were joined by children and grandchildren. When Aleksander Rebisz was honored with a Sursum Corda Award for outstanding contributions to the University, his son-in-law Matt Kraeger hoisted aloft Rebisz’ 2-year-old grandson Mason for a better view, to the delight of the audience.

Jonathan M. Crystal, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, associate vice president and associate chief academic officer, said that when he began his career at Fordham in 1997, his oldest son Nathan was just a year old. On Sunday, Nathan was unable to see his dad accept a Bene Merenti award because he was away at college. Crystal, who was lauded in a citation as the “keystone” of the University’s academic enterprise, said it was a little frightening how quickly time had passed.

“To be surrounded by all of my colleagues is an amazing feeling. This is one of the best days of my life,” he said.

“If you ask most people in the world, ‘do you love the place you work,’ maybe they like their job and maybe they like their colleagues,” he said. “But people who work at Fordham love Fordham.”

Georgine Barna Hoar, an adjunct professor of Spanish who was awarded a Bene Merenti medal for her four decades years of service, credited the teaching profession with having kept her young. She and her husband Leo Hoar, Ph.D., professor emeritus who retired in 2015 after teaching Spanish for 53 years, estimated that they have collectively served 12,500 students—the same number of chairs set up for Commencement Day on Edwards Parade.  Each semester on the last day of class, she said she makes a point to thank her students for all that they’ve taught her.

“In practicing a language, it helps to talk about things that interest them,” she said. “I don’t know what programs they watch and what concerts they go to, so they tell me, and it makes them feel good because they have helped me to understand what’s important to them.”

For John Platt, director of communications at WFUV (90.7), the afternoon was slightly bittersweet, as his colleague in 20 years of service and fellow honoree, Rich Conaty, the host of The Big Broadcast, died in December.

He was grateful for the stability that WFUV has provided him. In commercial radio, where he worked previously, he noted that the field is so unpredictable, time can feel as if it should be measured “in dog years.”

“If you look at my resume prior to WFUV, it’s a very checkered career. Ownership changes, management changes, program directors change,” he said. “To be at WFUV [this long]with a team of people who are all doing radio for its own sake . . . is about the most gratifying way you can make a living.”

Dominique R. Jenkins, a friend of Assistant Director of Enrollment Services Melissa L. Scriven, an Archbishop Hughes Medal winner for 20 years of service, marveled at how the awardees— though occasionally humbled to be in the spotlight—showed “pride in everything they do.”

“Why leave if you work in such a great environment, with a great group of people?” she said.

Bene Merenti Medal | Forty Years

Bruce F. Berg | Professor of Political Science
Constance W. Hassett | Professor of English
Georgine Barna Hoar | Adjunct Professor of Spanish
Gail D. Hollister | Archibald R. Murray Professor of Law
Katherin Marton | Professor of Finance and Business Economics
E. Doyle McCarthy | Professor of Sociology and American Studies
Marie A. Sheehan | Adjunct Assistant Professor, College at 60
David P. Stuhr | Associate Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Business, Retired Faculty Advisor
Anthony Tartaglia | Adjunct Instructor of Mathematics
Frank M. Werner | Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics

Bene Merenti Medal | Twenty Years

Stephan Apicella-Hitchcock | Artist-in-Residence
Cheryl G. Bader | Clinical Associate Professor of Law
Paul M. Bochner | Clinical Assistant Professor of Taxation
Colin M. Cathcart | Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Jeffrey E. Cohen | Professor of Political Science
Carole Beth Cox | Professor of Social Work
Jonathan M. Crystal | Associate Professor of Political Science, Associate Vice President and Associate Chief Academic Officer
Maddy Cunningham | Associate Professor of Social Work
Pearl Fisk | Adjunct Assistant Professor of Social Work
Warren Dana Holman | Clinical Professor of Social Work
Francesca Parmeggiani | Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature
S. Elizabeth Penry | Assistant Professor of History
Aditya N. Saharia | Associate Professor of Information Systems
Kieran Scott | Associate Professor of Religious Education
Yvette Michelle Sealy | Associate Professor of Social Work
Daniel Soyer | Professor of History
Kirsten Swinth | Associate Professor of History and American Studies
David S.L. Wei | Professor of Computer and Information Science
Greg Winczewski | Lecturer of Economics, Director International Political Economy Program 

Archbishop Hughes Medal | Forty Years 

John M. Algieri | Director of Budget Development

Archbishop Hughes Medal | ​Twenty​ ​Years​

Bob Ahrens | Executive Sports Producer, WFUV 
Hopeton Campbell | Director of the Edward A. Walsh Digital Media Lab
Marcos Antonio Carrasco | Information Technology Analyst/Manager
Joan P. Cavanagh | Director of Interfaith Programs, Director of Campus Ministry at Westchester 
Rich Conaty | WFUV Host, The Big Broadcast
Frank A. DeOrio | Director of University Procurement
Aldo Di Vitto | Facilities Architect
Melissa D. Forston | Senior IT Business Analyst/Manager
Gloria L. Guzman | Assistant Director of Budget Operations
John C. Hurley Jr. | Technical Support Manager, University Libraries
Daniel Thomas Kiely | Director of Public Safety at Rose Hill
Michael Lambros | Caretaker, The Louis Calder Center
Yael Mandelstam | Head of Cataloging, T.J. & Nancy Maloney Law School Library
Kimberly M. McKeon | Senior Director of Development Research and Prospect Management
Jan Miner | Assistant Dean and Director of Field Instruction, Graduate School of Social Service and Adjunct Instructor of Social Work
Maureen Murray | Nurse Practitioner, University Health Services
Norma L. Pérez | Office Manager, Information Technology Department, School of Law
John Platt | Director of Communications, WFUV
Marguerite Power | Financial Aid Supervisor, Graduate School of Social Service
Eric J. Sanders | Senior Associate Academic Advisor for Student-Athletes
Michael J.K. Schiumo | Assistant Dean of Alumni Relations and Development, School of Law
Melissa L. Scriven | Assistant Director of Enrollment Services
Gilbert M. Stack | Director of Assessment and Accreditation, Gabelli School of Business
Melanie Teagle | Senior Designer, Office of Marketing and Communications
Wendy Viggiano | Enrollment Service Administrator – Technical Support
Richard A. Waite | Director of University Conference Services

Sursum Corda Award

Marc Christopher Canton | Director of University Transportation
Susan Bair Egan | Associate Dean and Director of the M.S.W. Program, Graduate School of Social Service
Aleksander Rebisz | Refrigeration Engineer

But he always knew he wanted to leave his native Turkey to study here, and Fordham’s Bronx campus had a special appeal to him: Gültepe, the area of Istanbul where he lived, translates as “Rose Hill” in English.

He said the United States’ traditions of freedom of religion, inquiry, and speech were things that drew him here.

“In Turkey we are so divided politically, there is no space for talking freely,” he said.

After dabbling in courses in sociology, anthropology, archeology, and history, Kilicarslan, who is Muslim, is leaning toward a Middle East studies major. He’s already declared a minor in Jewish Studies, the first student at Fordham to do so.

Kilicarslan developed a particular interest in Judaism after having taken two courses: Jews in the Ancient and Medieval World, and History of Modern Judaism. He’s enrolled this semester in East European Jewish History, and last month he became Fordham’s first intern in the Museum for Jewish Heritage’s interfaith program.

As part of the internship, he helps facilitate dialogue between Muslim and Jewish elementary school students.

“In Turkey, I didn’t have a chance to study or even read about Jews and Christians. I had only some illusions about them, and some superficial knowledge. My goal here is to really understand these different cultures,” he said.

Magda Teter, Ph.D., the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies and professor of history, called Kilicarslan “one of the most exciting and intellectually promising students” that she has met in 15 years of teaching. She’s added new images, maps, and study quotes to her courses in Jewish history course as a result of his queries.

“Since he’s coming from the Muslim tradition, in which the Qur’an was transmitted in Arabic— and not in different versions and translations as biblical texts were—he’s asked very poignant questions about the process of establishing scriptural canon, and about its fluidity,” she said.

“Some of his most thought provoking questions have led me to change the direction and focus of the course I’d taught for over a decade.”

Kilicarslan said one benefit of learning about Christianity and Judaism is that it helps him better understand his own faith. The Qur’an references Jews and Christians, he said, and he sees no reason why they can’t all live together peacefully. The conflicts and persecutions among members of the three faiths has tended to be the result of economics, or political interests or aspirations.

“I’m interested in the complex situations among different groups, and in finding solutions for these situations. What I see is that, like me, a lot of people have [to overcome]a superficial understanding of others.”

“When people of different faiths focus on our common ground and wisdom, such as accepting the same God, seeing violence as unfruitful, and the existence of compassion and love in all three traditions, our tensions will decrease,” he said.

An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States wake up to this reality every day. To Eric Chun Lung Chen, Ph.D., they represent the voiceless whom he wants to give a voice to.

Chen, an associate professor of counseling psychology at the Graduate School of Education (GSE), has spent the past several years researching the quality of resilience, as manifested in the educational and career pursuits of undocumented immigrant students. He has focused most intently on “DREAMers,” roughly 700,000 undocumented individuals who were brought into the United States at a very young age. They were given a temporary relief from deportation in 2012 under former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The act had been considered, but not passed, by Congress in 2010.

The DREAMers’ experience deeply resonates with Chen, who was born in Taiwan and came to the states as an international student to attend graduate school. In addition to the common adjustment challenges associated with being an immigrant, he found the bureaucracy and uncertainty he encountered in obtaining his employment-based immigration visas and green card to be stressful, taking almost a decade to complete.

“When one’s own identity seems to be stigmatized as a result of being a marginalized member of society, how does that stigmatized identity impact one’s mental health? I’m particularly interested in the sense of self, and how it changes over time as it relates to one’s resilience and interpersonal relationships,” he said.

“If I were one of them, I might have given up hope a long time ago.”

DACA and the Sense of Self

Two years ago, Chen and GSE students conducted a research study, where they spent more than a year recruiting and interviewing a dozen undocumented Latinos who benefited from DACA. Their study focused on DREAMers’ experiences of self, their interpersonal relationships, and their future pursuits in the wake of DACA.

What Chen found was that although the DREAMers were relieved that they didn’t have to worry about being deported for the time being, that relief was tempered by an increased sense of responsibility for their parents as well as their siblings who remained undocumented.

“So it’s a mixed blessing. On one hand, they perceive their future to be brighter for them to pursue more educational and work opportunities. On the other hand, they now experience pressure from their undocumented family members to seek better-paying jobs,” Chen said.

Parents seemed to be the greatest source of support and motivation for DREAMers’ college pursuits, especially when they experienced feelings of hopelessness. With regard to gender roles, some participants felt conflicted in their need to take on household responsibilities and to pursue a higher education.

A Need That Is Greater Than Ever

Such studies are difficult to conduct, in part because of the time and effort it takes to recruit undocumented immigrants and earn their trust, said Chen. But the recent presidential election has made the work more important than ever, and Chen sees a greater need to translate an abstract concept like immigration into a narrative about flesh-and-blood individuals with dignity.

As someone who teaches future school counselors, mental health counselors, and psychologists, Chen said there’s a practical purpose as well—to encourage a dialogue that builds a connection through diversity.

“I want my students to be prepared when they work with DREAMers after they graduate, to have an empathic understanding of their struggles, to offer support, and to advocate for them rather than say, ‘Your family broke the law, and you should go back to your country.’ I don’t think that’s consistent with Fordham’s mission of social justice and respect [for]human dignity,” he said.

“Regardless of our personal views, I hope my research helps bridge the political divide by sharing DREAMers’ voices, fears, and their audacious hopes for the uncertain future. Hopefully and realistically, they’re going to continue to live among us, so let’s find a way to support them so they can fulfill their dreams and become productive members of our society.”