Selected by the students, he offered advice in unedited, blunt language that left few confused as where he was coming from.

Despite being known as the Original Gangster, his advice veered toward the kind that any dad might give to their kids. He also gave career advice from the perspective of a successful businessman.

“Always be on time,” he said. “Never show up late for a check and never make anyone you want something from wait for you.”

As an actor, Ice-T is perhaps best known as Sergeant Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a role that he’s been playing continuously on primetime TV since 2006. He told theater students they were on the right path by studying the craft at a university, but also added, “What’s your backup plan?”

In drawing upon his own personal experiences, he was able to highlight the advantages that the audience of  college students already have.

“You guys are already on the right track, you’re better off than me because [at your age]I was doing everything I could do to kill myself,” he said.

Born in Newark, New Jersey to parents who both died when he very young, Ice-T said he grew up with an aunt in wealthy suburb of Los Angeles. There, he attended a junior high school and learned to “kick it with the white kids.” But in high school he began to turn to petty crime and to affiliate himself with gangs.

“Gangs are what you do when you have nothing else in your life,” he said, calling it a “weird kind of family” that he, an orphan, was attracted to. Nevertheless, he said he never smoked, did drugs, or drank alcohol, despite the peer pressure.

He said he did, however, become a teenage father of a baby girl, which spurred him to join the army to support his family. He served four years in the infantry with the Army Rangers.

“What was I trained to do? I was a sniper. I knew how to throw a grenade. But I was not set up for a job,” he said.

For four years, he said, he was a career criminal who committed robberies but never seriously hurt someone. But to escape that life, he turned to hip hop.

“I thought, maybe I could do this and get out of trouble,” he said. “I was rapping about the stuff that I was doing and unknowingly created a genre called gangsta rap.”

Some of his more incendiary lyrics were about the police beating of Rodney King; they caught the attention of then President George  H.W. Bush who denounced the rapper and which led to what he called “the deepest background check ever.”

But it was a car accident, and the subsequent 10 weeks in a hospital, that set him on a different course, he said—from being a real-life criminal to playing a cop on TV.

“You don’t guide life; you ride life,” he said. “Where you think you’ll be going now is not where you’ll end up. Always be prepared to change.”

“And you have to have the courage to stand your ground,” he said. “The ability to be who you want to be is the biggest gift you can give yourself.”

The two-day event will feature more than 100 presenters and performers taking a collective stand against sexual violence of all kinds, including dating violence, campus sexual assault, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and trafficking.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to sponsor another effort toward prevention of and education about sexual violence,” said Michele Burris, associate vice president of student affairs.

“Hosting the summit is also recognition from Take Back The Night of the strong work we’re doing in the area of sexual assault and misconduct.”

The aim of the summit—which will convene organizations and leaders in fields including education, business, counseling, healthcare, military, politics, and entertainment—is to unite diverse perspectives and backgrounds to address the problem, starting with developing a common vocabulary and understanding of sexual violence.

Keynote speakers include Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International; Katie Koestner, founder of Take Back The Night, who appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine 25 years ago as the first college student to speak out as a the victim of date rape; and Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

Participants will learn the laws and policies related to sexual violence, social media techniques for campaigns and fundraising, how to mobilize communities, and how to host vigils, speak-outs, and other events to support survivors. A “Going NOISY Celebrity SoundOff” in Fordham Prep’s Leonard Theatre will feature performances by musicians, actors, and other artists.

In addition, more than a dozen trauma-informed yoga instructors will kick off the second day of the summit with “Yoga for Strength and Healing” on Edwards Parade.

Fordham’s Stand Against Sexual Violence

The collaboration between Fordham and Take Back The Night Foundation has grown out of the University’s ongoing work to combat sexual misconduct, Burris said. Last year, Fordham was selected as one of 10 Points of Light around the country during the national observance of Take Back The Night—an event featuring survivor stories, candlelight vigils, and other effort to raise awareness about sexual assault.

The previous year, Fordham hosted a conference on campus sexual misconduct policies to train both Fordham and non-Fordham educators on how to deal with sexual misconduct.

“We are constantly working to educate students as well as faculty and staff when it comes to preventing sexual assault, reporting violence, and what to do when you see something or you yourself experience something like this,” Burris said.

A key aspect of this work, said Burris, is to regularly update the University’s policies and procedures to comply with evolving state and federal laws. As part of this structure, Campus Ministry and Counseling and Psychological Services serve as confidential reporting centers for anyone who experiences violence of any kind. The Health Center has several trained sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) on staff to offer medical support and resources to victims of assault.

Most importantly, Burris said, an administrative support person is assigned to every reported case of sexual misconduct. The point persons—one for the victim and one for the accuser—help guide each party involved through the process.

“The day the person says something, there is an administrator assigned to them to help them understand how the process works and how to report it, to go with them to every meeting, to connect them with counseling and health services, and to work with the academic deans in case they need to miss classes,” Burris said.

“There is a team of people in place to help the student get through this. That’s the number one thing—the student needs to feel supported throughout.”

For more information and to register for the International Summit to End Sexual Violence, visit the official website.

McGowan, known for his intellect, diplomacy, drive for perfection, and his Elvis impersonation, arrived at Fordham in 1969 in the midst of one of the most tumultuous times on campus.

“The Fordham community mourns the loss of one of its greats,” said Joseph M. McShane, SJ, president of the University. “Dr. McGowan was a man of tremendous vision, compassion, and integrity. His tenure at Fordham was transformative, likewise his legacy at Bellarmine is nothing less than miraculous. Our hearts go out today to his family, loved ones, and colleagues.”

“I found him a very kind, thoughtful, and intelligent administrator,” said Joseph A. O’Hare, SJ, the former president of Fordham. “He listened to people even when situations were uncomfortable.”

McGowan arrived nearly a year after African-American student demonstrators barricaded the then dean of student affairs, Martin Meade, PhD, in his office. While the New York Times called the demonstration “quick and orderly,” it was significant enough to prompt the administration to hire McGowan as an assistant dean to help Meade navigate the explosive times.

The initial focus of his work was to respond to student demands, which eventually gave birth to the African American History Department, one of the first departments to incorporate interdisciplinary work.

In Fordham: A History and Memoir, Raymond A. Schroth, SJ, writes that McGowan “put a human, credibly face for student affairs office and did not come across as too much of either a ‘cop’ or a ‘nice guy.’”

In an oral history that McGowan gave before leaving Fordham in 1990 that was reprinted in the book, McGowan reflected on how the years at Fordham changed him.

“I think I’ve become much more serious about what I am doing, as I have come to realize its importance and also its difficulty. I think what I’ve gotten at Fordham, through my experience, is the understanding of what integrity means, and what love means, and how difficult it is to be an integrated person, how difficult it is to love.”

In leaving for Bellarmine, McGowan joined a legacy of Fordham deans who went on to become college presidents throughout the country. Once in Louisville, he transformed what was then a college with 15 building and 2,500 students into a university with 67 buildings and nearly 4,000 students.

“He used to joke, ‘at my deepest level, I’m pretty shallow,’ but no way—Dr. McGowan was a complicated, impressive, wonderful, passionate human being, a giant, and he occupied enormous emotional space in each of our lives,” said Hunt Chouteau Helm, PhD, vice president for communications and public affairs at Bellarmine. “He was a transformational University president. He was presidential. And, he was Elvis.”

Though he left Fordham more than 20 years before the 2013 interview, McGowan said he still held great affection for his time at the University.

“I will forever love Fordham University and celebrate its Catholic culture and ethos,” he said. “It came down to this DNA, it’s in the Fordham genome, which is the recognition of the intrinsic value of every person.”

It was also an ethos that he held personally.

“He was off-the-charts demanding when it came to ‘the pursuit of excellence in everything we do,’” said Chouteau Helm. “But if there was a real worry in your personal life—or something great to celebrate—he could not possibly have been more present or more caring.”