“Juneteenth is one of the many steps toward freedom that Black people were experiencing in America in the early years,” said Dorsey, the author of To Build Our Lives Together: Community Formation in Black Atlanta, 1875-1906 (University of Georgia, 2004).

Celebrating the holiday is wonderful, she said, as long as everyone is aware of the facts.

“Black people celebrated when New York state ended slavery; they celebrated when Connecticut ended slavery. In each step, there’s a moment of celebration. I want Black people to be happy in whatever way they want to be happy. If you want to have a barbecue or a dance party, celebrate. But to prevent the corporate, ‘Come to the Juneteenth sale,’ you emphasize the history.”

Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement in Galveston proclaiming African Americans’ freedom from slavery in the state of Texas roughly two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In her talk “Making Freedom Dreams Reality: Black Activism, Constitutional Rights and the Ongoing Struggle for Liberation,” held at Rose Hill, Dorsey described what happened in the years immediately following that announcement. She spoke in conversation with Chief Diversity Officer Rafael Zapata for the event, which was sponsored by his office.

Finding Lost Family

The first thing the former slaves did was set off to travel as far as 800 miles to track down lost spouses, siblings, and children. Dorsey said there is a popular misconception that the unpaid labor that slaves were forced to perform was one of the worst indignities they suffered. But in fact, the first thing they strove to repair were shattered familial bonds.

“I want to be clear that the kind of the sociological arguments that were made by white scholars in the 1960s that slavery destroyed the Black family are nonsensical,” she said.

“Yes, it broke up individual Black families, but the concept of family, the feeling people had for their relatives, their children, their mates—that is a human phenomenon that slavery doesn’t have the ability to disrupt.”

Entering Politics to Help Their Communities

There was also an explosion of interest in learning to read, she said, as well as a push to exercise the political power granted in 1870 by the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave Black men the right to vote.

“What I found sort of breathtaking was the boldness of their determination to use elected office not to benefit themselves, but to benefit their community,” she said.

Much of the progress that the formerly enslaved made after Juneteenth unraveled when United States Federal troops pulled out of Southern states in 1877 and the era of Reconstruction ended, Dorsey said. Understanding the backlash that followed Juneteeth, she said, is important for putting today’s struggles for racial justice into perspective.

“I’m going to celebrate Juneteenth…. but also know that my focus has to be on the next step and the next step.”

In an online conversation on June 16, Westenley (Wes) Alcenat, Ph.D., an assistant professor of history, urban, American, and African American studies at Fordham, and Rafael Zapata, Fordham’s chief diversity officer, discussed how the two events are tied to each other.

“You have this classic example of hundreds of thousands of people who were free in Texas but would remain unfree for another two years because the news was suppressed,” Alcenat said.

Just as the news of the Emancipation Proclamation took years to reach enslaved people in Texas, the news of the Haitian revolution—and the French Revolution—took years to reach Black men and women who might have been emboldened by such victories.

“If you go back to 1791, not only were words of the French Revolution being suppressed among the enslaved population in Saint-Domingue (as it was known back then) but news of the Haitian revolution, which lasted over a decade, was suppressed among the free Black and enslaved population here in the United States,” he said.

When the Haitian people finally won their independence from France in 1804, it also had unexpected consequences for the United States, he said. In a sense, it was both a gift and a curse for Black and indigenous people.

“It’s a gift in the sense that, nowhere else had this ever taken place before in human history—enslaved people rebelling and fomenting a revolution that established a state,” he said.

“At the same time, with the loss of Saint-Domingue as such a productive colony, France all of a sudden found itself without the funds to continue its many continental wars, so it turned over the Louisiana territory to the United States, which doubled the size. So, the domestic slave economy in the U.S. expanded very fast.”

Victory also brought serious hardships to the new Haitian nation, as the French would demand punitive reparations for its “loss of assets.” A recent New York Times investigative series, The Ransom, showed how two centuries of debt and dependency would follow.

While Haiti is still to this day struggling to thrive as a nation, Alcenat, a Haitian native, said that the principles guiding its founding can be found in the spirit of today’s Black Lives Matter movement.

When the country was formed, “Haitian constitutionalism,” as he dubbed it, granted citizenship to anyone who was indigenous or of African descent. Most of the indigenous inhabitants had been massacred by Christopher Columbus, but the move symbolically restored dignity to those who claimed the land first. Even the name of the new country, Haiti, which means “island of mountains,” was the name the indigenous inhabitants had chosen for the island.

“It’s not reparations in the conventional wisdom, but as a returning of dignity to that to whom it belonged and humanizing the indigenous folks whose land this was in the first place, and in the process, claiming for themselves a new form of indigenity,” he said.

What really connects the Haitian constitutionalism to Black Lives Matter was the principle that said that for someone to become a Haitian, they first had to declare themselves Black. Under the new post-revolution laws, white males were explicitly banned from owning land and property.

“This is the precedent to the Black Lives Matter, because what it’s saying is, the degraded, the dehumanized, the oppressed, those who are at the very bottom of society, we are going to reverse the order. They really do know what freedom is because they also know what non-freedom looks like,” he said.

“There are historians who very much want to argue that this was reverse racism, and excuse my French, but that is pure B.S. It had little to do with whiteness because in fact, white men could become Haitian. All they would have to do is say, ‘I declare myself Black,’” Alcenat said.

It wasn’t an abstract concept either, as he noted that during the war, 400 to 500 Polish soldiers who had been sent by Napoleon to reclaim the island and reimpose slavery defected from the French army and stayed on the island permanently. Their descendants can be found there to this day.

“In order to incorporate them into this new revolutionary society, the Haitians had to find a way to assert the principle of Black freedom, but not have that principle restricted by race,” he said.

“So Black freedom is, in a sense, the most capacious, most expansive form of freedom that was allowed.”

Zapata noted that although this was the third time the University had honored Juneteenth, this was the first event that connected it to research on Black liberation.

“The Haitian revolution was always an important piece to the notions of freedom,” he said.

“I can think of no better way to honor Juneteenth than to honor our outstanding faculty whose research is so close to this work”

The conversation was sponsored by the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the Office of the Provost.

“You have achieved great things, and in the heart of the pandemic, you have managed to keep this community alive,” Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said to the CSTEP students and staff. “This is a program that is a community. You all watch out for one another—and you inspire us.”

Fordham CSTEP is a statewide program that supports minority and economically disadvantaged students through mentorship and academic and career-oriented resources. The program prepares students for professions in areas where they are underrepresented, including STEM, health, and other licensed fields, and provides a “transformational, educational experience to future professionals and leaders,” said Renaldo D. Alba, associate director of the CSTEP and STEP programs. 

This spring, 73 CSTEP students will receive their diplomas, said Alba. After graduation, they will pursue different opportunities across the country. Among them are four students heading to dental, medical, or law school; one student attending a Ph.D. psychology program; 12 students pursuing master’s degrees in various disciplines; and one student participating in the City Year program, he said. 

In addition to recognizing graduating seniors, the ceremony celebrated other CSTEP scholars, including more than 100 students who achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher and about 50 students who served as tutors and peer counselors in the pre-college STEP Program for middle and high schoolers. 

Rafael Zapata, chief diversity officer, special assistant to the president for diversity, and associate vice president for academic affairs, was recognized with CSTEP’s Outstanding Service Award, which is presented to faculty, administrators, and partners who have provided exceptional service to CSTEP students. In his acceptance speech, Zapata lauded Michael A. Molina, director of the CSTEP and STEP programs, for leading the program over the past 35 years. (Molina was unable to physically attend the event because he is recovering from a medical procedure, but he joined via Zoom.) 

“No other office at Fordham better serves the needs of first-generation college students, low-income students, and students of color, with more dignity, understanding, love, support—and challenge—than CSTEP,” Zapata said. 

Zapata, a native New Yorker who grew up in public housing and became the first in his family to graduate from college, said he wished he had a community like CSTEP when he was younger. 

“I had a lot of loving and caring teachers. But I never had anyone who I could talk to about my life … I didn’t have this community. I wish I did,” Zapata said. “There’s so much pressure on you to sound differently, to act differently, to even walk differently. And for that, I’m grateful to remind you that I can be [myself], and you can be [yourself here].” 

In heartfelt speeches, students described their own experiences in the program. 

“CSTEP has been the best part of my undergrad experience and it has helped me grow socially, personally, and academically,” said Anusha Imran, FCLC ’22, a first-generation college student and aspiring physician who will receive CSTEP’s highest award at Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s award ceremony for graduating seniors. “I found a tight-knit community and met students who have similar stories, which only made me and them more resilient and fierce in the advocacy of our own education.”

In his keynote speech, CSTEP alumnus Braulio Carrero, FCRH ’04, senior counsel at Cityblock Health—a company that provides medical services to marginalized populations—congratulated the seniors and offered them advice for life after graduation.

“In my 20s, my purpose was trying to find my purpose,” Carrero said. “Some of you are very determined in the path that you want, and others aren’t. But at the end of the day … always remember what matters and why you’re doing what you’re doing.” 

(Vincent Harris, FCRH ’22, who was scheduled to receive CSTEP’s highest award at Encaenia—Fordham College at Rose Hill’s award ceremony for graduating seniors—died suddenly on May 10. The University published an obituary and held a memorial Mass for Harris at the University Church at Rose Hill on May 13.)

In an Oct. 6 panel discussion, four members of the Fordham community explored this answer and the evolution of their own ethnic identities. 

“We’re trying to fit a square into a round hole peg. We’re trying to find a word to name X amount of countries that have different cultures in a United States context,” said Juan Carlos Matos, assistant vice president for student affairs for diversity and inclusion, addressing an in-person audience and guests on Zoom at the Lincoln Center campus. “Folks sometimes get caught up in, well, what’s the right way? In many ways, we haven’t figured out the right way.”

Matos was joined by Tanya K. Hernández, Archibald R. Murray Professor of Law at the School of Law; Miguel García, Ph.D., assistant professor of Spanish at Fordham College at Rose Hill; and Bethany Fernández, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill and member of the Bronx COVID-19 Oral History Project.  

The panel began with an overview of today’s Latinx population in the U.S. According to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, Hispanics now make up more than 60 million people in the U.S.—roughly 20% of the population, said the panel moderator and Fordham’s chief diversity officer, Rafael Zapata. But it’s still difficult to pinpoint a name that describes their collective identity. 

“This has continued to evolve as American society figures out how to look at us and as we see ourselves and are changed by our migration, assimilation, integration, exclusion, and marginalization from the broader United States society and culture,” said Zapata, whose office co-hosted the panel with the Office of Multicultural Affairs. 

No ‘Win-Win’ Situation

There are many different names to describe themselves, said the panelists. In 1980, the census started using the term “Hispanic”; a decade later, the term “Latino” began to become popular, said Zapata. The two terms, which refer to descendants of Spain and its former colonies in Central and South America and the Caribbean, continue to be used interchangeably. Other terms have sprung up since then, including “Latinx,” which was designed to be a gender nonconforming word. 

But the term has received backlash because it is difficult to pronounce in Spanish and indigenous languages, said the panelists. 

“When we’re dealing with what to call ourselves, we are navigating a very complicated question,” said Fernández. “If we try to define it in terms of English or Spanish, we are dealing with languages that have been involved in the colonization of our people. In that sense, there’s not really a win-win [situation]… If that’s how someone identifies and it makes sense and it’s not harmful to anyone else who is within our realm of Latinidad, that’s fine. Because ultimately, we want people to embrace who they are.”

Fernández, who identifies as Afro Latiné, said she was more familiar with her Black roots because of her mother, who introduced her to documentaries and museums focused on their culture. But she was able to bond with her Puerto Rican heritage on car drives with her father, where they often jammed out to their favorite salsa songs. 

“He would enjoy the music and tap [the steering wheel]a little bit while we’re at the stoplight. But in those moments, while he was vibing, I was sitting down and listening to the songs and trying to figure out what they were saying, what songs I liked, and their message,” Fernández said. 

Matos, who was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Brooklyn, said he struggled to fully embrace his Afro-Latinidad heritage when he was younger. In elementary school, he said he felt ashamed of speaking Spanish after a classmate told him, “This is America—speak American.” His parents, a Black Dominican father and a fair-skinned, biracial mother, also disapproved of his afro. 

“I definitely don’t think there was much acceptance of Blackness in my family, to this day,” Matos said. 

Authenticity & ‘Complicating the Narrative’

What’s especially problematic is when people proclaim that they are Latinx, but are clearly not, said the panelists, citing the case of Jessica Krug, a white historian who pretended to be Black and Latina for years. García said that in one of his classes, his students discussed whether or not they should police people’s identities. 

“They were very divided on the issue,” said García, who is Mexican American. “I am more interested in … What’s the political motivations that they are using to identify as Afro Latinx, Mexican American, Puerto Rican? Are they doing that to benefit themselves somehow?” 

This year, the Census Bureau showed that the number of non-Hispanic Americans who identify as multiracial jumped by 127% over the past decade. But these results don’t really show a growth in the multiracial population, said Hernández. This increase in numbers is largely facilitated by people who, in light of George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement, don’t want to be implicated in white supremacy, she said. 

One stark example can be found in Puerto Rico, she said, where people’s selections for racial heritage drastically changed from 2010 to 2020. 

“White alone went from 75% to 17%. Demographers will let you know that is not physically possible unless you’re talking about a mass genocide. The overall number of Puerto Ricans on the island has not changed, so this shift is one of social identity construction,” said Hernández,. “The fluctuation is less about an embrace of multiraciality and much more about a mad escape from any sense of implication in whiteness as a privilege.” 

There is no checklist that defines someone as Latinx, said Matos. But if you start judging people by specific characteristics—like whether or not they speak Spanish or an indigenous language, said Matos—then you risk demoralizing people. 

“I think it’s more about being authentic, being able to complicate the narrative, and us being open to that while checking people [like Jessica Krugg],” Matos said.

I write to you to remind you that (as I mentioned to you in a letter that I sent to the University community last June), the University has established Juneteenth (the date upon which news of emancipation finally reached Galveston, Texas, on 19 June 1865, more than two years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation) as an annual paid holiday for all Fordham employees. Since Juneteenth falls on a Saturday this year, the holiday will be observed and celebrated on Friday, 18 June.

This Juneteenth also marks a tragic anniversary: it is almost exactly 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre. On May 31, 1921, a mob of white people stormed “Black Wall Street,” a wealthy Black neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, murdering hundreds of its residents, looting their property, and burning their homes. Our own Dr. Olivia Hooker, a longtime professor of psychology at Fordham, survived the Tulsa massacre as a child. In addition to serving generations of Fordham students as a teacher, mentor, and advocate, she was the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard, and a pioneer in the field of psychometrics.

The unprovoked Tulsa attack was far from the only case of white violence in the Jim Crow era: I invite you to explore the University’s Anti-Black Racial Violence Resources page, and especially the books and multimedia conversations listed therein, for further information.

In the coming days, Rafael Zapata, our Chief Diversity Officer, will be sharing with you the details about the slate of programming that he, his colleagues and his staff, and departments across the University have developed for the observance of this important date on the University’s calendar.

Let us pray that the work of hundreds of thousands of Black Americans and their allies in the past year—a year bookended by the death of George Floyd and the conviction of his killer—will mark a turning point in our nation’s history. I know you join with me in the hope that the momentum that they have created will lead to the formation of that “more perfect union” of the Constitution, a more perfect union in which racial justice and equality will reign in our hearts and throughout our country.

Finally, please know that I continue to keep all of you, and especially the Black members of our community, in my daily prayers.

Sincerely,
Joseph M. McShane, S.J.

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.”

The award is given to leaders in the social work, mental health, and diversity and inclusion fields who have done significant work to advance the profession of social work. Recipients are executive-level leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to the LSWC cause and who continuously champion the work of social workers and adjacent professions.

Zapata grew up in the NYCHA Chelsea Houses just two miles from the Fordham Lincoln Center campus; much of the work he does hits close to home. The work of the coalition, he said, mirrors his own commitment to helping communities in need.

“I was truly humbled to learn that I was selected as an honoree by the Latino Social Work Coalition, an organization that focuses on the needs of some of the most vulnerable and underserved populations in our city,” he said.

The coalition was formed in 2002 with the primary goal of raising awareness of the shortage of culturally and linguistically competent professionals—Latinx social workers—needed to address the needs of New York’s diverse, largely immigrant, low-income, and rapidly growing Latinx community. Zapata said their work is vital.

“For 20 years the coalition has fostered partnerships to ensure that social workers of all backgrounds are trained to holistically serve the needs of NYC’s complex, ever-evolving, yet consistently misunderstood Latinx community,” he said. “Not simply clinical knowledge–which is vital, but how that knowledge might apply specifically to a third-generation monolingual English working-class Afro-Puerto Rican male high school student, or a 23-year-old Dominican-Ecuadorean woman who is a recent college graduate, or to a recently arrived Mexican immigrant and father of two who speaks both Spanish and Nahuatl. Their work truly aligns with Fordham’s mission and commitment to justice for others. To be recognized by such an organization for my work as an educator is a true honor.”

Since joining Fordham University in 2018, Zapata has been a champion for Black and Latinx students and faculty of color. He’s created critical partnerships with local Bronx organizations—like the ongoing lecture series with The Bronx is Reading that brought authors like Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer to campus. He’s also helped to move Fordham forward by shaping the larger conversations around diversity and inclusion on campus and beyond. 

“Rafael Zapata has shown an extraordinary and heartfelt commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion since coming to Fordham. We are grateful to have a leader of his caliber at the University, especially during this time of self-examination for the University and the nation generally,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “I congratulate him on this honor by the Latino Social Work Coalition, and I thank him once again for all he has done and continues to do to address the needs of people of color at Fordham and in our communities.”

Elaine Congress, associate dean of the Graduate School of Social Service and board member of LSWC, called Zapata a “superstar.”  Congress worked closely with Zapata for a conference in 2018, the 50th anniversary of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which changed the face of immigration in America.

“I thought he was such a leader. So often we focus on problems, but he really works on application, and that’s something he’s done at Fordham. So much of us in academia are very intellectualized, and it’s fine for us to do research and just talk about the problem. Rafael turns it into action—creating all these programs and encouraging diversity.”

“I think that part was the most painful for her. When I think about it, it’s really painful for me to think that something had happened to somebody I love, and nobody would stand up,” said Park-Taylor, an associate professor of counseling psychology and a director of training in the Graduate School of Education.

Park-Taylor shared this story as a part of a virtual community convening on anti-Asian violence and racism on March 24, which brought together more than 200 members of the Fordham community. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Asian bias, attacks, and harassment have been on the rise. Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit, documented almost 3,800 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from March 2020 to February 2021. Most recently, six Asian American women were murdered in Atlanta.

Members of the Fordham community, including Park-Taylor; Mary Balingit, associate director for diversity initiatives in the Office of Admissions; Arthur Liu, a Fordham College at Rose Hill sophomore and president of Fordham’s Asian Cultural Exchange; and Stephen Hong Sohn, Ph.D., professor and Thomas F.X. and Theresa Mullarkey Chair in Literature, along with moderator Rafael Zapata, chief diversity officer and special assistant to the president for diversity, reflected on the impact of anti-Asian violence. They discussed ways to build community and heal, and talked about possibilities for interracial solidarity.

“I think what’s a little bit different about this moment is just the level of fear that I’ve heard communicated,” Sohn said. “It’s been higher than I’ve ever anecdotally seen before, and the circumstances coming out of COVID make the experience slightly unique as well.. But I think it’s important for us to realize this is part of a longer historical genealogy of anti-Asian sentiments that has reemerged in light of these circumstances.”

Liu, who is originally from Hong Kong, said that he “thinks fondly of the United States,” but that he had to convince his friends back home that many Americans weren’t like the political leaders who were making anti-Asian remarks.

“The political rhetoric surrounding COVID-19 and what Donald Trump has said—what he said was incredibly hurtful,” Liu said.

He also said he had friends ask him if he was considering taking martial arts classes to learn how to defend himself in case he was attacked.

“You shouldn’t have to feel the need to know how to defend yourself in a civil society,” he said. “And so I was taken aback by that initially, but honestly, I’m kind of buying into the idea, because I just feel a heightened sense of awareness and being scared.”

That sense of awareness is something that Park-Taylor said she has personally grappled with.

“When I think about the experiences of racism I’ve gone through throughout my life, I can think of it as this duality—sometimes I feel really invisible. I feel like I’m not seen at all, I’m not heard and silenced,” she said. “But then there are times when I feel hyper visible. There were (times when) I’m the only Asian person in a classroom. Or instances where I’m particularly targeted because I’m an Asian woman and [because of]the stereotypes about Asian women.”

Balingit said those negative stereotypes, which have been perpetuated throughout history, were on display when the Asian women were killed in Atlanta.

“That shared experience of being an Asian woman—the negative stereotypes that say that we’re docile, and that we’re quiet, we’re apolitical, and that we are weak—I think that played into that, and to what happened last week in Atlanta,” she said.

Park-Taylor said that she hoped people now have a better understanding of microaggressions and intersectionality.

“There’s a unique positionality that an Asian woman occupies in this place and space,” she said.

Balingit said that solidarity between minority communities is essential to combating these acts and other types of racism and white supremacy.

“I think what’s important is look at the history—we have to look at the history of our solidarity first, and to Rafael (Zapata’s) point is how everything is rooted mainly in white supremacy and how this perpetuates the pitting of minorities against each other,” she said. “Let’s not let this divide us even more, especially at a time like now where we’re also very isolated already.”

Zapata also stressed the importance of bystander intervention, and noted there are trainings on the topic, such as the one offered through Hollaback!, a global movement to end harassment.

“We had been working on a panel on this issue just as the murders in Atlanta took place, which was especially devastating, and made clear for all to see what far too many AAPI people in the U.S. had been experiencing at higher rates since the beginning of the pandemic,” Zapata said. “It also made participating in the panel more of a challenge, because of the emotional toll it could take on participants. I’m so grateful to the panelists for all they shared.”

For students, staff, and faculty, who might be struggling to handle anti-Asian hate and violence, Fordham’s Counseling and Psychological Services put together a resource sheet.

Jeffrey Ng, Psy. D, director of Fordham’s Counseling and Psychological Services and a licensed clinical psychologist, encouraged those in attendance to be there for their friends, families, and colleagues who might be dealing with acts of discrimination and racism.

“The immediate thought that comes to my mind is just to take the time to listen is so important, to try to be present and to be attuned to what your POC students or colleagues or peers might be sharing with you,” said Ng, who will be moderating a second community convening on March 29. “The validation and the affirmation is so critical for the healing process.”

Please join us for two panels featuring Fordham students, faculty and staff who will reflect on the historical and contemporary impact of anti-Asian violence and racism in the U.S., strategies for healing, and the possibilities for interracial solidarity at Fordham and beyond.

PANEL 1: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021
5:00pm – 6:30pm
Click here to join Zoom meeting

Featuring:

• Mary Balingit – Associate Director for Diversity Initiatives, Office of Admissions
• Arthur Liu – FCRH ’23, Economics and Political Science double major, and President/Asian Cultural Exchange
• Jennie Park-Taylor – Associate Professor, Counseling Psychology, Graduate School of Education
• Stephen Hong Sohn – Professor, and Thomas F.X. and Theresa Mullarkey Chair in Literature, School of Arts & Sciences

Moderator: Rafael Zapata, Chief Diversity Officer, Special Assistant to the President for
Diversity, and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

PANEL 2: MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2021
5:00pm – 6:30pm
Click here to join Zoom meeting

Featuring:

• Eric Chen – Professor, Counseling Psychology, Graduate School of Education
• Arianna Chen – FCRH ’22, Political Science and English double major and Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion/United Student Government
• James Kim – Associate Professor, English, School of Arts & Sciences
• Tiffany Yip – Professor and Chair, Psychology, School of Arts & Sciences

Moderator: Jeffrey Ng, Director, Counseling and Psychological Services

Special thanks to Akane Zusho, Interim Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Professor of School Psychology; Carolyn Velazquez-Atis, Administrative Assistant to the Dean at the Graduate School of Education; and Jacqueline Gross, Senior Executive Secretary in the Office of the Provost, for their critical support in making this event happen.

Below you will find the annual report of the Chief Diversity Officer. You will find here that the University is moving forward on multiple fronts in pursuit of greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. That said, it is not everything we can do, nor is it everything we intend to do. This work—dismantling racism, especially structural racism—is neither linear nor ever finished. This is why I refer to the action plan for confronting racism and educating for justice as iterative and ongoing.

I want to speak directly to the Black people and other people of color in the Fordham community. I know this has been a difficult year for you in many ways. The killing of Black people by police, the disproportionate harm that communities of color have suffered during the pandemic, and the upswelling of racism across the country have burdened you uniquely. I know this, as does every member of the Board of Trustees, every member of the administration, and every member of the faculty and staff. While no single institution is capable of curing these social ills, I promise you that Fordham is committed to doing its part to combat racism and anti-Blackness.

We will not be able to address every issue before us in the 2020-2021 school year: there is simply too much to accomplish in a single academic year. But we will devote all the resources we can—both in funding and staff time—to this very important work.

I hope you will take heart at the progress laid out in the annual report from the Chief Diversity Officer, and trust that we are committed to doing more, always.

Sincerely,

Joseph M. McShane, S.J.

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To the Members of the University Community:

This has been a year like no other. It is with great humility that I share with you an overview of the work of our office during the past academic year while providing a vision and preliminary update regarding the critical work to come. 

The work of any office concerned with diversity, equity, and inclusion is, at its core, focused on the identification and disruption of patterns of exclusion and marginalization, and the norms, systems, and structures that produce and perpetuate them. This work also involves identifying and promoting new and existing norms, policies, and practices that foster justice, success, and belonging, consistent with our mission and most deeply held values. This is what we have striven to do since my arrival as Fordham’s inaugural Special Assistant to the President, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Chief Diversity Officer in January 2018. 

Building on the work of the previous three semesters, last year we made important strides in a number of strategic DEI areas: 

Students and Student/Community Programs 

• We supported a range of outstanding events and programs organized by and for students and student organizations, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL), the Fordham Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP), and numerous academic departments. 
• In January 2020, with the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Center for Community Engaged Learning, we launched Martin Luther King, Jr. Week, featuring events on the theme: The Radical King. 
• We launched a prototype version of a non-credit first-year experience course, New York is My Campus, at both the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses. 
• We continued to build a strong partnership with #TheBronxIsReading and the Bronx Book Festival. 

Faculty and Staff Diversity 

• Forty Five percent of all new tenured and tenure-track hires this year are persons of color, with particular success in the Arts & Sciences and the Graduate School of Education. This is the result of our continuing work in conducting active, engaged faculty searches, working closely with academic departments, and partnering with a range of disciplinary- and area-specific organizations. 
• We continued to collaborate with Human Resources to build a more robust infrastructure for administrative search and selection processes, and to partner with colleagues from Mission Integration and Planning to conduct diversity and mission-focused search committee training. 

Capacity Building 

• The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council finalized the Fordham DEI Strategic Framework to inform DEI planning across the university. 
• The Office of Admissions hired their inaugural Associate Director of Diversity Initiatives, Mary Balingit, who joined Fordham in early March 2020. 

Faculty Development and Pedagogy 

• We continued to work closely with Dr. Anne Fernald, Professor and Special Advisor to the Provost for Faculty Development, in hosting inclusive pedagogy workshops, including one at the beginning of the academic year on Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Practice. 
• Graduate students are creating and participating in anti-racist pedagogy workshops. 
• There are currently 421 Fordham faculty, graduate students, post-docs, and administrators who have taken advantage of our institutional membership in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, providing access to a range of faculty development resources. We also supported an additional 18 Fordham faculty to participate in the Faculty Success Program, bringing the total number of participants to 45 since Spring 2018. Learn about member resources. 

Policy

• In May, Fordham adopted a Test-Optional Admissions Policy for undergraduate students starting with the Fall 2021 entering class. 
• More recently, Fordham announced the adoption of a Chosen Name Policy. 

AND THEN CAME COVID-19 

In early March, the COVID-19 pandemic had an abrupt and devastating impact on our institution, city, and region. We suffered the loss of countless family and friends, as well as frayed bonds with our loved ones that make us truly human – all in order to beat back this dreadful disease. The pandemic shed light on what is both beautiful and deeply troubling about our human relations. On the one hand, there was profound compassion, courage, and collective action to care for one another in a time of crisis. On the other was xenophobia directed against Asians and Asian Americans, and the disease’s disproportionate impact on already vulnerable populations: the aged, people of color, the poor, the lonely, essential workers, caretakers, persons with disabilities, and those with already compromised immune systems. 

THE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD 

On May 25, our country was further rocked by the video recorded murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of Minneapolis Police, sparking nation-wide protests against contemporary and historic police and vigilante violence against Black people in the United States. As difficult as 2020 has been, the events of the year have allowed more and more people and institutions to witness – many for the first time – the debasing and deadly nature of systems of racial and economic inequality in the United States. As a result, they have begun to take more serious steps to address long-standing, deeply-rooted challenges at the individual and systemic level. 

THE WORK AHEAD 

While this work is certainly not new at Fordham, as evidenced by Father McShane’s November 2016 Diversity Action Plan, it has taken on a new urgency among students, faculty and staff, as well as alumni and members of the communities surrounding our campuses. 

Father McShane’s June 29th Action Plan, Addressing Racism/Educating for Justice, highlighted both ongoing priorities, as well as a bolder set of initiatives, to help us more fully live out our mission. Several initiatives are already underway, including: 

• A series of outstanding summer and fall events hosted by the Fordham Law School Center on Race, Law and Justice. 
• ASILI, in collaboration with other student organizations, offered programming over the summer via Instagram Live and other social media platforms. 
• Numerous schools, divisions, and departments are developing and implementing plans to conduct anti-racism training for their students, staff, and faculty. 
• The Office of Human Resources is currently working on developing University-wide training on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. 
• Fordham will be co-sponsoring a series of events this fall on issues of race, identity, and community in partnership with the Bronx Book Festival. 
• Advanced conversations with students, faculty, and deans from various academic departments are taking place regarding curriculum, with many potentially supported by Teaching Race Across the Curriculum (TRAC) grants. That program will be officially announced within the next two weeks. 
• The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council convened on Friday, September 4th, to begin to map out challenges, opportunities, and strategies in support of Father McShane’s June 29 Action Plan, and for on-going outreach and discussion throughout the Fordham community. 

With the fall semester officially underway, planning and strategy meetings with key stakeholders across the University are taking place with greater frequency, helping to move us from aspiration, to prioritization, to action and eventual implementation. There will be more specifics to report in the coming weeks and months, and we promise to share news of progress and relevant developments as they unfold. Importantly, we also invite your ideas to help our community heal, continue to learn and grow, and work collaboratively toward sustainable, systemic change, and racial justice. 

Yet, this will continue to be a year like no other. While we in the state, region, and city of New York have – for the time being – beaten the disease back, COVID is still among us, and must continue to be navigated with the utmost care. Moreover, the recent shooting of Jacob Blake, unarmed and in front of his children, by a Kenosha, WI, police officer, is yet another reminder of the urgency of this moment in the struggle for racial justice. Let us go forward, together, in love and solidarity, affirming in all that we do that BLACK LIVES MATTER, moved by the words and example of a previous generation of New York City youth fighting for justice: Pa’lante, Siempre Pa’lante. 

Yours Sincerely, 

Rafael A. Zapata 

Special Assistant to the President for Diversity, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs & Chief Diversity Officer 

“[George Floyd’s death] really puts us in position to look at something else that rears its ugly head all too often—not just in a macro sense, but in a micro sense at Fordham University, [in]  corporate America—and it’s called racism,” said Carter, who retired as vice president for global diversity & inclusion and chief diversity officer for Johnson & Johnson in 2015. “We have to call it what it is, and we have to understand we all are affected and afflicted by this sin called racism. And we have to come together collectively to do something about it.” 

A frequent lecturer and writer on the topics of diversity, inclusion, and social justice, Carter was a member of Fordham’s Diversity Task Force in 2015 and supports the University’s CSTEP program. He grew up in the South Bronx in a family of 10 children. His son Dayne is a 2015 Fordham graduate.

In part of the June 18 interview, Carter reflected on how his Fordham baseball cap helps protect him from people who may misjudge his identity and “take a cheap shot” at him. 

“Outside of what we do, we still have to find ways to protect who we are,” Carter said. “I often use [this]  example. I have a white cap, and it has a beautiful Fordham emblem on the front of it, and on the back of it, it says Board of Trustees. And I put that hat on like every other trustee with a sense of pride … But I also put that hat on for protection. I put that hat on because I don’t want anybody to misjudge who I am and take a cheap shot at me. Because absent that hat, I could be set up in circumstances that are unfortunate simply because of the color of my skin.” 

In his role at Fordham, Zapata focuses on the support and strategic development of practices that promote racial justice, gender equity, disability access, and full participation in the life of the University among all members of the community. He’s a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent who grew up in the Chelsea public housing projects and attended Rice High School in Harlem. 

Along with Carter, Zapata spoke about how Fordham is working on addressing racism within its ranks. 

“At Fordham, we have … one of the oldest and widely respected African and African American history programs in the country … But not everybody’s going to be an African and African American studies major,” said Zapata. “What we’re trying to do at Fordham is [figure out]how do we integrate substantively and authentically issues of race throughout the curriculum in introductory classes? It can’t be an extra class, a one-credit class, or a zero-credit class. It has to be integrated into the curriculum.”

Achieving meaningful change is a process, said Zapata. 

“What people think are the solutions are usually just the beginnings, and that includes hiring a chief diversity officer. That includes even getting a diverse student body, which we have not achieved yet. We’re still working on diversifying the faculty and administration and staff, which we’re working on. It’s a slower process. But we can’t pat ourselves on the back,” said Zapata. “We’re not there yet. And we have a long way to go.”

Watch Carter and Zapata’s full conversation in the video above.