In an update on the ongoing search for the next university president, the university announced on Jan. 21 in an email to the Fordham community that no candidates from the Society of Jesus advanced to the final phase of the process. 

Despite extensive research, “no Jesuit candidate with the requisite experience emerged from the search,” Robert D. Daleo, chair of the board of trustees at Fordham University, said in the email. 

The university consulted with its president, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J.; the Society of Jesus itself; Fordham’s rector of its Jesuit community, Rev. Thomas J. Regan, S.J.; as well as other Jesuits to search for candidates for the university president throughout the entire process. 

Since its founding in 1841, Fordham University has had 32 Jesuit presidents. McShane expressed at a press conference held on Nov. 11, 2021, to both The Observer and The Ram that nothing stands in the way of a layperson becoming the next president. 

The number of Jesuits has been on the decline for the last 57 years. In 1965, Jesuits worldwide reached their peak at 36,000, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). By 2017, that number was more than cut in half at only 15,842.

Fordham would not be the first Jesuit university to break tradition and appoint a non-Jesuit university president. In 2001, the oldest Jesuit university in the U.S., Georgetown, appointed a layperson to be the next president. 

Other Jesuit institutions have followed suit. In 2018, out of the 28 Jesuit universities in the nation, 15 had a layperson as their university president. 

The candidates moving forward “have a deep understanding of, and alignment with, Fordham’s academic mission, reputation, and Jesuit, Catholic character.” Robert D. Daleo, chair of the board of trustees

Few students have involved themselves in the searching process with only 15 students in attendance at the first listening session. The majority of students who have spoken out expressed interest in the next president being a layperson.

In a previous interview with The Observer, Sean de Ganon, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’22 and a senior senator for United Student Government, said, “A lay person would provide the real-world experience that in my view at least, Jesuits lack because they are priests.”

The candidates moving forward to the final stage of the hiring process “have a deep understanding of, and alignment with, Fordham’s academic mission, reputation, and Jesuit, Catholic character,” Daleo said.

Daleo confirmed that the search is moving on according to schedule and expects to announce the next university president during the spring semester.