For the past two years, we have been anticipating the new facilities and residence hall being built for Lincoln Center students, slowly watching the steel beams of the new building rise into the city skyline.

However, with recent changes to the building plans on campus, many students in Fordham’s Lincoln Center community are frustrated, wondering if their patience of the inconveniences that have come along with the construction was futile. According to Harry Huggins’ article “Expansion Decision Prompts Action” on page one, it was announced that the residence hall assumed to be reserved for Fordham College at Lincoln Center students will now be in cut in half, as 200 out of the 400 beds will be given to students in the Gabelli School of Business.

The change has been met with mixed reactions. Some are supportive of the new plan, arguing that business students can offer positive changes to our campus. Others are upset about the new decision, feeling that giving these resources in classes and dorm space is simply robbing from FCLC students. Some faculty members were also put off by the decision, saying that this can alter the campus’s academic culture in liberal arts. Furthermore, both students and faculty members that oppose the plan expressed their concern that they had no input or knowledge of the changes in the plan. While faculty were informed of the new arrangement to bring business students on campus months after it was first introduced, students were barred from attending the Faculty Senate on March 24, preventing them from voicing their opinions and suggestions on the matter.

It is an accepted reality that there are some larger decisions that will be made by higher-up officials in the administration. There are countless matters throughout our university that must be dealt with by experienced professionals.

However, it is problematic that students are left in the dark about changes happening on campus simply from school officials’ anxiety of an angry response or belief that students do not care about the changes that are happening. Students do care. Students want to be informed. And yes, students may occasionally disapprove of our administration’s decisions affecting life at Fordham for themselves and faculty. But students have the ability to express their concerns through a constructive dialogue that can be well-received (if not understood) by their peers and authority figures alike.

Fordham has proved that it can listen to it students. According to Laura Chang’s article “Counseling Attends Vagina Monologues Debrief” on page one, on March 24 and 25, the Counseling Services Center was permitted to attend the student-run production of the Vagina Monologues. This was the first time that members from Student Affairs were allowed to be involved with this controversial play, a change due in part to collaboration with the United Student Government and the Counseling Center. We are thankful that officials have listened to our concerns and we commend their efforts to work with students, reaching compromises based on what we feel are important issues. We now hope that officials will continue with this pattern as future changes are made on campus.