Last summer, in response to a call from Pope Francis to “take concrete actions in the care of our common home,” Fordham published the Laudato Si’ Action Plan.

The document set forth an ambitious seven-year plan for the University that touches on everything from facilities and curriculum to student involvement, all with the ultimate goal of combating climate change.

Just this month, Fordham received a $50 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency that the University will use to team up with community partners to address the issue.

Below are a few of the sustainability-related efforts, developments, and accomplishments that took place in the final quarter of 2023. Look for more updates in 2024!

Facilities

Going Hybrid
On Oct. 23, three hybrid minivans, including a wheelchair-accessible minivan, joined the fleet of Fordham’s Ram Vans. They replace gas-powered minivans previously used for wheelchair-accessible requests, trips to the Calder Center, and charter trip services. The vans use less gas, produce less CO₂, and can run up to 560 miles on one tank of gas.

Dining

Micro Farms
This fall, Aramark installed vertical hydroponic units called Babylon Micro Farms at dining halls on the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses. They grow fresh greens and herbs in a water-based solution (instead of soil, which requires frequent watering.) The greens are harvested for use in dining hall dishes and special student events.

Compared to traditional methods, each micro farm uses 96% less water, zero pesticides, 65% less fertilizer, and zero miles to transport. As a result, between January and June 2023, using them allowed Fordham to save 19,247 gallons of water, prevent 2.5 pounds of nitrogen from entering waterways, and reduce 32 pounds of food waste.

Academics

In the Classroom
Six undergraduate community-engaged learning classes offered in the Fall 2023 semester featured elements promoting sustainability: Anthropology of Food (Anthropology), Economics and Ecology of Food Systems (Economics), Thinking Visually (Visual Arts), Human Physiology (Biology), Consumer Behavior (Gabelli School of Business), and Leadership Integrated Project (Gabelli School of Business). At Fordham Law School, environmental law courses offered this semester included Environmental Law and Energy Law.

Fordham Law students wrote blog posts for the school’s Environmental Law Review on the Flint and Jackson water crises, NYC Local Law 97, the environmental damage caused by the fashion industry, and cell-cultivated meats.

Reading Laudato Si’
The Curran Center for American Catholic Studies held three seminars on Zoom this semester dedicated to reading Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and the 2023 follow-up, Laudate Deum. Visit the center’s website for more information on future seminars.

A Systems Approach
This semester, the Social Innovation Collaboratory and Career Center hosted a collaborative workshop on systems thinking, focused mainly on sustainability. The workshops, which were open to all undergraduate students, allowed them to explore the practice and application of systems thinking, which is rooted in a holistic approach to society’s more complex issues. The process is attractive to companies since it’s rooted in the idea of looking at complex problems with a new perspective. Contact Sadibou Sylla at the Collaborary for information on future workshops.

Students Take the Lead

Green Week: United Student Government sponsored Fordham College at Rose Hill’s Sustainability Week in November. It featured the Fordham Flea Pop-Up as well as a seminar on composting basics.

The Lincoln Center Environmental Club held a clean makeup tabling event on Nov. 30 to showcase the benefits of cruelty-free and clean makeup.

Community Engagement

As part of the Reimagine the Cross Bronx campaign, Fordham staff conducted weekend “walkshops” in the neighborhoods surrounding the highway. Funding came from a $25,000 grant from the New York City Department (DOT) that the Center for Community Engaged Learning received in October.

Fordham staff and students also held special Halloween and Thanksgiving-themed events at the Highbridge Farmers Market and community space, which was recently expanded thanks to an AARP grant.

Faculty News

Marc Conte, Ph.D., professor of economics, published “Unequal Climate Impacts on Global Values of Natural Capital” in the journal Nature.

Stephen Holler, Ph.D., associate professor of physics, published “Education for Environmental Justice: The Fordham Regional Environmental Sensor for Healthy Air,” in the journal Social Sciences.

David Gibson, director of the Center for Religion and Culture (CRC), received $84,840 from the Porticus Foundation for the annual conference The Way Forward: Laudato Si’, Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church. The conference will take place in February at the University of San Diego.

Isaie Dougnon, Ph.D., associate professor of French and Francophone Studies and International Humanitarian Affairs, received $24,790 from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for research based on a local perspective on water and migration in West Africa.

Alumni

Giselle Schmitz, GSAS ’22, spent this fall working with the Coral Triangle Center in Bali, Indonesia—a nonprofit that connects governments, corporations, and local groups to help strengthen marine resources in the region.

In Case You Missed It

It was a busy fall in terms of sustainability efforts! Here are some stories Fordham News covered that you may have missed: In October, the annual Fordham Women’s Summit focused on sustainability.  In our theology department, a lecture for first-year students featuring Union Theological Seminary professor John J. Thatamanil connected religious supremacy to the destruction of the natural world. Four students have joined the Office of Facilities Management’s newly created internship program, while alumni are helping protect New York City’s birds and helping farmers adapt to climate change. The Gabelli School of Business hosted two Nobel Laureates at a conference on ESG.  At the Law School, more than 20 students gathered in Central Park for a clean-up event for the annual Public Service Day, while alumna Melinda Baglio was honored for being a changemaker in the clean energy field.

Upcoming Events

Faculty Happy Hour: Sustainability and Environmental Justice
Open to all faculty interested in sharing ideas about sustainability.
Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. RSVP: Julie Gafney, [email protected]

STEM Career Fair, Thursday, Feb. 15, Great Hall, Rose Hill Campus. Visit the Fordham Career Center next month for details.

Women of Color in STEM Career Panel, Wednesday, Feb. 28, Virtual. Visit the Fordham Career Center next month for details.

Social Impact and Non-Profit Micro-Fair, Thursday, March 14, 12th Floor Lounge, Lowenstein Center, Lincoln Center campus. Visit the Fordham Career Center next month for details.

Save the Date:
Climate Action Summit with President Tetlow: April 8, Rose Hill Campus

We’d Love to Hear From You!

Do you have a sustainability-related event, development, or news item you’d like to share? Contact Patrick Verel at [email protected].

Spearheading the donation effort was Olga Baez, an administrative assistant in Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s residential life office.

“I grew up in the Bronx … It doesn’t make sense for us not to coordinate with different nonprofits to make sure that these items are going to people in need,” said Baez. “We’re supporting the Bronx—we’re supporting different organizations that are able to help people.”

About 30 plastic bags of clothes, enough residential hall items to fill a truck, and several bags of nonperishable items were distributed to six nonprofit organizations across New York City. Lightly used mini fridges were given to high school seniors at the Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology and the Mott Haven Educational Campus. Other donated items include kitchenware, cleaning supplies, bed linens, hangers, shoes, storage containers, mirrors, and microwaves.

In years past, students dropped off clothing donations in Goodwill bins and nonperishable snacks at the end of the academic year. But this year—the third consecutive year that Lincoln Center has hosted a student donation drive—is different.

“This year, we went a little bigger,” Baez said. “We allotted one of the student lounges [in McMahon]for all the items to be donated there. We used one of the student lounges at McKeon as well.”

Some items were shuttled via Ram Van to a homeless shelter for mothers and their children in the Bronx. Others were given to Grad Bag, an organization that gives lightly used residential hall items to incoming first-year college students from low-income households.

Bridge Haven Family Traditional Residence, a transitional shelter for families, was another recipient of the donated household items.

“The goal is for them to move into their own space,” Baez said. “That’s why a lot of the items, like the kitchenware, mirrors, and microwaves, are so useful for them.”

Emaeyak Ekanem, the executive director of Christ Disciples Int’l Ministries, Inc., a church in the Bronx that received some of the donations, said many of the people in the church’s community “don’t have access” to these household items that so many people take for granted.  Fordham’s donation, he said, “helps to further our mission of providing for the needy in the community.”

At Rose Hill, Public Safety will operate off-campus shuttles between the campus and the D-train stop at Fordham Road/Grand Concourse from 10 p.m. Saturday evening until 5 a.m. Sunday morning.

All campuses will otherwise operate on their normal schedules.

As always, members of the University community should take local conditions into account when traveling to or from campus. Faculty, students and staff should call any of the following numbers for the latest campus weather-related information:

(718) 817-5555
(212) 636-7777
(800) 280-7669 [(800) 280-SNOW]
(877) 375-4357 [(877) 375-HELP]

In an emergency, please call Fordham Public Safety at (718) 817-2222.

This message will be updated as necessary during the storm.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding,

John Carroll, Associate Vice President
Fordham University Public Safety

Pictured above, Phil Bedard, Megan Czachor, Katharine Dixon, and Itunu Ademoyo, members of Fordham’s Circle K service organization, celebrate their completion of the race.

The Fordham students were accompanied by Rosemary DeJulio, Ph.D., and Gabelli School staff adviser Susan Brucculeri, two members of Fordham Kiwanis who sponsor Circle K service projects at Murray Weigel Hall and the Rose Hill Apartments.

Fordham representatives helped the event raise over $450,000.

— Mary Awad

“The stereotype that all New York City drivers are violent is not true,” said Brian Heise, a senior in Fordham College at Rose Hill.

As one of 81 student drivers who pilot Ram Vans through the narrow streets and congested expressways of Manhattan and the Bronx, he speaks from experience. But that was not always the case.

Heise grew up in small-town Missouri, where traffic was rare and stoplights were few. “I had to transition from highways with only two lanes to highways with four lanes just in my direction and another five lanes of oncoming traffic,” he said. “My first few shifts were hectic, to say the least.”

Ram Vans are unique. Fordham is the only school in the country that uses student drivers for the bulk of its transportation needs, said Marc Canton (FCRH ’01, GBA ’08), director of inter-campus transportation.

“Very few schools have student drivers, and those that do, use them mostly as supplemental drivers for shuttle trips around campus. I have yet to find a system similar to ours,” Canton said.

Ram Van drivers maintain an excellent safety record thanks to a rigorous driver-certification procedure coupled with road smarts that come with experience behind the wheel.

“In the van, you think you have intimidation power because you are bigger than everyone else, but taxis and 18-wheelers don’t care,” said Elizabeth Burans, a junior in Fordham College at Rose Hill. “It’s sort of every man for himself, where you have to hold your ground but avoid aggression at the same time.”

Over the past year, Canton’s office has made several upgrades to the Ram Van fleet, making it among the safest and most advanced in the nation.

• Last November, the University introduced its first wheelchair-accessible Ram Van. The vehicle is equipped with a chair lift and can hold as many as three wheelchair users or 12 non-wheelchair passengers. All drivers have been trained to operate the van’s lift and fastening devices.

• As vehicles in the Ram Van fleet are gradually replaced, each new van will include several additional safety features, such as a reinforced roof, stronger and more user-friendly lap and shoulder harnesses, and reinforced seat bracketing. These upgrades augment the existing safety features found on all vans, including stability control, an extended wheelbase and side-impact air bags.

• The most noticeable change is that all new models are painted white. GMC no longer produces maroon vans, and the cost of a custom paint job for each vehicle would be inefficient and expensive. White was chosen over other available colors because it is easily visible to other drivers, Canton said.

• Although there is no mass-produced 15-passenger vehicle that meets the University’s mandate for green technology, Fordham has special-ordered several vans that can run on biodiesel fuel. Not only will this reduce the University’s carbon footprint, it will increase fuel efficiency.

“We plan to analyze the vehicle’s fuel efficiency, maintenance costs and other characteristics and compare it with its gas-engine cousin,” Canton said. He added that the next Ram Van innovation might include vehicles powered by natural gas or solar power.

Popular opinion attributes the rise of a largely student-run transportation service, which began in 1981, to George J. McMahon, S.J., vice president for administration at Fordham from 1975 to 1987. He fostered the idea of bridging the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses with a direct shuttle to create a more cohesive community.

“At that time, Fordham’s student population drew predominantly from the middle class, and many were commuters,” Canton said. These students needed to work during the school year to make ends meet. “Using students to drive gave them an opportunity to earn some extra money.”

The student drivers earn every penny, considering the road and traffic conditions they grapple with daily and the responsibility they shoulder for the safety of their passengers.

T.J. Farrell, a student in the Graduate School of Education, noted that drivers gain a lot of patience. “You just have to go with the flow because you never know [what might happen]. It’s New York City,” he said.

Farrell, who considers himself a night owl by nature, has been driving night shifts and handling the late hours.

He recalled signing up for a late shift under the assumption that there would be no traffic at 11 p.m.

“Well, I sat in the worst traffic I have ever sat in,” Farrell said. “Sometimes you get worse traffic late on a Thursday night than you do at 5 p.m. on a weekday.”

As an EMS ambulance driver during his undergraduate days at Fordham, Farrell picked up useful skills in navigating larger vehicles through New York.

“An EMS ambulance and a Ram Van are comparable; the only differences are weight and height,” Farrell said. The back of an ambulance is built to hold equipment, whereas a Ram Van is built to carry more passengers. Both vehicles hold the same safety precautions in that the people in the back are your responsibility.”

As it has developed over the decades, the Ram Van has become a vital service to the entire University. “Not only students, but faculty and University administrators depend on us to get them where they need to go,” Farrell said. “That’s a big part of being a Ram Van driver.”

Pick-Up/Drop-Off points:
Lincoln Center: 60^th St. & Columbus Ave. (same location as regular Ram Van service).
Penn Station: The North side of 31^st St. off the corner of 7^th Ave.
Port Authority: The North side of 42^nd St. off the corner of 9^th Ave. (near the Holland House Hotel)

The Shuttle will depart Lincoln Center, pick up at Penn Station, continue to the Port Authority and then continue back to Lincoln Center.

In the event of a strike, service will be offered Monday 12/19 through Thursday 12/22. Service will only be offered while the strike is ongoing on the above stated days. There will be no charge for this service; however a valid Fordham ID will be required to board.

For information about New York City’s MTA Bus & Subway Strike Contingency Plan, access the New York City Alternative Transportation Information Center.