BREAKING: Next University President Will Not Be a Jesuit
No candidates from the Society of Jesus advanced to the next stage of the hiring process for the next university president
Fordham has not yet announced the names of presidential candidates, but no candidates from the Society of Jesus have continued in the process. This will be the first time that Fordham has not had a Jesuit priest as a president.
January 21, 2022
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.
Alan McGill • Jan 28, 2022 at 1:51 pm
The senior senator for United Student Government believes that Jesuits lack real-world experience because they are priests. Not all Jesuits are priests. But more to the point, it would be fascinating to know what the student senator thinks Jesuits do and why they are out of touch. Teaching, ministering, administering, and advocating for the poor, the marginalized, and the environment sound very much like real world experience. If the senator’s views are prevalent at Fordham, that may be a real challenge to its Jesuit/ Ignatian ethos as the University moves forward without a Jesuit president. – Alan McGill