ENROLLMENT
GOAL: Develop Robust Admissions Strategies for Effective Recruitment of Students of Color to Fordham.

The Office of Undergraduate Admission continues to center diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of our admission and recruitment practices. By design, we are projecting to enroll a smaller entering class this fall of between 2400-2500.  As of mid-May, we were able to increase the percentage of domestic students of color in the class from 43% to 46%.  Additionally, international students increased from 7% to 9%.

• Asian-identifying students increased to 16% of this fall’s incoming class from 14% last year.
• Black-identifying students stand at 5% for the class of 2026 versus 7% for the class of 2025.
• Hispanic/Latinx-identifying students increased to 20% of the incoming class this year compared to 18% last year.
• The percentage of students identifying as more than one race increased to 5% this year compared to 4% last year.

To assist in the recruitment of such a talented group of students, the Office of Undergraduate Admission also continued participation in the National Recognition Program Scholarship program. These full tuition scholarships included the National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP), the National African American Recognition Program (NAARP), and for the first time, the National Indigenous Recognition Program (NIRP). For fall 2022:

• 184 NAARP Scholarships were awarded with 38 students enrolling;
• 281 NHRP Scholarships were awarded with 62 students enrolling;
• 19 NIRP Scholarships were awarded with 5 of those students enrolling.

The Office of Undergraduate Admission also offered programming specifically for admitted students of color. Sessions involved students, faculty, and administrators from various departments including the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Three events were held virtually on the topics of Finding Your Community, Academic Life, and Student Services. More than 200 students attended these events with 52% of those students enrolling. For the first time, two in-person Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging sessions were also held at Spring Preview. These in-person events featured a panel discussion with audience participation followed by a reception. Approximately 75 students and families attended at the Lincoln Center campus, and approximately 100 did so at the Rose Hill campus.

Fordham News

• The Faces of Fordham’s Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Med/Pre-Health Program
• Fordham Students Meet with Lawmakers to Make Case for Increased Funding
• Scholars and Donors Reception: ‘Thanksgiving in April’

HIRING
GOAL: Recruit and Retain a More Diverse Faculty, Administration, and Staff.

In support of the chief diversity officer’s equity advisor initiative, Human Resources is sponsoring fellowships for employees to complete the Advanced Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School.

Fordham News

• Convocation Celebrates Longtime Faculty and Staff

CURRICULUM
GOAL: Develop Curricular and Co-curricular Initiatives That Support the Imperative of Confronting Racism and Educating for Justice.

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer completed a review of twenty-five Teaching Race Across the Curriculum (TRAC) Grant proposals for AY 2022 -2023, ultimately funding eighteen of them, primarily in the School of Arts & Sciences, with grants also awarded to faculty in the Gabelli School of Business, and the Graduate School of Education. Seven of the grants will fund the continuation of current TRAC Grant projects that demonstrate special potential for sustainable impact.

Arts & Sciences DEI Events

• An Uneasy Embrace: Africa, India and the Spectre of Race | March 9 | Lincoln Center
• Decolonizing Anthropology presents Queer Fractals: Making Histories of Repair in Modern Jamaica | March 9 | Lincoln Center
• “I Wonder as I Wander”: AfroFrench Visuality and Black Spatiality in Contemporary France | March 10 | Zoom
• Reckoning with Slavery: Gender, Kinship, and Capitalism in the Early Black Atlantic | March 10 | 12 p.m. | Zoom
• Why Health Professions Need Fordham Students with Health Conditions and Disabilities | March 21 | 5:30-6:30 p.m. | Zoom
• Black Studies and Jewish Studies in Conversation: Bryan Roby, Blackness in Motion: The Centrality of Black Thought for Afro-Asian Jewry in Israel | March 22 | Zoom
• Disabilities of the Color Line: Redressing Antiblackness from Slavery to the Present | March 24 | Zoom
• The Racial Projects of “Latinx”: Lessons from Centring Artivisms and The Economies of Culture | March 28 | Lincoln Center
• What Would Ignatius Tweet? Jesuit Education, Political Polarization, and Today’s Controversies | March 28 | Zoom
• Shirley Geok-lin Lim Poetry Reading and Book Launch | March 28 | Zoom
• Distinguished Lecture on Disability – Nobody’s Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness | April 4| Zoom
• Sociology Anthropology Colloquium – Locating Racial Equity in Institutions’ of Higher Education Plans and Partnerships: The Case of the Illinois Equity in Attainment Initiative (ILEA) | April 6 | Zoom
• Disabilities of the Color Line: Redressing Antiblackness from Slavery to the Present | April 7 | | Zoom
• A Seminar of Digital Intimacies | April 7 | Lincoln Center
• The Study of Human Life: An Evening of Poetry and Prose with Professor and Artist Joshua Bennett | April 12 | Lincoln Center
• The MLL Vocab Diversity Initiative 2.0: “You Can’t Take My Language From Me” Roundtable | April 13 | Zoom
• Project FRESH Air Update | April 13 | Zoom
• The 3rd Annual Margaret Mead Lecture | April 21 | Zoom
• Book Talk: Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire | April 22 | Zoom
• Reid Writers of Color Series Presents: Renee Gladman | April 25 | Lincoln Center
• MLL Vocab Diversity Initiative 2.0 Roundtable: Linguistic Terrorism | April 27 | Zoom
• The Decolonizing Anthropology Project presents Diaspora on Trial: Obeah in the Americas | April 27 | Lincoln Center
• MLL Vocab Diversity Initiative 2.0 – Workshop on Bilingual Activism in Public Education: Creating an Action Plan & Design a Roadmap | April 28 | Zoom
• Melting Pots of Various Sizes: Jewish and Catholic Approaches to Americanization | May 4 | Zoom

Fordham News

• How One Fordham Grad Learned to Take Up Space and Work for Systemic Change
• Black History Month Lecture: Examining Art with ‘A Black Gaze’
• Grad Student Studies Impact of Social Media Discrimination on Adolescents of Color
• Biography of Trailblazing Fordham Law Grad Eunice Hunton Carter Earns PROSE Award
• Nationally Renowned Racial Justice Lawyer Addresses Anti-Asian Hate in Law School Lecture
• Fordham’s New Annual Theology Lecture to Host Scholars Who Address Racism
• The Impact of Racism and Environment on Students’ Sleep
• Teaching Theology to Women in Prison
• ‘What It Will Save Us’: MOSAIC Panel Addresses Environmental and Climate Justice
• New Group Connects FCLC Students with University Leadership
• Celebrated Anthropologist Explains Origin of Stigma at Disability Lecture
• Finding ‘Meaning, Purpose, and Hope’: Spirituality and Disability Symposium Explores Life Under New Culture

CAMPUS LIFE
GOAL: Create a More Welcoming and Affirming Campus.

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer hosted a virtual convening of faculty of color and allies on Wednesday, May 18, to plan gatherings and activities for the 2022-2023 academic year.

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer continues to partner with the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment and the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council to build Fordham’s DEI data infrastructure, focusing on student access, retention and success.

Fordham News]

• A Growing Network Supports First-Generation Students at Fordham
• Seniors Celebrate at Diversity Graduations

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
GOAL: Build Lasting Partnerships With Our Neighbors
GOAL: Amplify our Voice in Educating for Justice Beyond the Campus

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer co-sponsored the Bronx Summit 2022: All the Way Up, led by FCRH alumnus, Kevin Brooks, on Friday, May 13. The summit was held at the Andrew Freeman Home on the Grand Concourse, and was the culminating event of the borough’s Bronx Week 2022 Celebration.

Fordham News

• Fordham Teams Up with New York Giants, Local Partners to Help Families Impacted by Bronx Fire
• Errol Pierre Is Promoting Health Equity Through Mentorship, Education
• Friends from Distant Quarters: Celebrating Lunar New Year with Fordham’s Newest Alumni Group
• Fordham Launches ‘Visions of the Good’ for Bronx High School Students

ENROLLMENT
GOAL: Develop Robust Admissions Strategies for Effective Recruitment of Students of Color to Fordham.

Undergraduate Applicant Pool Updates
Building on last year’s success in enrolling the largest and most diverse class of students in Fordham’s history, the Office of Undergraduate Admission is continuing its efforts to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups in the entering class. Applications from students of color are up across all categories.

Our total applicant pool for early action, early decision, and regular decision for students who identify as Black has increased by 6% to 4,079 students. During notification for early action and early decision, offers of admission to Black students were also up 6% to 735 students. Applications for all three rounds for Hispanic-identifying students are up as well. Currently, that number stands at 8,993, an increase of 4%. Early action and early decision offers of admission for Hispanic students also increased by 7% to 1,973 students.

There has also been an increase in applications during EA, ED, and RD from students who identify as Asian. To date, these are up 11% to 6,867 students. Likewise, 1,843 Asian students have already been offered admission during early action and early decision, an increase of 19% from this time last year.

New Scholarship Opportunities
Fordham has expanded our National Recognition Scholarship eligibility. For the first time the scholarship is available for students who are National Indigenous Recognition Program designees. This program, sponsored by the College Board, is being added to our existing National African American and National Hispanic Recognition programs.  Students admitted with this scholarship receive full tuition.

Programming and Events
The Office of Undergraduate Admission is offering programming throughout the admission cycle providing content specifically for students of color, as well as first-generation, local, and HEOP students. To provide continued access, most of the events are being held virtually. A combined 412 students and guests already participated in seven of these  programs which were held in the fall. Additional programming is being planned for our admitted students this spring.

Professional Development
In October, the Enrollment Group held a DEI town hall featuring Rafael Zapata, chief diversity officer from the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer; Juan Carlos Matos, assistant vice president for student affairs for diversity and inclusion from the Office of Multicultural Affairs; and Corbin Wong, director of organizational development from the Department of Human Resources. Representatives from the offices of Academic Records, Enrollment Services, Enrollment Research, Enrollment Technology, Student Financial Services, and  Undergraduate Admission participated. Additionally, Undergraduate Admission continued its engagement in DEI-related professional development opportunities through programs such as Linked-in Learning as well as the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s Antiracist Education Institute.

Fordham News

• In New Group, First-Generation Students Connect and Find Support

HIRING
GOAL: Recruit and Retain a More Diverse Faculty, Administration, and Staff.

Mandatory Student Affairs Divisional Training Day for Staff

• December 3, 2021: Universal Design: Intersections of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Disability and Accessibility
• Presentation/Training from the NYC Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities as the day’s keynote session

CURRICULUM
GOAL: Develop Curricular and Co-curricular Initiatives That Support the Imperative of Confronting Racism and Educating for Justice.

On January 27, Rafael Zapata, chief diversity officer, and Anne Fernald, Ph.D., special assistant to the provost for faculty development, convened the recipients of 2021-2022 Teaching Race Across the Curriculum (TRAC) Grants for a robust discussion on progress and challenges and provided ongoing support.

OMA completed training for the LGBTQ and Ally Network of Support and the Racial Solidarity Network cohorts for the fall, with the LGBTQ network wrapping up 2021 with over 1,000 community members that have participated since that program’s creation in Spring 2010. These two signature network programs invite students, faculty, and staff to engage in an interactive 5-hour workshop which has been offered in multiple formats during the fall: two days in person – 2.5 hours each, one 5-hour day in person, and one 5-hour day virtually. Participants are also added to a Blackboard organization with a variety of resources to supplement the workshop.

The spring Racial Solidarity Network has continued to be offered in February and anyone interested in joining this semester can click here to register. Participants can select to attend on either February 15 and 22, or February 16 and 23.

Fordham News

• Students GO! to the Bronx and Beyond Under a New Learning Model
• The Liberation of Music and Religion: Q&A with Theology Professor Rufus Burnett Jr.

CAMPUS LIFE
GOAL: Create a More Welcoming and Affirming Campus.

February 1 at 6 p.m.: the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer is co-sponsoring an event featuring journalist and creator of the 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and hosted by Fordham Law School, titled: Speaking Truth to Power: A Conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones. Click here to register.

February 3 at 6 p.m., the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer is co-sponsoring an event hosted by the Department of African & African American Studies, featuring Tina Campt, Ph.D., Brown University, presenting her new book A Black Gaze: Artists Changing How We See. Click here to register.

February 9 (time TBD): the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer is co-sponsoring a virtual event featuring eminent philosopher and theologian Cornel West, Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary. The event is being hosted by the FCRH student organization ASILI: The Black Student Alliance. Specific details are forthcoming.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) cultural committees hosted a series of events for both LGBTQ History Month in October and Native American and Indigenous People’s History Month in November. Some of the events included the signature LGBTQ “Flags on the Lawn” program held at both Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, and the 5th Annual Native American Festival on November 20.

In celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, OMA held Masses and receptions at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center on December 10 in collaboration with Campus Ministry, Student Involvement at Lincoln Center, the Center for Community Engaged Learning, and the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer. While connecting with Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders, both events were able to invite a mariachi band to provide music during the Mass in addition to assistance with interactive paper flower making during tabling the days before the event. If you are interested in learning more about Our Lady of Guadalupe’s significance and history, please view this video recorded by Juan Aguirre, Director of Mano a Mano.

The OMA slate of events for Martin Luther King Week 2022 (January 18 through 24) included a screening of King in the Wilderness, interactive tabling, and a social media campaign on Instagram.

Lunar New Year Week 2022 (January 31 through February 4) will consist of interactive tabling, a “Food Crawl” in New World Mall, and a movie screening of The Joy Luck Club: Rose Hill, McGinley Commons; Lincoln Center, South Lounge: 6:30 p.m.

Black History Month 2022 events include speakers, movie and trivia nights, and “Love Your Hair Expo” series of programs which will include a virtual panel and interactive tabling with self-care giveaways highlighting Black-owned businesses: Thursday, February 24: Virtual Panel 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., and in-person tabling from 12 to 2 p.m.

Please follow OMA’s various Instagram accounts to stay up to date on upcoming events
@fordhamOMA, @blackhistoryatfordham, @fordhamAAPI

Fordham News

• Black History Month Events
• Lunar New Year Events
• Asian American Writing Group Expands to Lincoln Center
• Fordham Panelists Explore Latin American Roots and How to Define Themselves
• LGBTQ Hudson Valley Retreat to Offer Fall Foliage and Spirituality

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
GOAL: Build Lasting Partnerships With Our Neighbors
GOAL: Amplify our Voice in Educating for Justice Beyond the Campus

Fordham News

• Fordham Partners with Bronx School to Revive Playground
• Fordham Students and Professors Document History of Immigrant Families in East Harlem

Though her last post was focused on residential students, she said she has always attempted to break down perceived and literal walls that separated commuter students from residents.

“We want to make sure students feel a part of the fabric of the University and Lincoln Center in particular, so we have engaged in more commuter-friendly timelines for activities,” she said. She’s also made a concerted effort to develop a “commuter affiliates program” that allows commuter students to visit their residential friends during certain hours with relative ease. There will, of course, continue to be events that cater to the residential community as well.

Campbell said that recent renovations and ongoing plans for physical spaces in and around the Lincoln Center campus have created opportunities for the student community to mix and grow organically, not just through events and clubs. Now chance encounters occur at Argo Café, the lounge areas of the sixth-floor hallway, and in the study space at Quinn Library, to name just a few spots.

Diversity as an Asset to be Maintained

Lincoln Center’s diverse student body is one of its great strengths, she said, not just for that campus but for the entire University. Campbell continues to work closely with the Office of Multicultural Affairs to train her staff and student leadership on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

“We are very intentional about making certain that students have the toolkits available so they can have those conversations,” she said.

Student mentors and resident assistants go through a series of modules including diversity, equity, and inclusion two weeks prior to the start of the semester and then continue similar training throughout the entire school year, she said.

Campbell’s office has also made an intentional effort to recruit students of color to become residential assistants and first-year mentors. She noted that she often draws from the diverse group of commuter students for these posts. Most commuter students weren’t aware of these because they simply couldn’t afford to live on campus, she said. However, stipends and scholarships have provided a pathway for them to move into the residence halls and become resident assistants. And they can be residential or commuter student mentors regardless of where they live.

“We now have an increased number of student leaders of color that reside on campus to make certain that students from all communities that live here feel supported,” she said.

She noted that diversity isn’t just about race; students also hold a diversity of interests, which can be tapped into in the variety of clubs and activities on offer at the college. She said she also stays in constant communication with departments that mirror her own department’s diverse community-building programs, such as Campus Ministry.

“One of my former resident assistants identified as a Muslim and he got involved through Campus Ministry to go on a retreat, and it changed his life,” she said. “He was able to understand Catholicism and Judaism and what that meant to who he was as a Muslim.”

Bouncing Back From Time Apart

Campbell said that without question, the pandemic presented steep challenges to fostering community, even though about two-thirds of Fordham’s residential students chose to return when the halls reopened.

“In the coming year, I think our goal will be to reach out to those students who were here and those who were not, because regardless they’ve experienced a lot of trauma and we need to provide a level of support to get them engaged and offer counseling if they need it,” she said.

For that effort she’s been working closely with Counseling and Psychological Services.

“This year it’ll be about getting accustomed to each other because they’ve been away from each other for so long.”

Personal Experience of Fordham Community

Campbell is preparing for the new semester by reading history books and vacationing with family in Maryland. She’s spent a bulk of her academic career in that region; she earned her bachelor’s at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where she majored in business and sociology, and later got her master’s in counseling at Trinity Washington University. It was there that she began to think of a career in academia.

“I believe that you bring into existence the things in your life that you want to have happened,” she said. “I was living in D.C. in 1990 and was talking to a colleague and friend, Tom Ellett, who was talking about the cohort experience of getting his doctorate at Fordham. And I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to do that one day.”

It was fortuitous, she said, that she moved back near her hometown of Newark, New Jersey, in 2003, which eventually led to a job offer at Fordham in 2007. She later earned her Ed.D. at Fordham’s Graduate School of Education. She also got to be close to home at a difficult time.

“God put me in this area for a reason, because two years [after moving back to Newark]I found out that my mom had lung cancer,” she said. Campbell lost her mother in 2009, and within a year and a half, she also lost her grandmother and her aunt. Losing the three most significant women in her life while she navigated her new job at Fordham made her realize that Fordham didn’t just talk the talk of community.

“I can’t tell you how I felt when I saw those Fordham vans show up with my colleagues and students to support me at my mother’s funeral just two years into my time here. They could have sent flowers or a card,” she said.

She wiped a tear and continued.

“From that experience, I really do embrace the fact that care for the whole person really does happen here,” she said.

“Diversity and excellence are not contradictory values, they are values that go together,” he says.

The April 29 event was the deans’ second forum for alumni on their commitment to furthering the University’s action plan for addressing racism and educating for justice. Fordham announced the plan in June 2020 after nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice prompted members of the Fordham community to describe their own experiences of discrimination on campus.

“We’re asking hard questions, addressing proposals that have come forward, and moving forward indeed with hope and confidence into a future … that is marked by greater inclusivity, greater diversity, and greater commitment shared to building a much more just world as we educate for justice and seek to eradicate racism,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, in opening remarks.

Father McShane and the four deans were joined by moderator Valerie Irick Rainford, FCRH ’86, a Fordham trustee who is spearheading anti-racism training efforts within the University, and Rafael Zapata, Fordham’s chief diversity officer.

The panelists spoke of changes underway in the curriculum, recruitment of faculty and students, new programs, and other efforts to embed anti-racism in the University and effect permanent change.

“For students to come here from different backgrounds, it is vitally important that they feel that this institution represents them, that they do not feel like … they are here on sort of sufferance, that they feel that their communities are a part and parcel of what makes Fordham tick, what makes Fordham an excellent place,” said Tyler Stovall, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Faculty Diversity, Community Connections

Stovall emphasized the importance of forging links between the University and the diverse, vibrant communities surrounding the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses. Zapata noted current efforts like a collaboration with the Bronx Book Festival and a speaker series focused on Bronx writers facilitated by faculty. “We are an institution of this wonderful borough, and I think that’s something we need to talk about a little bit more,” he said.

In efforts to diversify the faculty, Eva Badowska, Ph.D., dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and associate vice president for arts and sciences, said 50% of the arts and sciences faculty members recruited to begin this academic year are people of color. In addition, Fordham announced the creation of the Margaret Peil Distinguished Chair in African and African American Studies and is currently recruiting for a newly created postdoctoral fellowship in critical race studies in the sociology and anthropology department, as well as a new position in the English department—a rhetoric specialist—to support the faculty’s work on revising the composition program toward anti-racist learning objectives and pedagogy.

Arts and Sciences also announced the creation of a new affiliate program in African and African American studies to elevate that department’s visibility and foster an interdisciplinary approach to anti-racism, Badowska said. Fifteen faculty members across departments have committed to joining the initiative.

On the point of hiring diverse faculty, Rainford noted that “once you hire those individuals, I think it’s also about inclusion and access.”

Stovall said a newly formed group of Fordham faculty members of color would be meeting soon to discuss diversity among faculty and at the University generally. “I think these leaders are going to have an awful lot to say, and it’s going to be up to us to listen,” he said.

He pointed out the importance of integration, “one of the terms we tend not to talk about.”

“Ultimately, what we are all about in this endeavor is producing an integrated educational experience and ultimately an integrated society,” he said. “Study after study has shown, in despite of people’s fears of integration, that actually integrated education benefits not just students of color but all students, and makes them stronger students.”

“This is a major pathway towards the ultimate goal of Fordham University,” he said.

Zapata said his office is offering a grant program titled Teaching Race Across the Curriculum to help academic departments integrate questions of race within their courses, particularly those that all students take.

“Students want to see themselves in the people that teach them, that they encounter throughout [the University], but they also want to see themselves in the curriculum. They’ve talked a lot about that,” he said.

Expanding Scholarship and Internship Opportunities

Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, pointed to the Office of Undergraduate Admission’s “above-and-beyond” efforts to increase diversity among incoming students. Changes this year include an effort “to appreciate and value a wider range of student experiences in the admissions process,” she said, as well as new events for prospective students of color who would be part of the fall 2021 entering class.

Also important, Auricchio said, is the recently created Trustee Diversity Scholarship Fund, which grew out of a scholarship fund that Rainford founded. “Before we could even announce it, we were starting to get donations,” Rainford said.

A new Cultural Engagement Internships program, funded by Fordham College at Lincoln Center and Fordham College at Rose Hill, has created paid internships that place students with New York nonprofits and cultural organizations that mostly serve communities of color or advance the work of anti-racism. “This opens up the internship opportunities to students who might not otherwise be able to afford” to take unpaid internships, Auricchio said.

And diversity in the yearlong Matteo Ricci Seminar for high-achieving students on both campuses has grown by opening it up to all students who want to apply, rather than relying on a select pool of students recommended by faculty, she said; she also cited the importance of bringing on Assistant Dean Mica McKnight, a woman of color, as co-leader for the Fordham College at Lincoln Center program.

Supporting Students

In other efforts on the undergraduate level, Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, said administrators on both campuses are developing a program to support first-generation students—61% of whom are students of color—and their families as the students navigate college life. At Rose Hill, the college is expanding access to undergraduate research opportunities by developing a one-credit course on the ins and outs of conducting research, such as developing a proposal and finding a mentor, Mast said.

“It’s … so important that we intentionally support students as they are and who they are, when they get to Fordham and when they’re at Fordham—that we are transparent and effective in this work,” she said.

In a culmination of longstanding efforts to increase diversity in the college’s Honors Program, 60% of students offered admission this year are either BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or people of color) or first-generation students, Mast said.

The University has also secured a planning grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to join a national learning community aimed at building capacity for developing inclusive, equitable, anti-racist approaches to STEM education—in first-year “gateway” courses, in particular—to support students who are underrepresented in these fields, she said.

The panelists took questions, including one about why the University doesn’t have an Asian American studies program with a major and minor offered. Badowska said she had met with members of the faculty—which would have to propose any new program, according to University statutes—about surveying the existing classes and resources to see what might be offered immediately while they work on developing a program.

“It is the curriculum that reveals who we are, and it is our academic programs that say we’re an anti-racist university or we are not an anti-racist university,” she said. “So that’s one of the reasons why an Asian American studies program is so critical for us to develop at this moment.”

Eradicating Racism

In response to another question—“Do you really believe that racism can be eradicated at Fordham?”—Rainford spoke of a long-term effort.

“There are some that still believe that racism doesn’t exist,” said Rainford, who is Black. “But the fact of the matter is, it’s in the fabric of everything in the country.”

“It will take time and effort, and we will not eradicate racism in our lifetime, but we certainly can help advance racial equity,” such as through the efforts the deans described, she said.

Zapata responded, “It’s going to take courage, the courage to … listen to the experiences of people who don’t always feel they have a chance to voice their experiences.”

Stovall said, “We currently live in a world where scientists are literally talking about creating human immortality in less than a century. So in that kind of world, I think all sorts of things are possible, including eradicating racism.”

Hurdles to Surmount

Asked about obstacles the University faces, Mast mentioned funding—for staffing, on-campus housing, and financial aid, for instance.

Badowska spoke of the challenges that would be inherent in changing the University’s culture to a point where everyone in the arts and sciences community would possess the five competencies that the deans have proposed:

• Knowledge about racism, white privilege, and related topics;
• Self-knowledge and a commitment to self-work and continuous learning in these areas;
• Commitment to disrupting microaggressions and racist dynamics in the classroom, the workplace, and beyond;
• Commitment to systemic change through examining policies and practices to make sure they support racial equity; and
• Reimagined community and allyship, or a capacity to form equitable partnerships and alliances across racial lines.

“We know that we have a long road before we can say that everyone has these five capacities, but we’ve identified them,” she said.

The event drew 64 attendees, nearly all of whom stayed nearly a half-hour beyond the event’s one-hour allotted time.

“That, I think, shows the great hunger and thirst that the people of Fordham have for this great work that we’re about together,” Father McShane said. “One of the things we have to remind ourselves is that this is a beginning, and that’s an important observation and an important thing for us to own. We have a long journey ahead of us, but we are up for it and will keep at it.”

“We wanted to get into quality education, the ability to move around the city in our communities, the ability to get jobs, get paid, live in the community, get married, have children. And I think … we realized we could make a difference if we did it ourselves.”

These words come from Judith “Judy” Heumann, a 72-year-old pioneer of the disability rights movement recently featured in TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Heumann reflected on her life of activism at Fordham’s fifth annual Distinguished Lecture on Disability, “The Disability Rights Movement: Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, and Where We Need to Go,” in a Zoom webinar on Oct. 14. 

A Five-Year-Old ‘Fire Hazard’ Girl

Heumann became New York City public schools’ first teacher in a wheelchair after winning a landmark court case. She helped spearhead the passage and implementation of federal civil rights legislation for disabled people, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504, a federal law that prevents discrimination against individuals with disabilities. She also served in various leadership roles, including the World Bank’s first adviser on disability and development and the first special adviser for international disability rights under the Obama administration. In recent years, she has been working to change the portrayals of disabled people in the media as a senior fellow for the Ford Foundation. 

At the beginning of the webinar, she recalled that when she was a five-year-old girl with polio, the principal of a local school told her she couldn’t attend classes because she was a “fire hazard.”

“As I was getting older and meeting other disabled people, in my special ed classes and then at camp, it was becoming very apparent that we were facing discrimination without any real group of people speaking up against discrimination,” said Heumann, who had joined students earlier that day for a Q&A about the recent film Crip Camp, which featured the stories of disabled teens—including Heumann—at camp in the 1970s and their role in igniting the disabilities civil rights movement.

In that same period, she said, she also saw scores of people on TV standing up for civil and women’s rights across the country. They inspired her to lead demonstrations, start new organizations, and use legislation to fight discrimination directed toward the disability community, all while working closely with the community, religious leaders, and labor unions.

“All [these]types of activities were what enabled congressional representatives and U.S. senators to understand that the discrimination that disabled people were facing was not something that happened once in a while,” Heumann said. “It happened in every community, in every state—and it happened regularly.” 

Ongoing Obstacles for the Disability Community

In the wake of much progress, the disability community continues to struggle, said Heumann. Many Americans don’t realize they have a disability protected by law; others face stigmas and repercussions related to their disability, she said. There is a disproportionate number of disabled individuals in juvenile and adult facilities—people who may not have ended up in prison if they’d received “appropriate services along the way.” There isn’t enough money being dedicated to education for both nondisabled children and disabled children on local, state, and countrywide levels, she said, and many teachers-in-training at colleges and universities are not taught how to teach students in inclusive settings. 

Toward the end of the evening, the moderator of the event, Navena Chaitoo, FCRH ’13, a research manager at New York City mayor’s office of criminal justice, asked Heumann how people could take specific steps to help the disability community. 

“We’re talking about stronger parent training programs. We’re talking about better programs in universities for teachers, principals, and superintendents,” Heumann said. “We’re talking about our local school boards. Who are the people that you’re electing? … Are they fighting for you and your kids with disabilities?” 

“It all gets, to me, back to voting and knowing the people who are running for office and being more demanding and working collaboratively together.”

‘We Need to Normalize This’

In a Q&A, an audience member asked Heumann how society could lower stigmas around “invisible disabilities” like mental illness. 

“You look at Covid right now, and we’re talking about people having increased anxiety, increased depression, other mental health disabilities, and our inability to speak about this is both harmful to the individual person, to the family, and to the community at large. And so I think like with each category of disabled people, we need to normalize this,” Heumann said. She added that that specific movement needs to be led by people who have psychosocial disabilities themselves, like Andrew Imparato, executive director at Disability Rights California, who has openly spoken about his experience with bipolar disorder. She emphasized that we need to listen to people’s experiences and try our best to understand them. Lastly, she noted the importance of advocacy across generations and for youths, including students, to stand up for themselves. 

“Most importantly is allowing people the space and giving people the protections that they need,” Heumann said. “We have 61 million disabled people in the United States. If 5 million of us on a regular basis were speaking up and speaking out, it would have an amazing impact.” 

The live Zoom lecture, which featured two American Sign Language interpreters and live captioning, comes under two key initiatives on disability at Fordham: the disability studies minor and the research consortium on disability. The event was organized by the Faculty Working Group on Disability and co-sponsored by the offices of the provost and chief diversity officer, the Graduate School of Education, the School of Law, the Gabelli School of Business, the Graduate School of Social Service, and the departments of economics and English. 

Watch the full webinar in the video below: 

The forum was the Social Innovation Collaboratory’s third Our Story event, where, in addition to letting people in on their own lives, students aimed to confront biases and build community in a safe environment.

“This is a chance for students to share uninterrupted stories, share authentically, and share truthful stories from their life,” said Julia Gagliardi, a storytelling mentor and one of the founding members of Our Story at Fordham.

Before the student storytellers spoke, the audience was urged to leave their expectations at the door, suspend judgment, and, most importantly, observe deep confidentiality. The evening event was designed to provide a safe space, with story “details lingering only in our hearts and minds—not be shared after the event,” explained Carey Weiss, director of sustainability initiatives and social innovation.

The theme of the evening was “Caught off Guard.” Students told stories about when they had felt surprised, uncertain, terrified, and/or transformed. The storytellers candidly reflected on their personal struggles, past relationships, and the lessons they learned.

One of them mentioned that last summer, she watched the Pixar movie Inside Out five times. It taught her something special:

“It’s okay to be sad. These feelings—the hard feelings that no one wants to confront, of sadness, fear, anger, disgust—no one talks about those, but those are very, very real parts of life that you need to make you who you are,” said Shelby Daniel, FCRH ’20, a journalism major.

At the end of the night, students were asked to reflect on what they had just heard, summarize their feelings in one or two words on a Post-it, and stick the notes on a wall in the back of the room. By 8 p.m., more than 100 colorful squares covered the wall. Students had scribbled dozens of words: uplifting, touched, humbling, self-aware, affirmed, emotionally spent. One person wrote the word “catharsis,” surrounded by a heart. “Everyone has the strength, even if they don’t say it,” said another.  

“Them making themselves vulnerable in front of so many people, and sharing those personal parts about themselves—things you would never really know about them from a normal conversation or a normal pass by—definitely hits a nerve,” said Max Lynch, GABELLI ’19, who has worked with the Social Innovation Collaboratory since his first year at Fordham.

Abby Monaco, FCRH ’21, said she teared up throughout the evening.

“In some form, in some way, all of the speakers connected to each of us,” said Monaco. “Every one of their stories—I felt something similar had occurred in my life, or something I knew happened in somebody else’s.”

This spring semester, the Social Innovation Collaboratory plans on hosting another storytelling session.

“Storytelling is a critical piece of changemaking,” concluded Rosemary McCormack, a storytelling mentor and founding member of the Our Story team, in her closing speech. “It’s not just something that we should do once a semester. Stories can create much larger impact on our society as a whole.”

This year’s speaker, Haben Girma, is a lawyer and an advocate for equal opportunities for people with disabilities. She is also the first deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School.

During her talk, titled “Disability & Innovation: The Universal Benefits of Inclusion,” Girma was able to gauge audience response with the help of interpreters in the audience who sent messages from wireless keyboards that output to a braille display on Girma’s keyboard, which she used throughout the evening.

In this way, Girma knew when the audience failed to respond to her opening greeting—which she joked about and then was able to register the ensuing laughter. Audience members were able to use the same system to ask her questions at the end of the lecture. Because Girma has some hearing in high frequencies, she is able to speak and pronounce clearly in a high range.

Throughout her talk, which took place on April 11 on the Rose Hill campus, Girma stressed the importance of using innovation to create unique solutions to eliminate barriers for people with disabilities.

“There are alternative ways of doing things, and alternative techniques are equal in value to mainstream techniques,” she said.

She noted that today there are many tools for making the world and its information more accessible, including screen readers for computer displays, captioning and transcripts for videos and podcasts, and text image descriptions for photos and other visual material.

But while technology is important for enabling inclusion, Girma added that it’s people who must initiate change.

“Access is all about communities, and communities choosing to be inclusive,” she said.

For Girma, whose father is from Ethiopia and whose mother fled from war in Eritrea, creating more positive stories around the concept of disability is key.

“As the daughter of refugees, a black woman, disabled—lots of stories say my life doesn’t matter. I choose to create my own stories. I choose to define what disability means,” she said.

“To me, disability is a powerful word. I associate it with civil rights, with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). I’m proud to be part of the community that advocated for and obtained a powerful civil rights law.”

Girma was spurred into advocacy as an undergraduate when the cafeteria at her small college in Portland, Oregon, refused her request to convert their printed menu into a version accessible to blind people.

After trying to tolerate the situation for several months—and facing several unwelcome surprises in food selections—she spoke to friends who reminded her she could choose to take action.

“It’s our choice to accept unfairness or advocate for justice,” she said.

She reapproached the cafeteria manager, framing her request as a civil rights issue, and citing that the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

This time, the cafeteria agreed to make the change, and when a new blind student entered the school the following year, he didn’t have to fight for an accessible menu.

“That made me realize that when I advocate, it benefits our whole community, and I wanted to make that into a career,” Girma said.

Traveling the world as a consultant and public speaker, she now encourages others to look around their communities, identify barriers, and make a commitment to doing at least one thing to create more accessibility for people with disabilities.

To kick-start these efforts at Fordham, attendees were given small slips of paper and Girma asked everyone to write down one specific change needed on campus to foster more inclusion. The event organizers then collected their ideas.

“When you choose inclusion, you role model inclusion for people and encourage others to do the same,” she said.

Girma’s lecture was organized by the Faculty Working Group on Disability and co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, the Global Healthcare Innovation Management Center, the Office of the Dean of the Law School, the English Department, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

–Nina Heidig

A video of the lecture, with captioning available, is below.

Indeed, many of the participants at the conference, which included students, business executives, and government leaders, sought to continue that correction by expanding the definition of diversity to go beyond race and ethnicity in what Father McShane called a “very conflicted” nation.

“I reflect with you on the day that we have this gathering, because when we look back and listen with fresh hearts and ears to what he said, we touch base with his dream, which is the American dream corrected,” said Father McShane. “This is an inflection moment in our history once again,” he said.

Expanding the Definition of Diversity

Martha Jackson, assistant commissioner at the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, stressed the importance of making students aware of their role in effecting positive change.

“The students are our future and if we have any chance of getting it right, it’s with them,” she said. “They’re going to be the ones who create the change in the systems and make diversity first in everybody’s mind.”

Maria Aponte, assistant director of global diversity and inclusion at Fordham, said the conference was organized to help students become aware of companies that offer major diversity programing. NBC sent six members from their diversity team, while several representatives from Bronx arts and community organizations, including Niño de la Caridad, En Foco, and The Point, served as panelists.

“We need to develop skills to care for each other and that has to go to the workforce,” said Aponte.

Stephen J. Casey, a managing director at BNP Paribas in North America, noted that diversity isn’t always easily perceived. He said diversity includes people who have disabilities that are “invisible,” like those on the autism spectrum.

“You have people dealing with mental health issues and it’s not always apparent,” he said.

He added that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities in the New York area stands at an “appalling” 77 percent.

“Something needs to be done,” he said. “People with disabilities have amazing talents and a number of firms are actively seeking them out.”

Inclusion as a Business Strategy

Anthony Carter, FCRH ’76, a member of the President’s Council, agreed that diversity makes good business sense. Carter, a retired chief diversity officer at Johnson & Johnson, sits on the University’s Task Force on Diversity. He called diversity “the gorgeous mosaic of different cultures and backgrounds, sexual orientation, geographies, and religion.”

“Diversity is who we are and inclusion is how we work together,” he said. “Diversity is a business imperative. But, to get the brightest and the best you have to invest.”

As such, he said that any major organization, such as a university, needs to create an environment that “celebrates differences and similarities,” adding that just as in business, investment at Fordham is key to reaching the University’s goals and objectives.

“If the university is looking at diverse students who they can potentially bring to this organization, it requires an investment,” he said. “When we look at the Faith and Hope campaign for example, we’ll need to look at how that scholarship money will be disbursed so we can capture all elements of that gorgeous mosaic.”

Liying Wei, a first-year student from New Jersey, was one of more than 175 students attending the event. She said her family moved to the U.S. from China when she was four years old. The main reason she came to Fordham was to live in New York City where “there’s people from all over the world.”

“Even though Fordham can seem to be its own little bubble inside the Bronx, I was really surprised to see how many different cultures and international students we have here,” she said. “We need to continue opening up scholarship opportunities for people from all sorts of backgrounds, especially for the disadvantaged.”

Anne Fernald, Ph.D., acting associate dean of the arts and sciences and professor of English and women’s studies, organized the Jan. 11 event to help Fordham faculty better address the curricular and instructional needs of students with disabilities such as hearing loss, blindness, learning disabilities, and psychological disorders.

“There is a lot that professors can learn from their students,” said Fernald, who believes that universal design learning techniques can transform pedagogy for today’s students.

“The goal is to help professors feel excited and comfortable about all of the different abilities and experiences that exist in their classrooms.”

Among the workshop’s attendees was Rafael Zapata, Fordham’s first chief diversity officer.

“There are so many ways that we can signal to students that who they are matters to us,” he said.

“As a community, we want to be supportive of them as much as possible to help them realize their potential.”

Creating an Access Statement  

Rebecca Sanchez, Ph.D., an associate professor of English whose research focuses on transatlantic modernism, disability studies, and poetics, said one of the first steps educators can take to show students that they are invested in their success is to include an access statement in their syllabi.

The statement generally notes that there are different ways to access class materials, take exams, and participate in classroom activities.

“By creating your own access statement, you’re suggesting to disabled students that their arrival in your class does not constitute some kind of crisis for you, or is the first time you’ve thought about disability,” she said.

Showcasing Diverse Representations

Using an excerpt from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2009 TED talk about the dangers of a single story, Alessia Valfredini, Ph.D., professor of modern language and literatures, encouraged attendees to be proactive and intentional about representations of ability and disability in their coursework. Whenever possible, coursework should showcase a variety of human experiences and perspectives.

“Our courses are a reflection of the world as we see it,” said Valfredini, who contributed via a transcribed video. “By presenting a certain type of class, we make a statement about who the legitimate actors in the work are.”

Using Technology

Lindsay Karp, a senior instructional technologist at the Lincoln Center campus, presented examples of how technology can take pedagogy to the next level. Her suggestions included making file names descriptive and specific, condensing URLs, using fonts and font sizes that are easier to read, and incorporating a table of contents in long text. She also suggested using subtitles and captions.

“Captions are not just fantastic for  [students] who are hard of hearing, but also for foreign students who are learning the language,” she said.

Reinforcing Learning

Carla Romney, Ph.D., associate dean for STEM and pre-health education at Fordham College at Rose Hill, argued for presenting materials in multiple modes.

She makes her lectures available in a video format and uses YouTube to create closed captioning. Students then take turns editing the captions.

“Making  [students] listen to the lessons twice and having them transcribe it is another means of reinforcing their learning,” she said.

Providing Options

Whether it be offering structured assignments or giving students an open-ended project, providing students with different variations of assignments may spark creativity and inspire them to take ownership of their work.

“Not everyone is interested in knowledge in the same way,” said Orit Avishai, Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology. “People learn differently and have different kinds of preferences.”

Prioritizing Community Building

Creating opportunities for group work and community building can be especially transformative.

“Very often the people who are doing the work of supporting our students are other students in  [our] courses,” said Badr Albanna, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurophysics.

“The more work you can do to make that possible, accessible, and easy for students to do, that can have a tremendous impact on all students, and particularly for students whose needs you may not be aware of.”

Everyone has a story to tell.

That was the message of the Social Innovation Collaboratory’s first-ever Our Story event. The storytelling event, held on Nov. 15 at the Rose Hill campus, gave five Fordham students a unique opportunity to share powerful stories about their lives in a safe, empathetic, and empowering environment.

“I think that we can be so accustomed to putting our own perspectives outward that we don’t take the time to genuinely listen to someone else’s perspectives,” said social entrepreneur Charlotte Vitak, the founder of the public storytelling initiative, My Story. Vitak worked with the Fordham Social Innovation team to organize their own storytelling event. “It’s a moment to kind of sit back and reflect.”

The personal stories were as diverse as they were thought-provoking: One student shared her experience struggling to find herself as a refugee while another student recounted a family tragedy that helped him to explore the healing power of forgiveness.

Sally Brander, a Fordham College at Rose Hill sophomore, shared her experiences as a Korean American adoptee grappling with the pressures of exceptionalism.

“It’s natural to think that someone may be better than you, but I don’t think [exceptionalism]should be a constant pressure,” she said. “In the same way that I can be an incredible person, I also give myself permission to be average.”

For Sheron Cyrus, a U.S. Army veteran and senior at the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS), sharing his experiences with PTSD was therapeutic.

“There are a lot of people coming back from conflict zones that need help,” he said. “Mental health is a part of total health so it’s an ongoing battle.”

At the end of the event, students were asked to write down words on a Post-it note that described their impressions of the event and what they gained from hearing each other’s stories. They then posted their notes on a wall in the back of the room.

Joe Zoyhofski, a Gabelli School first-year student, wrote down the word, “awareness.”

“I probably crossed paths with many of these people, and I would have never imagined that they were struggling with so much,” he said.

Carey Weiss, director of sustainability initiatives and social innovation, said the goal of Our Story was to create empathy and solidarity in the Fordham community, especially in moments when students face setbacks or become overwhelmed by college life.

“As we try to create a diverse and inclusive environment for students, events like this help us to create a bridge and connect on a deeper level.”