“I’m talking about universities and this guy next to me says, ‘Why don’t you apply to Fordham?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know Fordham.’” The guy had graduated from Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business, and his enthusiasm sparked Vidal Calvo’s own interest in the University, he said. “I started investigating … the majors and the community, and actually I found out that it’s a great school in New York City, with a university campus. And it was something I was very interested in.”

Now a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, after earning enough credits a year early, Vidal Calvo is double majoring in political science and economics, and he’s an active member of the campus community. He said going to school thousands of miles from home can be challenging, but his “neighborly and welcoming” classmates helped him adjust to college life in a new country.

“I made my best friends the first week that I got here,” he said. “I remember asking in the Queen’s Court chat, ‘Does anyone have a cable for a speaker, because I left mine at home?’ And two guys immediately came to my room with a cable—and they are now my roommates.”

Becoming a Student Leader

Simply feeling welcomed and finding a second home at Fordham wasn’t enough for Vidal Calvo. As a sophomore, he ran for United Student Government (USG) and was elected to serve as a class senator, the only international student to do so that year. And in April 2022, he was elected president of USG at Rose Hill, a position he currently holds.

He’s also an active member of the Fordham Model U.N. team that placed third in February at this year’s Harvard National Model United Nations, widely regarded as the field’s most prestigious competition in the U.S. The Fordham group also recently participated in the Harvard World Model United Nations in Paris, France, Vidal Calvo said, where they won four awards, including one he shared with Fordham College at Rose Hill junior Alexander Yankovsky. The pair took home one of the top awards in diplomacy for their work “representing” Togo on a mock committee on decolonization.

Previously, Vidal Calvo was involved with with Fordham’s mock trial and debate clubs, and the Fordham Political Review. And last October, Vidal Calvo was one of only two students selected to speak at Fordham President Tania Tetlow’s inauguration ceremony.

“We ask you to inspire the generations to come,” he said on behalf of his classmates, “and to teach students principles of honesty and integrity while preserving Fordham’s most remarkable achievement: caring about graduating good people before people with good degrees.”

In his leadership role, Vidal Calvo has advocated for more resources for international students, pushed to expand food options on campus, and worked to improve communications between USG and students, particularly through social media.

“I’ve always had a passion for public service since I was in high school,” he said. “I used to do a lot of volunteering back at home to try to help lower-income neighborhoods, the least advantaged back in Venezuela.”

After graduating from Fordham, he will pursue a master’s degree at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy before aiming to “go back home to try to be a politician there.” In the meantime, studying at Fordham has given him opportunities he couldn’t get in Venezuela, he said. “It’s this idea of free thought, freedom—this is a space where you can thrive and be safe. Those things are possible here; back at home they’re not.”

Advice for International Students

At Fordham, international students make up about 7% of the undergraduate student population, and they come from about 90 countries. Vidal Calvo said he tells incoming students to “be open to the possibilities” of making lifelong friends as they adjust to college life in the U.S. And he encourages them to share their cultural traditions with their classmates.

“That’s what makes you special,” he said. “Recognize that as a valid power for everything you’re going to do at Fordham and in the community.”

“Professor Jeannine Hill Fletcher taught me that there are so many more dimensions to religion and theology than I originally thought, and that there is space for women in theology—an important message as a woman in theology myself,” she said.

She’s taken that lesson to heart: Ruiz, currently a student at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), hopes to one day work at a nongovernmental organization, or in government, focusing specifically on creating policies that improve the lives of women.

What do you think you got at Fordham that you couldn’t have gotten elsewhere?
Here’s a story that I like to tell: I arrived at Fordham a characteristically nervous freshman, daunted by a new city and the prospect of making social connections. On my way to audition for a club, I realized that I had no idea how to print the script I needed for my audition. Frantically, I approached an upperclassman to ask for help. Not only did he sit with me to figure out how to set up my printing account, he used his own credit to help me print my script. This unprecedented gesture exemplified the kindness and care that defines the Fordham community.

Academically, Fordham teaches its students to be deeply informed and concerned about injustices in the world, but also deeply moved to do something about them. Across disciplines, Fordham professors teach students not only about important issues in our communities but inspire their students to make a difference.

What Fordham course has had the greatest influence on you and your career path so far? How and why was it so influential?
Major Developments in American Culture, taught by Professor Diane Detournay. From academic discourse to everyday news, we often throw around terms like “systemic inequality,” “injustice,” and “oppression,” but we don’t spend enough time unpacking why these things happen or how they came to be in the first place.

Professor Detournay’s class allowed us to home in on the history of our country’s unfair systems and the ways in which they are perpetuated or upheld. Some topics we focused on were immigration, the prison-industrial complex, and the colonial history of Hawaii. I came away from her class with the confidence to articulate the history and mechanism of unjust systems, which was fundamental to my decision to study social policy for my master’s degree. I figured that the best way to combat systemic injustice is to change the systems that cause them in the first place.

Who is the Fordham professor or person you admire the most, and why?
This is a tough question because there are so many professors and people at Fordham I admire. If I had to choose, I admire Professor Jeannine Hill Fletcher. Among my non-religious peers, I’ve noticed that there is a general perception that religious people lack an awareness of societal discrimination. While it’s not her stated mission, I think Professor Hill Fletcher—who is Catholic—turns all of those stereotypes on their head. Not only is she a feminist theologian by training: she is very involved with advocacy work, as she is an prominent voice for faculty rights, and she is a dedicated ally to students of color and LGBTQ students. As someone who came to Fordham grappling with religion and trying to understand it better, it was really influential to meet Professor Hill Fletcher and see the kind of work she does.

Did you have any internships or any other experiences, such as clubs, that helped put you on your current path? What were they, and how did they prepare you for what you’re doing now?
I served on United Student Government (USG) for three years, culminating with a successful campaign for president. While USG is not an exact simulation of how state governments work, I felt that through my role, I was able to understand what it means to be a leader and how to deal with difficult issues because I entered my term right as COVID-19 hit and in the wake of the George Floyd protests. With the challenge of a pandemic and amid conversations about racial justice and everyday life, I found myself in a multitude of conversations about how to give students the best, safest, and most just experience possible. 

During these conversations, I learned to play to the strengths of different personalities and work styles as I led the Senate and executive board, and I learned how to negotiate with high-level University administrators. I feel that the communication and leadership skills I gained through my role as president will be crucial to my future career in policy work, either as a government policy adviser or at an NGO.

Finally, as president, I accomplished several landmark projects that were the first of their kind at Fordham. They included Fordham’s first anti-discrimination policy for student organizations, Fordham’s first ceremony of recognition for first-generation students, and statements of support for Black, Burmese, and Asian American communities. While they were not policies in a public or social policy sense, these long-term projects trained me to see large plans come to fruition and to uplift a diversity of voices in respectful ways.

What are you doing now? Can you paint us a picture of your current responsibilities? What do you hope to accomplish, personally or professionally?
I am currently at the London School of Economics, pursuing my MSc in international social and public policy. I am continuing my passion for leadership by serving as a Student Academic Representative for my programme at LSE. After graduation, I plan to either pursue a Ph.D. or begin my career in public policy.

What are you optimistic about?
While I miss Fordham dearly, knowing that it is inspiring generation after generation of changemakers makes me optimistic.

Interview conducted, edited, and condensed by Sierra McCleary-Harris.

The May 21 event, hosted by the Fordham University Alumni Association (FUAA), recognized alumni with a graduating senior in the Class of 2021, along with members of the Parents’ Leadership Council (PLC) and their graduating students.

Matthew Burns, associate director for young alumni and student engagement, and Kathryn Mandalakis, assistant director of the Fordham Fund, kicked off the virtual event. Mandalakis thanked the council members for making Fordham “a real family affair,” and fondly remembered her own graduation in 2019.

“It has been two years, almost to the day, since I was attending my own PLC and legacy family reception, as my dad is an alumnus himself,” she said. “It feels really special to be here with you all and celebrate your graduates and celebrate the long maroon line with your legacy.”

During the event, two families reflected on their time at the University and on what it means to share an alma mater, with the graduates interviewing their parents.

Anthony Quartell, FCRH ’64, whose daughter Olivia Quartell, FCRH ’21, served as president of United Student Government and a mentee in the Fordham Mentoring Program, said that after his family moved near the Bronx campus, his father suggested he enroll at Fordham to learn about religion.

“I had no idea who Ignatius Loyola was,” he said, noting that he had attended public schools, including Bronx High School of Science, but the Jesuits at Fordham taught him “a whole lot more [than religion]. They taught me how to think.”

Olivia said Fordham wasn’t initially one of her more “obvious” picks, but her experiences at the University were nothing short of a gift.

“I think it’s funny that a lot of people who found such a home here didn’t necessarily seek it, [but]it was definitely something that Fordham gave to them. … It just naturally kind of comes from being in this place.”

Katherine Beshar, FCLC ’21, who writes for The Observer, the student newspaper based on the University’s Lincoln Center campus, transferred to Fordham during her junior year due to a sports injury, but she echoed Olivia Quartell’s sentiment. She said “home” is a fitting word for what the University has given her.

She asked her mother, Maureen Beshar, FCLC ’86, about her own undergraduate experience. Like her mother, Katherine was a commuter student. Maureen commuted from Brooklyn and initially worked two part-time jobs before pivoting to night school so that she could work full time.

Maureen, who is now a member of the Fordham President’s Council, said she continued to experience Fordham’s sense of community, maybe even more so, after graduating. “The Fordham experience [is]really now just beginning,” she said. “There’s so many different ways you can stay involved as your life changes and … as you go forward in life. You can go back home [to Fordham], because I think you’ll always find some way to be involved.”

John Pettenati, FCRH ’81, chair of the FUAA, formally welcomed graduates into the alumni community and urged them to stay involved, to “give your time, your treasure, and your talent back to the school. It is so important for [others to be]inspired by all of you.”

A recorded toast from Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, brought the event home.

“My dear friends, we gather to toast you on your impending graduation that has special meaning for you and for your parents because by graduating you have not only followed in their footsteps, you have become men and women whose lives have a shared experience—an experience that makes you even closer than you were before,” he said. “You and your parents are both Rams.”

Those are just a few of the reasons why the Diversity Action Coalition at Rose Hill, part of United Student Government (USG), along with United Student Government at Lincoln Center and the deans’ offices at Fordham College of Rose Hill, Fordham College of Lincoln Center, and the Gabelli School of Business, organized a virtual First-Generation Celebration, held virtually on May 4.

Lifting Up All Voices

“Being part of USG means not only listening to our voices, but also celebrating and uplifting certain voices,” said Loreen Ruiz, a senior at Fordham College Lincoln Center and president of USG. “To my knowledge, this is the first time that there has been any kind of celebration that recognizes first-generation students specifically.”

More than 40 members of the Class of 2021 submitted photos and mini-bios that were featured at the event in a slideshow.

Camilla Gomez, a junior at Fordham College Rose Hill and co-chair of the Diversity Action Coalition, who helped organize the event, said that as a first-generation student herself, seeing the graduates was inspiring.

‘You Are All Agents of Change’

“You all are agents of change and justice for your own families, making generational changes, and growing that generational wealth, and that’s incredibly inspiring to see in all of you and I feel honored to be in your presence,” she said.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said that the first-generation students hold a special place in the University’s heart and history, as well as for him personally, as his father was a first-generation college student.

“I look at you, I see my own father,” he said. “Like many of you, he was the first member of his family to go to college. Therefore, like many of you, he knew the awful and awesome responsibility that lay on his shoulders, for his entire family pinned their hopes on him. Through his achievements, they saw their own dreams come true.”

First-Gen Alumni Offer Support

The event featured three alumni speakers, all of whom were first-generation students, as well as games and prizes for participants.

Joy Tolliver, a 2004 graduate of Fordham College Rose Hill who majored in psychology and went on to get her J.D. at Rutgers University, told the students that the fact that they were able to make it through college, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, shows their resiliency.

“It really speaks volumes as to who you are—your resiliency, your persistence, and your determination to make it despite the odds against you,” she said. “I know the title of the event tonight is your experience as a first-gen student, but you’re more than that—you are trailblazers for your families and your communities.”

Luigi Fata, a 1991 graduate of the Gabelli School of Business, encouraged the students to use their stories and experiences to find their own “unique selling proposition.”

“Your experience as the first has to be what carries you and gives you that fuel, and that fire, energy, and passion to do what it is you want to do, because the others who don’t have that first-gen mindset are going to be up against expecting to get what they want,” he said. “We need to work harder for it to go after what we want.”

Michelle Hopson, a 2009 graduate from PCS, told the students to use their experiences to shape their future goals.

“Remember who your identities are and all the people who have come and worked hard for you and you’ve worked hard for them,” she said. “Don’t forget who you are, where you came from, and use that as an identity builder, not an identifier.”

She also encouraged the students to use the alumni network that Fordham offers to find mentors and support even after graduation so they don’t feel alone.

“If you ever need a mentor, just reach out and let us know—we’re here for you guys,” she said. “We’ll help and share what it takes to be successful.”

In short, self-recorded videos—most are about two minutes long—respondents discuss how they live Fordham’s mission in their careers and personal lives, how it inspires them to engage with the issues of our time, and more.

 Cultivating Connection and Community

In the first episode, Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business and a 1983 Gabelli School graduate, said her Fordham education taught her to look for God in everyone.

“This search to find God in all things has helped me see beauty and wisdom in unusual places, including mistakes I have made and losses that I have experienced,” Rapaccioli said. “It’s also helped me lead difficult conversations and to humanize my colleagues who have goals that don’t seem to align with my goals, by stepping back and reflecting on the profound premise that God is in everyone.”

Other respondents, such as Daniel Groff, a 2020 Gabelli School graduate, have reflected on the lasting friendships they fostered while studying at Fordham.

“These aren’t surface-level friendships where it’s just people I hang out with on the weekends,” Groff said. “I’m so grateful that Fordham provided that type of community that allowed these friendships to grow and continue to grow after my time at Fordham … and I’m excited, as I enter this next stage of my life, to continue growing those relationships.”

Finding Inspiration in and out of the Classroom

In her reflection, Nina Heyden, FCRH ’17, credited Fordham’s Urban Plunge and Global Outreach programs for helping her connect with people beyond the Fordham community, sharing in their stories and experiences in a way that profoundly influenced her career trajectory.

During an event Fordham hosted when she was an undergraduate, Heyden had an opportunity to speak with the caterer, a local restaurant owner who “shared a really tough story” of how she and her family were facing “displacement due to the gentrification that was going on in the Bronx.”

“That got me thinking of all of the others who must be going through this systemic injustice as well, and was one of the motivating factors for me to turn to a research career and go into data science and statistics, to be able to provide concrete truths through numbers and take stock of all the people going through injustices,” Heyden said. “I feel really lucky to be able to do that.”

Loreen Ruiz, a Fordham College at Lincoln Center senior and the president of United Student Government at Lincoln Center, shared how she decided to major in theology despite identifying as agnostic.

“I’ve always had a complicated relationship with religion,” Ruiz said. “I was disappointed to find that theology classes were required as part of the core curriculum. I’d been avoiding religion and going to church for the past few years—this time, I had no way out.”

Ruiz said that, contrary to her expectations, the core classes offered her an opportunity to delve into and unpack the difficult religious questions about which she’d always wondered. “I quickly realized that these classes’ purpose was to teach critical thinking, and to examine religion from a historical and philosophical angle,” she said. “I began to lean into class discussions. … I found them so interesting that I declared my major in theology and never looked back.”

She added that, thanks to Fordham, she’s been better able to connect with her religious family and understand their perspectives because she treats “religion with respect, not disdain.”

Seeking Social Justice

Gregory Louis, LAW ’09, shared how he has used his Fordham Law education to work toward greater social justice, both through community lawyering and as a professor at the City University of New York’s School of Law.

“The motto of my current school … is the ennobling ‘Law in the Service of Human Needs,’” Louis said. “My Fordham Law education prepared me to join in this mission as a Catholic because it instilled in me the ideal of faith in the service of humanity.”

He added: “The zeal generated in the classroom drives you out into the world and, in my case, to the clinical program at Fordham Law and then to the community, lawyering out on the streets of New York. This happened because Fordham instilled in me a sense that … legal knowledge means absolutely nothing if it’s not immediately employed to and invested in the struggle for justice.”

In an interview, Louis added that he hopes his and other Magis Minute videos will invite some deeper reflection on “what it means to be a Jesuit university and, most importantly, how this engages with this broad question of schools that are having to think through their complicity in not advancing the rights of others.”

Sowing the Seeds for Reflection

Julie Fissinger, executive director of the President’s Council, is one of the organizers of the Magis Minute project. She said that as the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racism wore on over the summer, she was looking for ways to foster a sense of social connection to unite people at Fordham despite the need for physical distancing.

“One of the most consistent things you hear [from students and alumni]is about the [value of the]Jesuit education that people receive at the University,” Fissinger said. She started thinking about how Fordham has its own “internal gems of resources,” and she wanted to hear from people “about their own experiences and how it’s impacted their lives.”

She teamed up with Matthew Burns, associate director for young alumni and student engagement; Kathryn Mandalakis, assistant director of the Fordham Fund; and Blain Bradley, leadership annual giving officer; along with Erin Hoffman, associate director of Campus Ministry, director of Ignatian Initiatives, and resident minister.

“I hope they can help be a positive and unifying moment for members of our community at a time when we face so many challenges in the world and are separated from one another in so many ways,” Hoffman said, adding that she hopes the series “can create enthusiasm about Fordham and showcase the numerous ways people connect with Fordham and grow during their time here.”

Engaging a Wider Community

According to Burns, “the goal is to make this as diverse as possible—students, parents, faculty, alumni, followers of non-Christian faiths (or none at all).” Fissinger added that project organizers would love to hear from staff who work in facilities, the cafeteria, and other areas of the University. “They’re not faculty, they’re not students, but I think they’re touched by the culture of the institution as well.”

Fissinger also said she hopes to engage community partners as well. In a more typical year, students are heavily involved in service projects around the city and in the local Bronx community. Bronx nonprofit leaders who meet Fordham students through programs like Urban Plunge, for example, could be invited to “talk about that relationship with the University and the students,” she said, “and the impact of that kind of programming on local communities.”

Hoffman added that she and her colleagues “take seriously our hope that the series reflects voices from a wide variety of perspectives within the Fordham community, and we seek to be attentive to diversity of many types when we invite people to participate.”

The Magis Minute team is always looking for nominations and volunteers. Email Blain Bradley at [email protected] to nominate the next Magis Minute respondent. New videos are posted every Thursday on the alumni website, Forever Fordham, and on social media.

The DREAM Act legislation would grant legal status to immigrants who were brought to the country as children, and protect individuals who benefited from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA, which was established in 2012 by the Obama administration, allowed young immigrants who entered the country as minors to attend school and work in the country without fear of deportation. This past month, it was repealed by the Trump administration.

“Fordham, like many colleges and universities across the nation, has taken the position that the rescission of the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program has unnecessarily disrupted the lives of 800,000 young people,” said Lesley Massiah-Arthur, associate vice president of government relations and urban affairs. “We are calling upon Congressional leaders in both parties and the University’s district representatives to pass the DREAM Act, legislation which would, upon passage, provide a permanent solution for those affected.”

Massiah-Arthur said the University would maintain a vigorous and targeted advocacy campaign for two weeks, concluding the week before the mid-term elections in November. Besides the poster campaign, the University will employ internet-based letter writing campaigns, advertisements and pod casts on WFUV-FM, Fordham’s listener-supporter radio, and phone-banking. The campaign is supported by several student groups as well.

“I thought it was such a big deal when it was rescinded,” said Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) freshman Sophia Ubilla, whose parents are immigrants from Costa Rica. “Some people don’t know what DACA is, so it’s good to be able to educate people about what’s going on in our political climate.”

Fordham’s postcard campaign is part of a collaborative effort sponsored by the Office of Government Relations and Urban Affairs, Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice, United Student Government – Lincoln Center, United Student Government – Rose Hill, Campus Ministry, and the Office of International Initiatives.

“It’s such an easy thing any member of our community can do,” said FCLC sophomore Rami Saleh, an Urban Plunge assistant at the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice, who was tabling at the Lincoln Center campus with Ubilla. “It makes it easier for us to unite as a community and show our voices.”

An excerpt from the postcard reads:

Since 1841, Fordham University has embodied the immigrant experience. It was built by immigrants, and it provided countless new Americans with the opportunity to earn an education. Fordham honors the nation’s immigrant heritage, and I hope you do as well.    

The postcard campaign comes a month after Joseph M. McShane, S.J., Fordham University president, condemned the rescission of DACA, urging Fordham Rams to “do whatever you can to help our immigrant brothers and sisters in their time of need.” In an interview with America Magazine in September, he emphasized the importance of turning anger into action.

“It is one thing to be outraged in the moment,” he told the magazine. “We are all pretty perplexed and angry about this, but it is more important to move beyond the outrage to a place of action which has a hope of achieving the desired goal of getting this overturned by an act of Congress.”

The commissioner made the remarks on March 28 at a talk sponsored by Fordham’s United Student Government and the Faculty Working Group on Disability. He said that when conversations turn to diversity, people with disabilities are often left out of the discussion because attention typically focuses on the voices of other minority groups, including black, white, Muslim, Asian, LGBTQ, and women’s groups.

People with disabilities make up 11.5 percent of New York City’s population, he said. His office works to unify the voices of those with disabilities—people using wheelchairs, the deaf and hard of hearing, those with learning disabilities—in order to make “New York City the most accessible city in the world.”

“We work in our individualized zones, but we have to find a way to band together,” Calise said.

Calise said that many of those who fought for disability rights are growing older, and the next generation grew up with the benefits of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This new generation, Calise said, needs to be more engaged.

Covering the Cost of Civil Rights

To encourage their involvement, MOPD has set up a youth council, but advocacy work remains, Calise said. Unlike other civil rights movements, disabilities measures can be harder to fight for because they can come with costs: Building a ramp, providing an interpreter for a meeting, or including assistive technology are just some examples.

“That price tag is another obstacle to overcome,” he said, noting that making that cost just another part of what the city does is the key ingredient.

MOPD focuses on four primary areas: transportation, employment, education, and access to city government.

In transportation, Calise said that of the more than 400 subway stations operating in New York City, about 100 of the stations will be wheelchair-accessible by 2020. To fill in the transportation gaps, the city and state has relied on an Access-A-Ride system since 1979. It costs taxpayers an average of $65 per ride. If the decision had been made to make the subways accessible back then, the renovations would have paid for themselves because less money would have been spent on Access-A-Ride, and the overall system would be “a lot cheaper and efficient,” he said.

The city is installing a ‘wayfinding’ system, Accessible Pedestrian Signals, that assists people who are blind or have low vision to navigate crosswalks through beep tones and vibration, he said. Due to the high expense, the office is researching ways that it could consist of a less expensive technology alternative, using GPS, Bluetooth, and beacons.

An advocate for public-private partnerships on accessibility projects, Calise said his office is working with the Department of City Planning to incentivize developers to create accessible subway entrances.

Tapping an Underutilized Talent Pool

But it’s the area of employment, Calise said, that concerns him most. With a workforce more than four million strong in New York City, only 4 percent of persons with disabilities are employed.

“It’s a poverty issue when we look at it,” he said.

And it’s not for lack of talent, he said. There are 9,000 students with disabilities in the City University of New York’s institutions. But while education may prepare these students for careers, the transition to the workforce is often a scary proposition.

“They’re afraid to leave the system,” he said. “It’s a real barrier to employment.”

Calise, who is paralyzed from the waist down from a spinal cord injury, said he knows firsthand that one of the biggest fears of going to work is losing benefits that help cover the costs often associated with medical care a person with disabilities needs.

“I was so scared to make money . . . afraid I’d lose all my benefits,” he said. “They included my doctors, my medical equipment, plus the mere $700 a month I was getting from Social Security. [But] that was my safety net.”

Making the Transition

MOPD is working to expand employment and career opportunities through its NYC: ATWORK program, made possible through the support of the city, State AccessVR, and private foundations, including the Poses Family Foundation, Kessler Foundation, and ICDNYC.

He said the Department of Education is working to set up “transition centers” in each borough to help students and families dispel the myths about transitioning to college and the workplace.

“Once we’re able to get people around the city in a more efficient way, get them through the education system, get them employment, and get them access to the government, then we’ll start to see the beginnings of true equality.”

The Take Back The Night (TBTN) national organization has selected Fordham to be one of 10 campuses nationwide to serve as a Point of Light, which will hold one of these candlelight vigils and serve as a gathering place for survivors and supporters alike.

A vigil at the Lincoln Center campus will begin on the plaza at 7:30 p.m. Fordham College at Lincoln Center students will lead a presentation featuring poems and personal accounts from survivors of violence, including sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual abuse.

“Everyone has a role and a responsibility to make sure that our community members are safe,” said Kimberly Russell, director of residential life. “I don’t see this as one type of person’s problem—I see it as a community issue. We all have things we can do to make sure our friends are safe.”

On Thursday, April 30, a banner will be displayed outside the McGinley Center (weather permitting), for students, faculty, and staff to sign in support for those who have been affected by violence.

Evening events will kick off at 8 p.m. outside the McGinley Center with a speaker, followed by a 5k “glow in the dark” run around campus. As they race toward Jack Coffey Field, participants will pass signs displaying information about intervening safely when a friend or peer seems to be in danger. In addition, Fordham’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) will be sponsoring a rock-climbing wall.

TBTN is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to ending sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse, and all other forms of sexual violence. Communities across the country hold TBTN-themed events throughout the month of April, which is sexual assault awareness month.

During the week of April 13, Fordham’s Women’s Empowerment group and the United Student Government’s (USG) sexual misconduct task force sponsored additional awareness-raising and solidarity events, including a “How to Be An Ally” discussion, a candlelight vigil, and a “Speak Out” event at which survivors of sexual violence could share their personal experiences.

The April 30 event is supported by the Office of Residential Life, the Residence Halls Association, the USG sexual misconduct task force, ROTC, the football team, and the women’s basketball team.

The convocation took place a day after students arrived on campus. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, noted that the class of 994 members was the most talented in the college’s history, with an average SAT score of 1252.

In his welcoming address, Father McShane recalled the words that St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, said to St. Francis Xavier, his best friend and classmate at the University of Paris, when Loyola asked him to become the first Jesuit missionary to China.

“As he sent St. Francis Xavier off, he said simply these words, ‘Go and set the world on fire.’ That was the last exchange between the two of them. Go and set the world on fire,” Father McShane said.

“I say to you, members of the lucky class of 2013, while you’re here, set the University on fire. Not literally, of course,” he continued. “When you finish here, I will say to you then, as I say to you this afternoon, go set the world afire with your love, with your talent and with your dreams and ambitions.”

The convocation was also an opportunity for administrators to convey their high expectations for the incoming class. Michael E. Latham, Ph.D., Fordham College at Rose Hill’s interim dean, said he hoped students would find themselves extremely troubled by the injustice in the world.

John Tully Gordan, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill and president of the United Student Government, led the students through a recitation of the University’s academic integrity statement.

Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., senior vice president/chief academic officer, reminded students about the important role that social justice and community building play in a Jesuit education.

“The process of creating a truly inclusive community serves as a powerful witness to a world divided by nationality, race, social class and religion. Inclusive communities challenge the world in which the poor and those without power are oppressed,” he said.

Freedman cited a recent New York Times Magazine story about the oppression of women worldwide, calling it the foremost human rights cause in the world today.

“In the 1800s, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, we are to be concerned about the oppression of women, primarily in the poorest countries in the world,” he said. “If we improve the lot of women by elevating the quality of women’s lives in the less-developed world and across the globe, we will move much closer to solving many of the world’s problems, from poverty to terrorism.”

To make it clear why students should take their obligation to social justice seriously, J. Patrick Hornbeck, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology, led the group through an experiment. Hornbeck asked them to imagine that the 1,100 people assembled in the theatre represented the 7 billion people who will live on the planet in 2011.

Asking those with green stickers on the backs of their programs to stand up, Hornbeck noted that those 535 people represented the 48 percent of the world’s population who subsist on less than $2.50 a day.

At the end, he called for those with black dots, and only one stood. That person, he said, represented the 1/10th of 1 percent of the total number of people in the world who havethe opportunity to attend a major American research university.

“We live in a nation and in a world of great inequality between the privileged and the marginalized, and almost all of us share in some way in that privilege and in that marginalization,” Hornbeck said.

“We could simply accept that as the status quo, and we could go about our business finding the most comfortable niche for ourselves in that world. But it’s in the very nature of the University to resist such an easy way out,” he said. “It’s in Fordham’s nature, as a Jesuit school, to force us to confront the gritty underside of reality, where there is suffering as well as joy.”

So, they doubled it.

Now the team hopes to raise $6,000, and members are optimistic that the surge of financial support will continue.

“People have been really responsive to it so far,” said Assistant Coach Emily Friedman, one of about two dozen players, coaches and friends of the team participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on Oct. 19.

The event, organized every year by the American Cancer Society, is drawing an energetic response from Fordham students. A subcommittee of United Student Government (USG) is also organizing students to take part in the walk, and is planning fundraising events.

Fighting breast cancer strikes a chord, said Caroline Sliney, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior who co-chairs the committee.

“It’s something we found many students are very passionate about,” she said.

It’s also something that fits with Fordham’s Jesuit mission of community service, Friedman said.

The softball team looks for a community service project every year. Team members walked in the event last year to show support for the cause, but started preparing for it earlier this year, in August, so they would have time to raise money as well, said Sarah Campbell, a senior at the Rose Hill campus and team captain for the breast cancer walk.

All their fundraising has been online. The $3,000 came from seven team members who used e-mail, along with individualized fundraising pages on the Making Strides website, to seek donations from family and friends.

Another surge in funds should come when the remaining 15 members get their online fundraising up and running, she said. The Internet has played a key role by allowing students to raise donations from family and friends who may be a few states away, she said.

“A lot of our players are from different states,” she said.

Meanwhile, the USG subcommittee has launched an educational and fundraising campaign in support of the walk. Students are selling tee shirts, holding bake sales and beginning a letter-writing campaign to raise money.

A Concert for the Cure, featuring student bands, will raise funds on Oct. 7. The students are planning fundraising events with Sodexho, operator of the campus cafeteria, as well as a restaurant near the Rose Hill campus, Sliney said.

The students have raised $1,000 so far and hope to raise $9,000 more.

“We’re very optimistic for reaching our goal,” she said. “We really kind of kicked off the semester with a solid plan of what we wanted to do and what we wanted to achieve.”

Making Strides is taking place in hundreds of cities nationwide during October. The money raised will support various efforts such as research into new treatments, education about prevention, programs and services for people battling the disease, and advocacy for public policies that provide mammograms and breast cancer treatment for all women, regardless of income.

Campbell said she hopes the softball team’s participation continues every year.

“As a senior, I hope the younger kids on the team continue to sign up for this and really make a difference,” she said. “It’s something that, as young women, we should be aware of and should get involved in.”