“The court is careful to say that it’s limited to the circumstances in this case. Remember, this is a case that is principally about Chinese influence and control over the consumer, the information consumers get, and the data harvesting of U.S. consumers. So if you limit it to that, which is what the court tries to be careful on, it doesn’t reach as broadly. 

“The focus of the opinion is on the data harvesting of consumers’ information. Even though the plaintiffs argued that what Congress was really focused on was the content manipulation concern, … they also made the data harvesting argument, and this is what the court seized on.”

“[The court] said this is not a content-based regulation … and it is addressed to the concern that Congress had about the collection of consumer information. Now, that raises the kind of questions many of us ask about all the apps that collect information about consumers as a matter of course. It’s not just TikTok: it’s Instagram, it’s Facebook, it’s it’s X. So I guess this might give some of these companies some pause. I think the court tries to be careful about the limit, the scope of this, and focus on the threat from China and a foreign adversary.”

“This is addressed not just to ByteDance. This is also addressed to the app stores and to cloud servers. They too would be potentially in sights of a DOJ action, so Trump could sign an executive order that says, let’s not do anything. But, you know, I think if I’m a company that is impacted by this law, I would still be worried.”

“People have been reporting that Trump might sign an executive order that demands or requires DOJ [to]stand down, that they not enforce.

“People say that Trump may extend the deadline by 90 days. I don’t know if that is possible, though, because the statute requires that there be a deal on the table for that extension to be effective. There has been no deal on the table, even though people have talked about such a thing. So Trump would have to unilaterally extend the 90 days, without the requirements set out by the statute. So, you know, I’m not sure that is possible. What Trump could do is try to get Congress to repeal the law or write some different law. 

“In terms of unilateral action, I’m not sure that there is much that he could do other than an executive order.”

ASIF SIDDIQI
50 Years Ago, a Forgotten Mission Landed on Mars
Discover Magazine 12-1-21
“The Soviet space program was under a lot of pressure in the 1960s to achieve ‘firsts,’” says Asif Siddiqi, a Fordham University history professor who’s penned multiple books on the Soviet side of the space race.

CHERYL BADER
Rittenhouse Verdict Sparks Split Reactions, Fears of Vigilantism
Bloomberg.com 11-19-21
“I am afraid that as people are empowered by this verdict to weaponize the public spaces, we will see more fatalities,” said Cheryl Bader, a former assistant U.S. attorney and associate clinical professor at Fordham University School of Law.

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT
‘I Want to Be a 21st-Century Trustbuster’: Zephyr Teachout on Her Run for A.G.
New York Magazine 11-24-21
Teachout is currently a professor at Fordham Law School, where she specializes in constitutional and antitrust law.

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

Capital Campaign Watch: Dickinson, Fordham, Springfield, Tulane
Inside Higher Ed 11-22-21
Fordham University has announced a campaign to raise $350 million, probably by 2024. The university has raised $170 million so far.

Museum of American Finance to Present Virtual Panel on “SPACs: The New IPO?”
BusinessWire 11-30-21
“SPACs: The New IPO?” is sponsored by Citadel Securities and Vinson & Elkins. It is presented in partnership with the Fordham University Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis.

Study Abroad Programs Reopen To Eager College Students
Gothamist.com 12-1-21
This fall, Fordham University only re-opened its London program. Joseph Rienti, director of the study abroad office, said the enrollment for that campus was higher than usual.

LAW SCHOOL FACULTY

CHERYL BADER
Rittenhouse Verdict Sparks Split Reactions, Fears of Vigilantism
Bloomberg.com 11-19-21
“I am afraid that as people are empowered by this verdict to weaponize the public spaces, we will see more fatalities,” said Cheryl Bader, a former assistant U.S. attorney and associate clinical professor at Fordham University School of Law.

JOHN PFAFF
In Depth Podcast: Why Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted
Audacity.com 11-19-21
This week’s guests include Kim Belware, John Pfaff (sic), and Charles Coleman Jr.
… Pfaff (sic), an author and law professor at Fordham University, breaks down how self defense laws, open carry laws, and the burden of proof contributed to this case.

OLIVIER SYLVAIN
FTC Chair Khan Brings on AI Policy Advice From NYU Researchers
Bloomberg Law 11-19-21
They join Olivier Sylvain, a law professor from Fordham University, who is serving as Khan’s senior adviser on technology.

DORA GALACATOS
The future of geographic screens for NYC’s high schools is up in the air amid concerns over diversity, commutes
Chalkbeat.com 11-19-21
Dora Galacatos is the executive director of the Fordham Law School Feerick Center for Social Justice, which recently released a report calling for a number of reforms to make the admissions process more fair.

CHERYL BADER
Rittenhouse’s Winning Strategy Rested on Tear-Filled Testimony
Bloomberg Law 11-19-21
Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at Fordham University School of Law, said there didn’t appear to be any obvious errors in the state’s case.

CHERYL BADER
Rittenhouse verdict raises stakes in Arbery trial
SFGATE 11-20-21
Cheryl Bader, a former assistant U.S. attorney and a professor at Fordham University School of Law, said that while people of any race can claim self-defense, implicit bias means that race will inevitably factor into who can successfully claim it.

RICHARD M. STEUER
The congressional debate over antitrust: It’s about time
The Hill 11-20-21
Richard M. Steuer is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School

ERIC YOUNG
Who Was Watching Over The CEO Of Activision Blizzard?
Forbes 11-22-21
Eric Young, a former chief compliance officer at a number of large global investment banks, and currently an adjunct professor for compliance at Fordham Law School, said about this matter, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

OLIVIER SYLVAIN
Hochul tops new poll
Politico 11-22-21
Olivier Sylvain will be senior adviser on technology to [FTC Chair Lina] Khan. He is a law professor at Fordham University and is considered a Section 230 expert.

CHERYL BADER
Table Topics: Oil Prices, Rittenhouse, and Ethical Debates
Player.fm 11-23-21
Cheryl Bader, clinical associate professor of law, Fordham

OLIVIER SYLVAIN
FTC Chair Lina M. Khan Announces New Appointments in Agency Leadership Positions
MyChesco.com 11-24-21
Olivier Sylvain will serve as Senior Advisor on Technology to the Chair. Sylvain joins the FTC from Fordham University where he has served as Professor of Law.

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT
‘I Want to Be a 21st-Century Trustbuster’: Zephyr Teachout on Her Run for A.G.
NY Mag 11-24-21
Teachout is currently a professor at Fordham Law School, where she specializes in constitutional and antitrust law.

BRUCE GREEN
Jan. 6 panel faces double-edged sword with Alex Jones, Roger Stone
The Hill 11-26-21
“Even people that have a tendency to lie in a lot of different contexts have strong motivation not to lie under oath because it puts them at risk,” said Bruce Green, a law professor at Fordham University and a former federal prosecutor.

BRUCE GREEN
Ahmaud Arbery trial shines a light on prosecutorial misconduct
DNYUZ 11-30-21
Bruce A. Green is the Louis Stein Chair at Fordham Law School, where he directs the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics.

BRUCE GREEN
10 Things in Politics: Kamala Harris’ Big Tech problem
Business Insider (subscription) 12-1-21
Bruce Green, who leads the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics at Fordham Law School, said it would be “misleading or irresponsible” to make such a commitment.

JOEL COHEN
When a President Comments on a Pending Criminal Case
Law & Crime 12-1-21
He is the author of “Broken Scales: Reflections On Injustice” (ABA Publishing, 2017) and an adjunct professor at both Fordham and Cardozo Law Schools.

TANYA HERNANDEZ
A college law professor who teaches critical race theory worries that educators are living through another ‘Red Scare’
Business Insider 12-1-21
Tanya Katerí Hernández feels fortunate to be a tenured professor at Fordham University School of Law, a private Catholic institution in New York City that she said supports her teaching on critical race theory.

FORMER LAW SCHOOL FACULTY

ALISON NATHAN
Who Is Alison Nathan? Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Judge
Newsweek 11-29-21
From 2008 to 2009, she was a Fritz Alexander Fellow at New York University School of Law and before that, from 2006 to 2008, a visiting assistant professor of law at Fordham University Law School

ANNEMARIE MCAVOY
From Serious to Scurrilous, Some Jimmy Hoffa Theories
NewsNation USA 11-24-21
Former federal prosecutor and adjunct law professor at Fordham University Annemarie McAvoy discusses history and fascination of the Hoffa case.

GABELLI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS FACULTY

FRANK ZAMBERELLI
How does the Impact Index support sustainable fashion?
Sustainability.com 11-19-21
Frank Zambrelli, Executive Director of the Responsible Business Coalition at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, says, ‘it is not a green light or a red light. It’s merely a platform. Nobody’s saying this is a better skirt than this one; we’re just saying, “This skirt was produced this way, with these certifications”’.

BARBARA PORCO
Companies Are Falling Short Measuring Environmental Performance Against Goals: Report
Forbes 12-2-21
As I wrote last month, “All elements of ESG reporting are really based on proper risk management,” according to Barbara Porco, director for the Center of Professional Accounting Practices at Fordham Business School.

LERZAN AKSOY
Aflac Lands Top-15 Spot on the 2021 American Innovation Index
PR Newswire 12-1-21
“The pandemic continues to challenge companies to adapt their business models at a faster rate than in normal times,” said Lerzan Aksoy, Ph.D., professor of marketing at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business.

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICES FACULTY

Aging Behind Prison Walls
WFUV-FM 11-30-21
Tina Maschi, PhD, LCSW, ACSW Professor, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service

ARTS & SCIENCES FACULTY

BRYAN MASSINGALE
Christians must develop an anti-racist spirituality, Mennonite authors argue
National Catholic Reporter 11-24-21
Among that year’s honorees was Fr. Bryan Massingale, who was then on the faculty of Marquette University in Milwaukee and now teaches at Fordham University in New York.

JACK WAGNER
In Their 80s, and Living It Up (or Not)
New York Times 11-26-21
Dr. Katharine Esty has the right idea. I am 85 and my wife is 80. I work out six times a week at my local gym, and I teach mathematics at Fordham University. We are fully vaccinated, including boosters.

KATHRYN REKLIS
Telling Native stories on TV
The Christian Century 11-19-21
Kathryn Reklis teaches theology at Fordham University and is codirector of the Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice.

SHELLAE VERSEY
Forever Young: Seniors Dance in the Bronx
The Villiage Voice 11-24-21
“Even before COVID, we were already noticing the squeeze of gentrification on the social lives of older adults who were living in these communities,” Shellae Versey, an assistant professor of psychology at Fordham University, tells the Voice in a phone interview, referring to members of racial minority groups being priced out of their neighborhoods.

CHARLES CAMOSY
Takeaways from the USCCB’s General Assembly
National Catholic Register 11-20-21
To help shed some light on the broader scope of what happened in Baltimore, and the general assembly’s true significance, the Register spoke with Charles Camosy, a moral theologian at Fordham University;

CHRISTINA GREER
Eric Adams, off on the right foot
Marietta Daily Journal 11-20-21
The rubber’s yet to hit the road and I’ve written plenty already about my doubts and concerns about Adams and what Fordham University political science professor and my FAQ.NYC co-host Christina Greer calls his “nervous cop energy.”

CHRISTINA GREER
Thanksgiving is upon us
Amsterdam News 11-25-21
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

BRYAN MASSINGALE
Bryan Massingale wins social justice award from Paulist Center
The Christian Century 11-29-21
He currently teaches ethics at Fordham University, where he also serves as the senior ethics fellow for the school’s Center for Ethics Education.

ARISTOLTLE PAPANIKOLAOU
Jan. 6 panel faces double-edged sword with Alex Jones, Roger Stone
National Catholic Reporter 11-30-21
Looking ahead to the pope’s time in Cyprus and Greece, Aristotle Papanikolaou, co-director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, told NCR that “the symbolism is key.”

CHRIS RHOMBERG
Fattest Profits Since 1950 Debunk Wage-Inflation Story of CEOs
Daily Magazine 11-30-21
“Workers may be tired of seeing the fruits of their labor go to corporations making record-breaking earnings,” Chris Rhomberg, a professor of sociology at Fordham University, said at that point. “The Deere workers evidently felt that the company could afford more.”

SARIT KATTAN GRIBETZ
Yeshiva University Museum Receives NEH Planning Grant
Yeshiva University 11-20-21
Additional consultants on the project are Sarit Kattan Gribetz, Associate Professor of Classical Judaism at Fordham University, who has particular expertise on the Jewish calendar and its development during the rabbinic period and on aspects of the calendar as they relate to the historical experience of Jewish women;

ASIF SIDDIQI
50 Years Ago, a Forgotten Mission Landed on Mars
Discover Magazine 12-1-21
“The Soviet space program was under a lot of pressure in the 1960s to achieve ‘firsts,’” says Asif Siddiqi, a Fordham University history professor who’s penned multiple books on the Soviet side of the space race.

DAISY DECAMPO
The Ethics of Egg Freezing and Egg Sharing
The Cut (subscription) 12-1-21
Daisy Deomampo, a medical anthropologist and associate professor at Fordham University who has researched donor egg markets.

NICHOLAS JOHNSON
School Board Finds Anti-2A Bias In Elementary School Textbook
Bearing Arms 12-1-21
As Fordham professor Nicholas Johnson brilliantly pointed out in his book Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms, the Second Amendment has long played a role in advancing the cause of freedom in the United States.

CHRISTINA GREER
December is upon us
New York Amsterdam News 12-2-21
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

FORMER ARTS & SCIENCES FACULTY

ROGER PANETTA
Houston highway project sparks debate over racial equity
MyNorthwest.com 11-23-21
Roger Panetta, a retired history professor at Fordham University in New York, said those opposing the I-45 project will have an uphill battle, as issues of racism and inequity have been so persistent in highway expansions that it “gets very difficult to dislodge.”

ATHLETICS

KYLE NEPTUNE
Early returns on the Kyle Neptune era at Fordham University positive
News12 New Jersey 11-19-21
The early returns on the Kyle Neptune era at Fordham University have been pretty positive.

Red Bulls Pick Up New Players In Super Draft
FirstTouchOnline.com 11-28-21
Janos Loebe, a German-born Fordham University product, will start to move from forward to attacking wingback, a key position on the field for New York.

ALUMNI

40 Under 40: Kyle Ciminelli, Ciminelli Real Estate Corp.
The Business Journals (subscription only) 11-19-21
[Kyle Ciminelli] Bachelor’s, finance, Fordham University; master’s, real estate and finance, New York University.

Devin Driscoll to Host Christmas Gathering
The Knoxville Focus 11-21-21
Devin Driscoll graduated from Catholic High School and went on to earn a degree from Fordham University.

Columnist Judith Bachman Captures The Spirit Of Sister Mary Eileen O’Brien, President Of Dominican College
Rockland County Business Journal 11-23-21
Sister O’Brien has dedicated herself to education for over 50 years. Sr. Mary Eileen earned a doctorate degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from Fordham University and holds a master’s degree in Adult and Higher Education from Teachers College of Columbia University and a master’s in Mathematics from Manhattan College.

Lacerta Therapeutics Appoints Min Wang, PhD, JD and Marc Wolff to its Board of Directors
BusinessWire 11-24-21
Dr. [Min] Wang received her PhD in Organic Chemistry from Brown University and a JD from Fordham University School of Law.

Teva Attorneys Leave Goodwin Procter For Greenberg Traurig
Law360.com (subscription) 11-24-21
He earned his law degree from Fordham University School of Law.

She went through foster care. Now she leads one of the oldest U.S. child welfare organizations.
MSNBC 11-29-21
[Kym Hardy] Watson, who holds degrees from Fordham University and Baruch College, CUNY, began her career in the 1980s after a summer job working with youth at St. Christopher’s Home.

FreedomCon 2021 – Native Lives Matter
Underground Railroad Education Center 11-27-21
[Loriv Quigly] earned her bachelor of arts in Journalism and Mass Communication from St. Bonaventure University, and a master of arts in Public Communication and Ph.D. in Language, Learning and Literacy from Fordham University.

The Hall case in the Poconos and malice in the US | Moving Mountains
Pocono Record 11-27-21
Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo holds a doctorate in Catholic Theology from Fordham University and authored a column on religion for the Washington Post from 2008-2012.

The Success Of Emmy Clarke, Both In And Out Of The Camera
The Washington Independent 11-29-21
[Emmy Clark] decided to attend Fordham University. She finished her studies in 2014 and received a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Media Studies.

Paraco’s CEO puts business lessons, family experiences in print
Westfair Communications Online (subscription) 11-19-21
…was born in Mount Vernon, the oldest of four sons He attended Fordham University, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in…

Greenberg Traurig Further Strengthens Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Health Care Practice
PR Newswire 11-19-21
In addition, [Glenn] Kerner has experience in complex commercial litigation, antitrust, real estate litigation, and other civil litigation. He has a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and a B.A. from Cornell University.

Three Universities Have Announced the Hiring of African Americans to Diversity Positions
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Ed 11-19-21
[Tiffany Smith] holds a master’s degree in education, specializing in counseling services, from Fordham University in New York.

President Biden nominates second out woman to federal appellate court
LGBTQ Nation 11-21-21
[Alison Nathan] has clerked in the Supreme Court and taught at Fordham Law School and NYU Law.

GOTS ramps up oversight on product claims in North America
HomeTextilesToday.com 11-22-21
[Travis Wells] earned his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) in Corporate Law from George Washington University Law School and his Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Global Sustainability and Finance from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University.

Malcolm X’s 5 surviving daughters: Inside lives marred by tragedy and turmoil
New York Post 11-23-21
[IIyasah Shabazz] graduated from the elite Hackley School, obtained a bachelor’s degree from SUNY New Paltz and a master’s degree in human resources from Fordham University.

Michael R. Scoma is recognized by Continental Who’s Who
PR Newswire 11-24-21
From a young age, Dr. [Michael] Scoma knew he wanted to pursue a career helping others. He started off earning his Bachelor of Science from Fordham University.

STODDARD BOWL: 2021 game will honor the former greats, Maloney’s Annino and Platt’s Shorter
MyRecordJournal.com 11-24-21
After Platt, [Michael] Shorter did a post-grad year at Choate, where he was an All-New England running back, then went on to play four years at Fordham University, where he earned a degree in Economics.

Local performer returns to state with ‘Fiddler’
HometownSource.com 11-24-21
From there [Scott Willits] went to The Ailey School and Fordham University and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance in New York.

The Singer Who Calls Himself Sick Walt
Long Island City Journal 11-24-21
After graduating from Fordham University with a degree in communications and a minor in German and singing in a cover band, Sick Walt set out on a traditional (he means boring!) career path, taking what he calls a corporate “suit job” in a financial institution.

Aleksander Mici files to run for U.S. Senate
Bronx Times 11-24-21
[Aleksander] Mici, 46, is a practicing attorney with a law degree from Fordham Law School.

Robert Hughes
Citizens Journal 11-20-21
Bob [Robert Hughes] has a MA in economics from Fordham University and a BS in business from Lehigh University.

Grassroots solutions and farm fresh eggs
The Bronx Free Press 11-27-21
[Jack] Marth first connected with POTS when he was a Fordham University student in 1988, as he volunteered to help in the soup kitchen.

Suozzi enters governor’s race
The Daily Star 11-29-21
A graduate of Boston College and Fordham Law School,, [Thomas] Suozzi lives with his wife, Helen, in Nassau County.

Latino students succeed in graduate school with the support of the Hispanic Theological Initiative
FaithandLeadership.com 11-30-21
The Rev. Dr. Loida I. Martell recalls a critical, do-or-die moment she faced while pursuing a Ph.D. in theology from Fordham University.

Governor Hochul Announces 2021-2023 Fellows
Governor.ny.gov 11-30-21
[Shaquann Hunt] received a B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology from Colby College and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

With Graduate Degree She Worked At McDonald’s, She Now Owns Three
Patch.com 11-30-21
Just after Sara Natalino Amato received a graduate degree at Fordham University, she went to work at an Orange McDonald’s.

Lamont nominates Nancy Navarretta as Mental Health and Addiction Services Commissioner
Fox61.com 12-1-21
[Nancy Navaretta] earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Boston College, and a Master of Arts degree in clinical psychology from Fordham University.

United Way Board of Directors Appoints Four New Members
Patch.com 12-1-21
[Marjorie] De La Cruz was awarded the Fordham School of Law 25th Annual Corporate Counsel Award; Latino Justice 2019 Lucero Award and was featured in Hispanic Executive in March 2019.

Jasmine Trangucci, LCSW-R is Meritoriously Named a ‘Top Patient Preferred Psychotherapist’ Representing the State of New York for 2022!
DigitalJournal.com 12-2-21
[Jasmine Trangucci] then went on to complete her Master of Social Work degree at Fordham University in 2005.

Hamilton Re-Signs Anderson as General Manager
OurSportCentral.com 12-2-21
A 2006 graduate of Fordham University, [Jermaine] Anderson earned his Master of Business Administration from the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in September of 2019.

Hers Is a Filmmakers Festival
The East Hampton Star 12-2-21
Ms. [Jacqui] Lofaro grew up in Greenwich Village and graduated from Fordham University.

Connell Foley elects new managing partner
ROI-NJ 12-2-21
[Timothy] Corriston earned his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and his B.A. from Hobart College. He also holds an LL.M. in environmental law from Pace University School of Law.

OBITUARY

Walter Miner Lowe, Jr.
Auburn Citizen (subscription) 11-24-21
Born in NYC, he was the son of late Walter Sr. and Florence Lowe. Walter was a 1958 graduate of Fordham University and an Army veteran serving his …

Denis Collins
Legacy.com 11-24-21
He graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1967, and attended Fordham University, with various mis-adventurous detours to Trinity College in Ireland, Talladega College in Alabama, and Stony Brook University in Long Island.

Sr. Marie Vincent Chiaravalle
Legacy.com 11-29-21
She attended St. Elizabeth Teacher College, Allegany, Fordham University in New York City and graduated from St. Bonaventure University, Allegany, with a bachelor of science degree in education.

Frank J. Messmann III
The Enterprise 11-26-21
He received a doctorate from Fordham University.

Roderick Dowling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 11-28-21
He received his law degree from Fordham Law School as the President of his class in 1965, paying for his tuition through multiple jobs as a waiter, lifeguard, and a Fordham scholarship.

Mary Waddell
The Atlanta-Journal 12-1-21
Mary was born in Manhattan, New York to James and Anna McHugh McGuinness on August 18, 1927. She attended St. Barnabas High School in the Bronx and graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry before joining the global headquarters of the New York City-based public relations firm Carl Byoir & Associates.

In reality, though, many of the innovations of the digital economy have been propped up by an underpaid, underappreciated, and an unacknowledged class of people who Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri describe as “ghost workers” in their book Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019).

On Thursday, July 9, at 12:30 p.m., Fordham’s McGannon Center will host a webinar with the authors to discuss these largely unknown members of the global workforce.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature Gray and Suri explaining how they used extensive interviews and data analytics to show that this often unsupported workforce is essential to such things as geolocation, online payment systems, and content moderation, as well as fixing glitches and gaps in everyday systems we all rely on.

Olivier Sylvain, the director of the McGannon Center and a professor at Fordham’s School of Law, said their findings are especially relevant to contemporary concerns such as Facebook employees’ pushback against the company’s laissez-faire approach to misinformation and work stoppage efforts at Amazon in light of concerns about COVID-19.

“It isn’t just about the people who power Amazon Mechanical Turk, or the gig workers who drive Uber cars. It’s also about laborers in Southeast Asia who are finding the parts that go into the Amazon Echo, and it’s about the content moderators in India who are reviewing traumatic images of child abuse so that we never have to see them when we open our News Feed,” he said.

Sylvain said he’s most interested in hearing Gray and Suri talk about the ways that companies keep these workers’ stories out of the public eye, not so much by denying their existence as by touting the miracles of artificial intelligence.

“When Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of Congress in 2018, and people were worried about the manipulations of elections, his answer was, ‘We’re going to have AI solve this and make sure we don’t have disinformation on Facebook.’”

“That is laudable, and I hope that it works, but it is incomplete. The managers that run these companies and the labor they hire are just as important, if not more important, in deciding how the systems work. I don’t think they’re trying to block the information; I think there’s just a mismatch in the words they ascribe to the technology and services, and what’s actually going on.”

After Sarah Roberts, Ph.D., an assistant professor of information studies at UCLA, and Lilly Irani, Ph.D., an associate professor of communication, science studies, computer science, and critical gender studies at the University of California San Diego, share their reactions to the book’s findings, the day’s session will shift to the work that Kimani Paul-Emile and Sam Roberts, Ph.D., associate professor of history and of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, have done in the health care industry.

Paul-Emile, a professor of law and associate director of Fordham Law School’s Center on Race, Law, and Justice, has spent years studying how race and inequality affect health care workers, a group whose challenges have only been heightened since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nurses and nursing assistants often provide behind the scenes care to patients, but don’t always enjoy the types of workplace protections as other workers, said Paul-Emile.

“It’s been an open secret in medicine that some patients reject their healthcare provider based on race, religion, or ethnicity, said Paul-Emile. “While this biased patient conduct is disproportionately directed toward Black providers, in the age of Covid, there have been increasing numbers of patients saying, ‘I don’t want that Asian nurse,’ due to bias and unfounded fears of contracting the coronavirus.”

Paul-Emile explained that patients have the right to refuse treatment.

“But the health care worker also has employment rights that need to be respected. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity, or religion. So when these instances occur, it can be really difficult to discern what to do,” she said.

There’s also the fact that COVID-19 has sickened people of color and the poor at higher rates than other demographics.

“Initially there was discussion about whether there was something biological or genetic that predisposed these groups to be particularly vulnerable to the virus, but it quickly became clear that the disparities stemmed from how our society is structured. Many people in these communities are the first responders who are put in positions where they’re more likely to be infected by the coronavirus,” Paul-Emile said.

“That’s opened the door to very important conversations about structural inequality and race.”

The Oct. 4 event centered around University of Virginia Media Studies Professor Siva Vaidhyanathan’s book, Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2018). Facebook Global Civic Partnerships Manager Crystal Patterson, investigative journalist Julia Angwin, and Fordham Law visiting professor Danielle Citron ’94 also participated in a panel discussion moderated by Fordham Law professor Olivier Sylvain.  Fordham University’s McGannon Center, which Sylvain directs, presented the event.

Read the full story at Fordham Law News. 

Plant-Based Meat. Garrett Broad, Ph.D., assistant professor of communication and media studies and author, More Than Just Food (University of California Press, 2016)

There has been tremendous growth in the plant-based food sector over the last several years, and there are a number of reasons why 2018 could be the biggest year yet for this emerging market. First and foremost, concerns about health, the environment, and animal welfare have led to increased public demand for plant-based alternatives to meat and animal products that are tasty, affordable, and convenient. At the same time, there has been an explosion of entrepreneurial initiative and innovation, as well as organizing and advocacy, in an effort to get these products in stores, restaurants, and other food service locations across the country and around the world. The meat industry has certainly taken notice—some companies are concerned about the threat that plant-based products represent to their bottom line, but others are actually investing in plant-based foods to get in on the action at this early stage.

Protest Demonstrations. Heather Gautney, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology and budget committee advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

In 2018, look for large-scale demonstrations and targeted protest activity outside the White House and in the halls of the U.S. Capitol, especially over immigrants’ rights. Following last year’s Women’s March, there remains a core group of women activists who continue to organize. A few months ago they put on a large-scale conference, and have an ongoing, committed project of movement-building around women’s issues.

[And] there are lots of ways for people to protest besides tens of thousands of people assembling in the street. On immigration round-ups and the issue of sanctuary cities, I think there may be widespread local demonstrations and acts of mass disobedience—protecting people from being taken away. There are all sorts of micro forms of resistance that can take place within communities. When the health care debates were happening in Washington D.C., when demonstrators where showing up at town hall meetings and shaming their congressmen and senators, I think that made a substantial impact on what happened to the outcome.

Internet Service. Olivier Sylvain, associate professor of law and director, McGannon Center for Communications Research

Now that the Federal Communications Commission has repealed “network neutrality” regulations that prohibited internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon from privileging some content over others, we will all want to closely monitor the quality of our internet service.  The FCC Chairman claims that the prior rules made it difficult for providers to invest in novel new services.  Those rules, however, barred service providers from exploiting their coveted gatekeeping market position to discriminate against disruptive competitors; they prohibited, for example, providers from making it costlier for then-emergent start-ups–with names like Amazon and Netflix–to become market-makers in video distribution.

Now that network neutrality is gone, we should keep our eyes on the quality of video on Amazon and Netflix.  We should also watch for subscription fees increases for those services.

Mergers and Acquisitions. Sris Chatterjee, Ph.D., professor and chair of global security analysis finance and business economics, Gabelli School of Business

2017 has been a very good year for M&A. With the economy continuing to show strong fundamentals and the new tax law, 2018 is most likely to continue this upward trend in merger activity.

FinTech and digital technology represent a major disruptive force that will shape many mergers in 2018. We have already started to see this trend in 2017 when many companies across different industries outside the tech-sector acquired firms with the desired digital capabilities. This trend will also continue in 2018. Acquisition of American or European companies with an established brand name and market by firms in China, India and other non-Western countries has been another feature of M&A activity in recent times. This is also likely to continue.

These positive aspects of a stronger M&A outlook in 2018 need to be balanced against other factors that may have a restraining effect. The first factor that comes to mind is the effect of the U.S. government’s decision to block the AT&T-Time Warner merger. AT&T is fighting this decision in court and the outcome will have an important effect on M&A activity in 2018. The second factor to consider is that market multiples are already high, perhaps too high in light of meager growth. This, coupled with the high average premium that we witnessed in 2017, means that deals, on average, are going to be pricey.

Vatican Fashion. J. Patrick Hornbeck, Ph.D., associate professor of theology and department chair

Of late, the fashion world has been demonstrating increasing interest in things religious: consider, for instance, Alexander Wang’s 2016 show at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue. But the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art will take this trend a step further with its 2018 exhibition, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” The exhibition pairs liturgical and ceremonial vestments and artworks from the Met collection with designer garments inspired in some way by Catholicism. Traditionalist Catholic groups have sometimes responded with alarm to artistic displays that appear to mock or satirize their faith. The new Met exhibit (which opens in May) may encounter resistance from such quarters, but local Catholic leaders were consulted in the planning process. And the Vatican itself loaned more than 50 of the pieces that will be on display. In the end, the Met may more than anything else showcase the manifold ways in which the Catholic tradition continues to inspire artists of all stripes.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Shannon Waite, Ed.D., clinical assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education

In 2018, I predict that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will become more diverse and that the conversation will broaden from being focused on race and ethnicity to include socio-economic status.  I would pay attention to how the cuts to programs and initiatives that indirectly support HBCU’s and/or the students they serve impact the student’s access to higher education. I also expect the conversation about whether these institutions can continue to fulfill the role they have historically played and remain viable options for the demographic of students they traditionally serve to become more prominent.  I expect questions about whether HBCUs still have a place in our society today to become a part of the conversation that will spark a national debate.  Finally, I would pay attention to how the current administration responds to the criticism that the commitment made to bolster HBUCs has not been honored.

Bitcoin. Giacomo Santangelo, Ph.D., senior lecturer of economics

Much like international currencies, people trade Bitcoin to exploit arbitrage opportunities (buy low, sell high) in the market. However, today the bitcoin has more in common with Beanie Babies from the 1990s than with international currencies. The market for Bitcoin is being driven by speculation, not investment. Speculators buy an asset, often taking huge risks, in the hopes of making ’a quick buck.’ It would have been ill-advised to invest your retirement in Beanie Babies or Pokemon cards in the 1990s; although, at the time, you could make fast money buying/selling on eBay . . . until you couldn’t. Whether Bitcoin will eventually settle at $20k, $1 Million, or $1, the volatility of the recent weeks indicates that when speculators lose interest in Bitcoin, the bubble will burst. The bitcoin will only continue to have ‘value’ if people continue to believe it has value. At the moment, people have no rational reason to do so. It is unlikely Bitcoin will continue a meteoric rise, uninterrupted, in 2018.

Helicopter Parenting and Hovering. Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and head of Fordham’s Pediatric Psychology & Health Behaviors group

We are in an era where parenting styles—such as helicopter, or hovering— are raising concerns about our children’s ability to develop independence and advocate for themselves. Indeed, in the medical community during the last decade there has been a push for adolescents to learn early how to self-manage their special health care needs.

My colleagues and I have been studying this process among a large sample of adolescents from around the country. We found that adolescents who say they are self-managing (versus those having more parental involvement) and those who say they are doing more than their parents think they are, have worse outcomes. This includes difficulty managing their medications. These findings perhaps signal that for some adolescents, it is critical to work with their parents rather than move them into the background. So [going forward]maybe a little hovering is okay.

Real Estate’s Downward and Upward Trends. Hugh F. Kelly, Ph.D., special advisor to Fordham’s Real Estate Institute in the School for Professional and Continuing Studies

The 2018 outlook for commercial properties in New York is mixed. Tenant demand for office space is strengthening on the basis of strong job growth in finance and business/professional services. These job gains are timely, as a new generation of offices is coming to market in significant volume. Lateral movement amongst corporate users should continue, creating vacancy in some older buildings. But high prices and low cap rates will keep overall transactions on a downward trend.

In retailing, especially storefront properties on high-traffic avenues, vacancy is quite high, as asking rents have tended to exceed the price that can be economically supported by stores sales. I’d expect capitulation from landlords if that trend intensifies; low returns are better than no returns.

The residential market is sorting out an excess of luxury development while dealing with the ongoing crisis of affordability. As a result, multifamily construction in the outer boroughs may be 2018’s most significant trend.

(Patrick Verel, Tom Stoelker, and Tanisia Morris contributed to the article.)

The National Science Foundation has awarded Sylvain and his colleagues a $1 million grant over three years. The award is part of the NSF’s program for Smart and Connected Communities. The project aims to remedy the relatively low rates of broadband adoption and the deficit of advanced networked devices among Harlem residents.

The team will research ways in which edge and cloud computing technologies might close the access gap for residents. The plan will hopefully result in lower consumer costs, improved energy efficiency, simplified management, and stronger security. Servers will be centrally located in subscribing buildings, wherein residents can connect to Wi-Fi using affordable devices. Subscribers will receive tablets to access a wide range of services.

“Broadband deployment and adoption are eminently local problems that require active community engagement and entrepreneurship, and that’s what we have here,” said Sylvain.

Taking a holistic approach, the team will prompt all local stakeholders—including government officials, building owners, local businesses, university researchers, civic organizations, and users—to participate in the network’s governance. Sylvain and team member Sheila Foster (former Fordham Law professor, now at Georgetown) will develop an iterative process that brings in these stakeholders in order to develop a public trust agreement that participants will memorialize in a binding legal instrument. This approach draws heavily on Foster’s groundbreaking research on governing urban commons. Sylvain, for his part, has been writing extensively about expanding opportunities for online engagement for historically underserved and unserved communities.

Promising more affordable and energy efficient service along with more secure and connected communities, the project aims to counter the indifference of big-name providers like Verizon and Spectrum.

“What does it look like when communities feel empowered to deploy infrastructures?” asked Sylvain. ”My hope is that this project will unsettle the political economy for the better.”

In addition to Sylvain and Foster, the team includes Dan Kilper (leading researcher), research professor at the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences; Rider Foley, assistant professor of the University of Virginia’s Department of Engineering and Society; Malathi Veeraraghavan, professor of the University of Virginia’s Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Clayton Banks and Bruce Lincoln, co-founders of Silicon Harlem, a nationally recognized for-profit social venture dedicated to the sustainability of Harlem as a Technology and Innovation Hub.

Although the team will face challenges, such as balancing participation among major and minor subscribers and ensuring that subscribers will use the devices to their fullest capacity, Sylvain is confident that the project will empower participants in the Harlem community. With early subscribers including schools and hospitals, along with the Apollo Theater and the Studio Museum in Harlem, the team anticipates that the new service will make a positive impact on crucial aspects of the community.

He also hopes that other communities beyond Harlem will have similar opportunities to optimize their network services.

“For me this is no small matter, because communications are essential for the operation of democracy,” said Sylvain. “In order for someone to really engage the community in which they inhabit, they have to have the capacity, the instruments necessary to engage.

“We are here to make sure that people can engage and maximize their communicative capacities in ways they haven’t been before.”

That disparity is important as a matter of equity, if technology is going to be a tool for helping all people improve their lives, according to an expert at Fordham.

Social media, such as Tinder and Instagram, are well suited for mobile phones, as are certain games, said Olivier Sylvain, an associate professor of law who specializes in communications law and policy.

“But you can’t really write an essay on your smartphone, and you certainly can’t program [on it],” he said.

Such access issues are of particular interest to Sylvain. As a member of the law school’s new Center on Race, Law and Justice, he’s focused on making communications infrastructure part of the discussion about race and class disparities.

Some of the reasons for this disparity lie in the reality that certain wealthier neighborhoods are better served by Internet service providers (ISPs). Some of it is a facet of equipment cost: Internet-enabled mobile devices are simply more affordable than laptops or desktops. Cost issues explain differences in class, but not race, which Sylvain said could also be part of the sociological phenomenon: Your buddy gets a phone, so you get one too, and it’s just what you do.

The embrace of mobile technology, Sylvain pointed out, also opens up people—in this case more minorities—to greater surveillance by law enforcement. (Note the tussle being waged between Apple and the FBI over the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters.)

“People of color are as susceptible as anyone to surveillance,” he said, but greater reliance on mobile “exacerbates existing forms of surveillance and discrimination.”

Sylvain tackles issues of unequal access by critiquing both government policies and the underlying assumptions that drive those policies. He says he supports the federal government’s policy of promoting network neutrality, which keeps ISPs from charging more for faster connectivity.

But he challenges the pro-neutrality principle that champions “innovation” as the reason for network neutrality.

Advocates claim that net neutrality led to the successes of Apple and Google, and tech companies used the “innovation” argument when they lobbied the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to uphold net neutrality in 2014. They claim it creates a level playing field that helps new companies thrive, therefore bringing more connectivity to all.

But with what is essentially a trickle-down theory of Internet expansion, says Sylvain, “the FCC has chosen to celebrate the norm of innovation at the expense of equality and access.”

“Their argument was, when you have an open network, more people will innovate, and if more people will innovate, then more people will come to the Internet, and if more people come to the Internet, then more ISPs will invest in infrastructure, and will bring more service to more people. It’s a classic syllogism, and it makes sense,” Sylvain said.

“It’s a reasonable argument, and I support it, but it is an odd kind of exploitation of what is a far clearer mandate under the communications act—and that is to ensure that all people should have comparable access to services.”

In “Network Equality,” published last month in the Hastings Law Journal, Sylvain argues for relying instead on the principle of distributing access equally, and said the FCC has to encourage deployment of broadband Internet because it is so-bound by the Federal Communications Act of 1934.

Sylvain also says that making the Internet and other communications tools to everyone is eminently doable if the will exists. New York City recently signed an agreement with CityBridge, a consortium of private companies, to convert 7,500 old pay phones into free public Wi-Fi hot spots.

And in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy knocked out power and flooded large swaths of Red Hook, Brooklyn, the Red Hook Initiative community group deployed a wireless mesh network. It is a technology that spreads network connections among dozens of nodes that “talk” to each other and share network access across a large area, such as a neighborhood.

“[This example] underscores something important: The Internet exists,” Sylvain said. “You don’t necessarily need Time Warner or Verizon for the Internet, and if there are local communities that are empowered to do that everywhere, you speak to the issues that the FCC purports to be interested in, which is access and deployment.”

“There’s been a sort of fetishization of innovation for its own sake,” Sylvain said. “But for me, it depends on what you’re innovating for. In my mind, you should [innovate for]important core public norms of universal access and equality.”

“Who are we not to take this on?” Lenhardt would ask rhetorically in response, pointing to the University’s commitment to social justice and the Law School’s deep and diverse constellation of race scholars.

On February 29, Lenhardt and Fordham Law School formally launched the Center on Race, Law and Justice, publicly announcing its presence as a leader on issues of race and the law in New York City, the United States, and abroad. The event featured presentations from five Fordham University professors involved in the center, including associate directors Tanya Hernandez and Kimani Paul-Emile, and a keynote address from preeminent civil rights lawyer Debo Adegbile, now a partner at WilmerHale in New York and the former acting president and director counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Law School Dean Matthew Diller called the center’s launch “a huge red-letter day for Fordham Law School and Fordham University.” He lauded the collaboration, mutual support, and excitement present in the 26 faculty members associated with the center’s focus.

Joseph M. McShane, SJ, president of Fordham University, placed the center’s launch in historic context, noting it came more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the death of Abraham Lincoln, and the end of the Civil War, and around 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Further change, he said, would come from conversion of hearts and a movement in which “Fordham is engaged.”

“I see great hope here,” McShane told the audience.

Both Diller and McShane praised Lenhardt’s vision, for transforming a decade-long dream into a reality.

Diller celebrated Lenhardt as “a superb colleague, teacher, and friend who adds insight, value, poise, and grace to everything she touches.”

Father McShane, meanwhile, highlighted Lenhardt’s persistent and persuasive arguments in championing her visionary concept.

“In every way that counts, you are the person who brought this to fruition,” Father McShane said to Lenhardt, noting her meticulous nature and gift for hard work convinced him this would be not a center on paper but a center in action.

The center will function as an incubator and a platform for cutting-edge interdisciplinary scholarship on race, structural inequality, and racial justice tools grounded in critical analyses, comparative inquiry, and innovative methodologies, its leaders said.

The center will not only explore the deployment of the law as a solution for racial inequity but also seek to address through original research and analysis how it simultaneously functions as the architect of such inequality in ways that strip minorities of opportunity, dignity, and belonging, Lenhardt explained.

The center’s mission, she continued, is to explore issues of race and inequality in both the domestic and global contexts and to promote conversations about access, opportunity, and discrimination at Fordham University and in the legal profession more broadly.

Hernandez will lead the center’s global and comparative law programs and initiatives. Paul-Emile, meanwhile, will lead the center’s domestic programs and initiatives. Law Professor Olivier Sylvain, Political Science Professor Christina Greer, and Sociology Professor Clara Rodriguez also detailed their scholarship on race and racial justice during the 90-minute event.

Lenhardt also highlighted the presence of Gay McDougall, a MacArthur Foundation “Genius,” distinguished scholar-in-residence at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, and the wife of the late John Payton, former head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the architect of the legal strategy that led to the Michigan affirmative action cases decided by the Supreme Court, on which Lenhardt worked.

Payton’s LDF protégé, Adegbile, shared his mentor’s impact on his career in a speech that combined insight into how civil rights progress is not unilateral but ebbs and flows and that often the cases that matter most directly affect the lives of young people.

At present, Adegbile represents Harvard College in a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of its admissions program, one that raises the same kinds of issues presented by the Michigan cases and the Bakke case before them. Adegbile shared his view that such challenges present the questions “who are we and who do we want to be.”

Progress happens as a result not of one person’s efforts but of an intergenerational fight for change, Adegbile said, noting he viewed the center’s launch and future work as a continuation of this idea.

“Whether you’re Thurgood Marshall or Constance Baker Motley, it doesn’t matter,” Adegbile said, referring to the first African-American Supreme Court justice and first woman to serve as Manhattan borough president. “There will always be another fight. There will always be something for the next generation to do.”

—Ray Legendre