Fifteen students, alumni, and friends of the University of Pretoria lived at the Rose Hill campus for five weeks. In the evening, they took business classes taught by Fordham faculty. During the day, they visited prestigious companies in guided tours led by Fordham alumni who now work at those companies, including Jason Caldwell, GABELLI ’10,’17, GSAS ’11, who serves as a vice president of private wealth management at Goldman Sachs; Darlene Checo-Nuñez, FCRH ’17, an account manager at Bloomberg LP; and Brian Joyce, GABELLI ’98, a managing director at Nasdaq. 

“This program far transcends the traditional classroom pedagogy,” Vusi Maupa, a 33-year-old senior policy analyst at the National Treasury of South Africa, wrote in an email. “We had immeasurable privileges of interacting with senior executives and gained tremendous insight into [their work].” 

Maupa, who graduated from the University of Pretoria with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, said that he participated in the exchange program to learn how to manage financial and economic risks and opportunities in his country and beyond. He said those lessons will help him at his job, where he works in the fiscal policy unit.

“Before the program, I had limited knowledge of strategic financial management and political risk analysis. I am now confident with my understanding and knowledge of these subjects. I will be using the knowledge and skills gained in my professional work,” said Maupa. 

Yuvana Jaichand, a 22-year-old graduate student who is studying econometrics, said that the most interesting part of the program was visiting top companies in the business sector. 

“It is interesting to see how they manage to maneuver through challenges and how they come up with various creative solutions to market gaps,” she wrote in an email. “It was surprising to see how big firms/companies don’t have it figured out all the time and how they learn as they progress.” 

Jaichand, who never visited the U.S. before this summer, said that the program has expanded her perspective on the world. 

“I saw this program as an opportunity to experience the world in a new light and to broaden my knowledge beyond an academic environment,” said Jaichand, who is working toward becoming an econometrician or data scientist. “Fordham has provided the opportunity to experience New York, which is known by many as the financial hub of the world, firsthand.” 

Besides learning about the American business world, the South African students used their first trip to the United States to explore New York City. 

Booi Themeli, Ph.D., director of the exchange program and an associate professor of economics at Fordham, said they were invited to watch the annual Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks show by Gregory Stewart, a deputy inspector for the New York City Police Department.

Shortly before the show began, they met the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams. They also saw The Lion King on Broadway, where original cast member Ron Kunene, a friend of Themeli’s, introduced them to some of the main performers, including the actor who plays Mufasa. In addition, the students visited Boston for a weekend, where they toured Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston College. 

The Fordham-University of Pretoria student exchange program was launched in 2007 by the Most Reverend Desmond Mpilo Tutu—archbishop emeritus of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa and a 1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient who was awarded an honorary doctorate from Fordham in 2005—who aimed to empower the next generation of leaders, said Themeli. 

During past visits, graduate students from South Africa have taken classes at several Fordham schools, such as the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Social Service, and participated in on-campus festivities like the annual Dagger John Day pie-eating contest. Outside the classroom, the students have met people who run world-famous companies and gained a firsthand look at the American way of doing business. The partnership between Fordham and the University of Pretoria has also expanded to include the Ubuntu program, a semester-long student exchange program for undergraduates.

In turn, Fordham graduate students have studied in South Africa, where they engaged with foreign political advisers and policymakers and conducted data analyses with students from across the world. In addition, they attended social events where they met a former South African first lady and CEOs of major banks in South Africa. In August, 12 IPED students will visit the University of Pretoria and take business classes with some of the same students who visited Fordham this summer.

“This program represents one of the focal points of Fordham’s internationalization efforts,” Themeli wrote in an email. “It continues to provide opportunities to South African and Fordham students to study in South Africa and the U.S, thus enabling them to gain an understanding of other cultures that are important in their chosen fields of study. In addition, the program is in line with Fordham’s mission to contribute to economic development and social transformation of South Africa and the rest of the African continent.”

Father Anderson believes himself to be a member of the last category.

“Within my family, I’m convinced that my maternal great-grandfather was a person of color,” he said, adding that two years ago he found out that his descendants owned slaves.

“That’s the story of the South. Black families know it and can see it, but white families pretend it never touched them.”

A Revelation Back Home

Father Anderson’s revelation occurred during a trip to his native New Orleans in 2015, when he took his parents to visit the nearby Whitney Plantation Museum. Unlike many plantation museums, the Whitney doesn’t celebrate the “genteel South,” but focuses on the history and experience of slavery, he said. While reading about the plantation’s founding family, he came across a familiar name: Haydel. It is the same name as his mother’s descendants. And the family members, it turned out, are his direct ancestors.

John Cummings, the museum’s owner, took Father Anderson and his family on a tour of the grounds, where the two began a discussion about the Catholic Church’s social justice values and its history with slavery. The discussion eventually evolved into a challenge via a question from Cummings to Anderson: What are the Jesuits and the Catholic Church doing to help right the past wrongs of slavery?

“Because I was the descendent of a slave-owning family, and because John Cummings challenged me and asked ‘What are you doing?’ I wanted to do an academic project that raised the questions he asked. I can’t change the world, but I can, in my own small way, raise the consciousness of Catholics regarding race relations.”

Father Anderson organized a symposium, Slavery on the Cross, held this past April at Fordham. He said that the speakers at the conference addressed the questions directly, but also took the issues of slavery, segregation, and bigotry beyond the local level and examined them as a national and international issue as well.

With the conference fresh in his mind, this past June Father Anderson went to South Africa to continue his research on the Catholic Church’s response to the nation’s apartheid in the post-World-War-II years. (He’s been doing research in South Africa every year since 2004.) There, Catholicism is a minority religion in what is primarily a Protestant country, a dynamic that Father Anderson could relate to, having grown up as a Catholic in the mostly Protestant city of Atlanta, Georgia.

South African Parallels 

He examined how South Africa’s governing National Party attempted to control the education of the black population through the Bantu Education Act of 1953. After the act was passed, black South Africans’ educational opportunities were restricted, he said. The government, in effect, only allowed blacks to receive an education that was comparable to, say, what would be the 4th or 5th-grade level in the United States. Very few black South Africans continued on to secondary or tertiary levels.

“The government did not want the Native peoples to get the idea that they would follow the same educational track as the Europeans, a track that prepared them for college,” he said. “There was no way they were going to be allowed to be equals.”

The ban was a seminal event for the Catholic Church because its mission in South Africa was anchored in “evangelization through education,” he said. The government forced missionaries operating schools (both Protestants and Catholics) to take a stand: Either give up control of their educational institutions or assume full financial responsibility for them. Up to this point in time, the faith-based schools had received government subsidies.

The Catholic Church would not relinquish control of its mission-based schools, said Father Anderson. It continued to support educating the black population until it became financially unsustainable in the mid-1960s.

The result of those educational restrictions, said Father Anderson, was the creation of a “permanent underclass” that will take several generations to undo.

Navigating Faith as a Minority

“What drew me to South Africa is that Catholics were a minority in a Protestant world. I’m interested in questions of how believers navigate in that world. What do you do when you know you’re not really welcome?” Furthermore, “how does a religious body practice what it preaches in an inhospitable environment? Does it follow its precepts and teachings, or does it compromise? And if it compromises, how does it justify doing so?”

He said his love of the Catholic Church, his Jesuit foundation, his experience living as a Catholic among Protestants in Atlanta,, and his recent discoveries about his own ancestry have allowed him to look more deeply at the race question and what it means to be an outsider. He continues to probe difficult questions as they relate to places and institutions he cares most about, particularly the Church and its role in matters of slavery, segregation, and apartheid.

“Racial identity is a construct, so regardless of one’s racial background, the one unifying factor is Catholicism,” he said. “One of the precepts of the Church is the unity of the human race, because we’re all children of God. If you accept that, then there’s no room for separation or segregation. That is the antithesis of Catholic thought.”

Allison Lee graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill on May 21 and left two days later to lead a group of Global Outreach (GO) students on a service and immersion project in the nation’s second-most-populous city. The students and one chaperone spent 11 days experiencing the food and local customs, working with local groups, and being educated about the inequalities and injustices left over from South Africa’s apartheid.

Lee called the experience “eye-opening.”

The group traveled among city settlements, impoverished townships, and the outlying Cederberg mountains, where they learned firsthand about injustices the locals face. They experienced local culture, trying exotic foods like kudu (antelope), crocodile, apricot mebos, and a homemade meal from a local cook. During a guided tour of the region, they watched, and then learned, local tribal dances.

Working with the nonprofit organization Mother’s Unite and Grandmothers Against Poverty & AIDS (GAPA), students engaged in discussions with local leaders working to better their community. In turn, they learned how to bring back these ideals to improve their own communities, said student Ian Roden.

“There’s people stepping up and getting active and making a difference every single day,” said Roden, a rising junior majoring in journalism.

The group also worked with the Elisabethfontein school and the Lavender Hill school to teach prepared lesson plans. Roden said GO students helped the schools’ teachers educate the children, played games, and discussed major issues facing the community, such as bullying and HIV/AIDS.

Lee, an education major just launching her career in Teach for America, said interacting with the children was a powerful and emotional experience.

“The students had so much hope and optimism” despite statistics that show that most [students]drop out, she said. “Their teacher spoke passionately about the schools. It was touching that he believed in his students so much.”

For GO chaperone AnnMarie Boccuzzi, GABELLI ’10, GSS ’16, assistant director for regional outreach in the Office of Alumni Relations, the highlight of the trip was watching Fordham students “expand their vision of the world.”

“Watching the students go through the transformation from being unaware of the social justice issues at hand to being bothered by what they were experiencing had a huge impact on me,” Boccuzzi said. “We all came into this project at different points in our lives, but you find you’re all grounded by what you’re learning.”

“GO has pushed me to pursue social justice and equality, which will always be present in my mind,” Lee said. “It’s definitely ‘ruined my life’ in the best way.”

– Nadine DeNinno

“I’m going back home as a challenged human being, looking for what I can actually do to improve my country and my sphere of influence,” said Rahulani, an economist who now wants to work on improving local government in South Africa.

His classmates reported the same kind of changed outlook after taking part in the growing, thriving summer program run by Fordham and the University of Pretoria. Ending in early July, the program immersed the students in all things New York—from the diversity of the Bronx to the rarefied precincts of international business, where they got to directly question the people who run world-famous companies.

“It’s companies that we work with, but we’re so far removed from them,” said Lulama Booi, a chartered accountant whose study tour was arranged by the African Women Chartered Accountants Forum. “The mix of the theoretical classwork that we do and the site visits has been amazing.”

Begun five years ago with nine economics students, this summer the program hosted 24 students and grew more diverse. While some were pursuing fourth-year honors undergraduate studies (college is three years in South Africa), others were professionals who were sent by their employers.

Most took classes in strategic financial management and political risk analysis through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. But six took classes at the Graduate School of Education, and next year some will attend the Graduate School of Social Service, said Booi Themeli, PhD, economics professor and director of Fordham’s collaborations with the University of Pretoria.

“Everybody is thinking of how we can broaden the collaboration,” he said.

The six-week program is one of many educational exchanges between the two universities—including the semester-long Ubuntu program for Fordham students at the University of Pretoria—that are growing Fordham’s reputation in South Africa, Themeli said.

“The Fordham brand in South Africa is much bigger than maybe even Harvard,” he said.

Harvard, in fact, was one of the students’ stops during an excursion to Boston. They also traveled to Washington, D.C., visiting the International Monetary Fund and seeing other sights. In New York they visited companies including Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, and Moody’s, where they spoke to the analyst responsible for South Africa’s credit rating.

Seeing their country from the outside gave some of them new ideas about what they want for it. Anri Oberholzer, an aspiring trader, learned that she’d like to eventually play a role in enhancing the country’s educational system. Rahulani, an economist with the South African Reserve Bank, wants to start an institute to help local governments deliver better services.

“With the sort of exposure that I’m getting here, and with the people that I’m meeting here in lectures, they inspire that confidence that actually I can do this,” he said.

In addition to visiting business sites, they soaked up the city through visits to Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo, and other landmark locations. Some of Fordham’s summertime rites also made an impression, like the pie-eating contest at the University’s Dagger John Day, an employee party held in June. “In South Africa we don’t have things like that,” said Nick Mamabolo, who won.

Also interesting to the South Africans was Fordham’s Jubilee reunion weekend, in which alumni from as far back as 1959 returned to campus.

“It has been an eye-opening experience,” said Theriso Pete, an investment analyst. “It was unbelievable, seeing people who were here so long ago and they still love this place, they still come back to this place.”

“We realize how fortunate we’ve been to be here at Fordham,” said Lulama Booi. “What I’ve realized, being here, is that Fordham is maybe a great picture for us of New York.”

From L-R, Evan Heib, Kevin Munguia, Jake Penders, Kira Forrester, and R. Bentley Anderson, S.J.
Contributed Photo

Fordham students are learning about South Africa’s future from stories of its past.

Four Fordham undergraduate students and R. Bentley Anderson, S.J, associate chair of the department of African and African American Studies, traveled to South Africa as part of a three-week study tour. The group traversed the southernmost region of the African continent, starting in Cape Town and making their way eastward to Mossel Bay, Grahamstown, Kimberley, Pretoria, and Johannesburg.

The three-week course focused on the history of South Africa, from foreign invasion to the diamond trade to Apartheid, by giving students the opportunity to experience the culture and landscape firsthand.

As the tour concluded back in Cape Town, the group was able to visit Robben Island and the political prison that housed numerous opponents of Apartheid, including Nelson Mandela. Here, the students were able to reflect on their journey and understand how the history of South Africa is shaping the country we see today.

–Rachel Roman

If South Africa is the next big thing for business, Fordham students will know for sure.

Father Egan, a native of Cape Town, was referring to the Emerging Markets program being offered by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ (GSAS) economics department. It is part of two exchange programs being offered by Fordham in partnership with the University of Pretoria.

Father Egan acts as both programs’ spiritual liaison.

For undergraduates, Fordham College at Rose Hill runs the Ubuntu Program, a service-learning program designed to allow students to take credit courses while providing opportunities for public service.

The relatively quick success of the two Fordham programs bodes well for future endeavors, said Dean Nancy Busch, Ph.D., dean of GSAS and Fordham’s chief research officer. She said the University is already looking to build on new relationships across several departments and disciplines, including history, theology, biology, post-doctorate research in genetics, and agriculture sciences. In a very customized approach, individual Fordham graduate students will be matched up with Pretoria mentors, and vice versa.

The two initial programs got their start in 2008 after Fikile Magubane, South Africa’s then-consul general in New York, reached out to several universities, including Fordham, in an effort to build exchanges.

“We turned out to be the most aggressive institution and immediately sent a delegation,” said Booi Themeli, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor and coordinator of both programs.

South Africa-born Themeli said that the University of Pretoria, once a “breeding ground” for apartheid leadership, now runs an internationally respected business school, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, which is attractive to Fordham for promoting student exchange.

But for all the changes, South Africa remains a country in flux. Divisions that were once racial are now economic, said Dominick Salvatore, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Economics, chair of the department and director of its graduate program.

Salvatore headed to Pretoria this month on an honorary professorship, and will be giving a series of lectures at the university and throughout the country. The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, a South African think tank comprising research and policymaking experts, has invited him to be a fellow.

“Unfortunately, not much improvement has been made since apartheid. Inequality is almost as high as it was before,” said Salvatore.

Despite a youth unemployment rate hovering at 47 percent, and an overall unemployment rate near 20 percent, South Africa has growth opportunities, said Salvatore. The economy is the most advanced in Africa and has the highest per-capita income on the continent, barring oil-rich Libya.

“South Africa faces a duality. They have a superstructure that is advanced,” Salvatore said, referencing healthy banking and business sectors and a well-developed infrastructure, “but most of the economy is not advanced.”

The problems are primarily twofold: slow growth and disenfranchised youth. He proposed a two-track solution, one that addresses growth and calls for immediate intervention to address the youth crisis.

“The society will need to grow fast, but growth is a long-term process,” he said. “However, the youth problem can’t wait. They need to do something immediately; it’s a volcano ready to explode.”

Salvatore also said that the country’s powerful unions, once major players in the struggle against apartheid, will need to make compromises with businesses if the country is to move forward.

With poverty and AIDS among the country’s seemingly intractable problems, a service-learning program like Ubuntu is a natural fit, but why study economics in Pretoria and not London or Frankfurt?

“To put it bluntly, you could study in big world financial capitals, but [by]going to South Africa you see the other side,” said Father Egan. “The great games of the global economy come at a great cost, you can see that here in stark relief, and [you can]reflect on those decisions.”

Father Egan prepares Fordham students for their journey through beginning and end-of-term retreats. He teaches a core course in the Ubuntu program, The Story of South Africa, in which students read books by J.M. Coetzee and André Brink, and watch films like Cry Freedom.

Once initiated, the Fordham students bring New York-style integration to Pretoria.
“We’re in a melting pot, so cultural diversity is already here, we know about it, and the new South Africa is in transition to what we already have,” said Themeli.

The Emerging Markets master’s program students—half from Pretoria and half from Fordham—compare data on the South African economy with other emerging and established markets. Each student writes a paper on the nation’s economic prospects.

But what at first glance appears to be a simple economics lab holds underlying lessons, said Father Egan.

“Many of the [South African] students that the Fordham students meet are from poor areas,” he said. “I hope the programs will bring out the element of justice. It’s not that they should find a simplistic solution, but that they develop a desire to find a solution.”

Goldstone, who held Fordham’s William Hughes Mulligan Chair in International Human Rights in 2004, and who will return to the Law School as a visitor next year, played a central role in helping end apartheid in South Africa. In 1991, he chaired South Africa’s Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation, which came to be known as the Goldstone Commission. The commission revealed human rights abuses perpetrated by security forces, and its findings undermined the system of apartheid.

From 1994 to 2003, he served as a judge on the South African Constitutional Court.  During that time, the court played a key role in  the nation’s peaceful transition from apartheid, through an interim constitution, to a constitutional democracy, and helped to establish a foundation for judicial independence in South Africa.