THE OBSERVER EDITORIAL BOARD Archives

Staff Editorial: Fordham Should Support Its Unions

March 1, 2023

The Observer editorial board commends the unionization efforts of the Rose Hill RAs, and we call on the university to address labor concerns.

Staff Editorial: Housing Mismanagement Hinders Student Success

October 14, 2022

Residents have been disappointed by a confusing housing registration that has crammed in first-year students and left others stranded.

War in Ukraine Exposes Injustice

March 24, 2022

We should be giving attention to this issue and supporting Russian and Ukrainian citizens in our community and abroad as best we can.

Fordham Must Implement Accessible Options To COVID-19 Positive Students

January 31, 2022

Students exposed to roommates who contract COVID-19 are not required or expected to quarantine, and also do not get an excused absence.

Fordham Has Had 32 White Male Presidents, But The Next Shouldn’t Be

November 12, 2021

If the university wants to progress along with the students they admit, they should hire a president who represents the student population.

Students Need Free and Available Testing

October 8, 2021

With the uptick in cases throughout September and into October, Fordham should provide more testing at no cost to students coming to campus.

Welcoming the ‘New’ New Normal

September 2, 2021

As Fordham returns to in-person learning, students must take steps to keep to community safe and maintain the university's new "normal."

Living Local: Why You Should Care About NYC Politics

April 27, 2021

As Fordham students, we have a responsibility to pay attention to local politics and participate however we can to aid our local community.

Standing in Solidarity With the Asian American Community

April 7, 2021

Activists in the Fordham community have stepped up to serve as leading voices in our community, and it’s critical that we follow their lead.

Fordham Needs to Regain Students’ Trust Before In-Person Fall

March 18, 2021

With its record of inadequate protocols, how can Fordham students trust that the administration will prioritize their health in the fall?

Fordham Should Not Abuse Its Status as a Private Institution to Censor Free Speech

February 10, 2021

The Fordham administration has shown a concerning lack of support for the diversity of student opinions on campus.

We All Need to Follow Social Distancing Protocols This Holiday Season

December 2, 2020

Now is not the time for us to budge on social distancing protocols — the health and wellbeing of our families are at risk.

Editor’s Note: Protests in the City

November 11, 2020

Included are resources where readers can find journalists of color who are reporting on these issues. The Observer hopes to amplify the voices of people of color by sharing them.

Political Activism Needs to Continue After the Election

October 28, 2020

Our duties do not end when the election does, just as the issues affecting us every day are not resolved when a president takes office.

Fordham’s Treatment of Laid-off Dining Staff Is Disrespectful

October 14, 2020

The foodservice workers at Fordham have not been treated with the respect they deserve.

International Students Deserve Changes to Health Care Requirements

October 1, 2020

International students need access to quality health care and should not be forced to pay more than they can afford for it.

Keeping the Campus Safe Should Be a Collective Effort

September 5, 2020

Keeping everyone safe on both Fordham campuses will require mutual cooperation and accountability from both the administration and students.

Staff Editorial: Fordham Should Refund Partial Tuition for a Virtual Student Experience

August 21, 2020

In order to accommodate for the new virtual experience, Fordham should refund students for the increased tuition costs and lower tuition costs in the spring.

Fordham’s Lack of Sexual Health Resources Puts Students in Danger

July 28, 2020

Fordham should develop a better approach to sexual education and health by further educating nurses and providing students with accurate information regarding birth control and STDs.

Staff Editorial: Fordham’s Anti-Racism Initiatives Are Insufficient

July 2, 2020

Until Fordham holds itself accountable for the safety and security of its Black students, its claims to be anti-racist are mere lip service.

Staff Editorial: Amplifying Black Voices at The Observer

June 16, 2020

As a predominantly white editorial board at a predominantly white institution, we must actively work to diversify our editorial board and student contributors.

Staff Editorial: Have Empathy for Fordham’s Financial Situation

April 29, 2020

As Fordham is hit with unforeseen financial losses, have empathy for the leaders working to keep the school afloat.

Staff Editorial: Make Student Government Matter

April 14, 2020

With the chaos of the coronavirus epidemic, it is easy to forget an annual event which most students typically ignore anyway: United Student Government (USG) elections. From April 14-16, students are able to vote in their student government elections at a time where leadership is desperately sought at all scales — but will they?

Staff Editorial: Purpose in the Time of Coronavirus

April 1, 2020

Thankfully, the coronavirus can’t stop charity and goodwill, and it’s still possible to stay involved and make a difference — in some cases without ever leaving your bedroom.

Staff Editorial: Housing Win is a Symbol of Hope

March 10, 2020

No matter how prolonged and frustrating the journey may seem, long hours of consistent work and perseverance may lead to revolutionary changes within the FLC community. This recent housing victory reminds us that student movements actually can be effective and valuable in creating change on campus.

Staff Editorial: Our Chance to Live the Mission

February 19, 2020

“To assist in the alleviation of poverty, the promotion of justice, the protection of human rights and respect for the environment”: This is the purpose of our education, and we’re in the perfect place to see it through.

Staff Editorial: Drama Over LDA Closure Is More Than an Act

February 5, 2020

Fordham’s follow-through for the students affected was almost nonexistent, leading many to feel overlooked and ignored, with no consideration for how they would have to scramble to adjust without the chance to attend the LDA.

Staff Editorial: Setting a New High Water Mark in Communication

January 22, 2020

Adopting a communication strategy that is proactive rather than reactive benefits all and hurts none.

Staff Editorial: What It Means To Confront Hate

December 4, 2019

When exposed to the light, bigotry stumbles for explanations.

Staff Editorial: Empower Faculty to Use Technology

November 13, 2019

Printing is an incessant subject of debate at Fordham Lincoln Center. Long readings or book excerpts are posted on Blackboard with the expectation that they’ll be printed, annotated and stapled together...

Staff Editorial: Safety in Transparency

October 30, 2019

We are told to embrace the city and venture into it boldly, but we lack the tools to safely do so.

Staff Editorial: Our Club System Must Evolve With Us

October 16, 2019

Club leadership issues have hit Lincoln Center particularly hard in the past few years.

Staff Editorial: More Than Awareness

October 2, 2019

As young adults in a global society, we have a choice to make: will we remain comfortable in our understanding of activism as simple moral junk food, or will we utilize our familiarity with the tools of modern communication to recognize the full potential of every last act of awareness?

Staff Editorial: Know the Faces of the Administration

September 19, 2019

Our administration is not a faceless monolith, and their roles and politics matter.

Staff Editorial: We Must Create the Fordham We Wish to See

August 25, 2019

Recent developments on campus prove that change is possible and should serve as inspiration for the next wave of reform. Fordham is, now more than ever, exactly what its students make of it.

Staff Editorial: New Dean, New School

May 1, 2019

We are a campus on the verge of major change, and we need a dean who will help lead us into the future.

Staff Editorial: CAB, Do Your Homework

April 30, 2019

Spring Weekend, the annual concert hosted by the Rose Hill Campus Activities Board (CAB) a week before finals, is arguably Fordham’s biggest social event of the year. So why was it such a train wreck...

Staff Editorial: Let Student Voices Count

April 10, 2019

Student democracy is suffering at Fordham Lincoln Center. In order to revitalize it, the student body and its government must each understand and respect one another’s role in student life. There needs to be a transparent, reciprocal relationship based on trust.

Staff Editorial: We Need to Admit the Truth

March 28, 2019

Regardless of a university’s individual proximity to the recent events and other admissions scandals, all institutions of higher learning should strive to delegitimize the culture of prestigious exclusivity that provides incentives to cheat the system.

Staff Editorial: A Report Fordham LC Can Trust

March 6, 2019

No outside entity has any hope of collecting enough data to get a true idea of Fordham through the eyes of a student.

Staff Editorial: Education Hinges on Accessibility

February 19, 2019

If the university is the world-class institution it claims to be, it should provide equal accommodations to all students.

Staff Editorial: Let’s Be Adults About Contraception

February 12, 2019

Fordham chooses to simply pretend that students don’t have sex, and have no need for preventative sexual health resources like condoms and birth control pills.

Staff Editorial: Fordham Fails Black Students

February 6, 2019

New York may be our campus, but it certainly doesn’t look like our school.

Staff Editorial: The Cycle Must End

January 23, 2019

Those in power at the university must ensure that this cycle of abuse and cover-ups is not allowed to continue.

Staff Editorial: Rise Above DeVos’s Proposal

December 5, 2018

A university blind to subtlety and unreceptive to the complicated situations of its students is home to no one.

Staff Editorial: Vigilance in Victory

November 14, 2018

Americans voting in large numbers was fantastic, but those voters organizing all year long will result in changes like never before.

Staff Editorial: We Must Listen to Survivors

October 10, 2018

Trigger Warning/Content Warning for readers: This staff editorial and the pages to which it links contain information about sexual assault and/or violence which may be triggering for some people. After...

Staff Editorial: The Opioid Epidemic: Everyone’s Problem

September 26, 2018

Unless we take swift decisive action, opioid use, prescription or otherwise, will continue to rise hand-in-hand with apathy and reluctance to address the stigma of drug abuse.

Staff Editorial: ResLife, Administration: Listen Closer

September 11, 2018

Students deserve to know that their administration acts in their best interest. For a yearlong student effort to be denied so trivially and with such finality, this conviction is brought into doubt.

We Are Not the Enemy

August 16, 2018

Journalists are not the “enemy of the people,” we are the people.

Staff Editorial: Acknowledge The Vagina* Monologues

May 7, 2018

Fordham's silence speaks volumes.

Staff Editorial: To the New USG Representatives

April 18, 2018

In the current political climate, America is more alert than ever to threats to its democracy. This same scrutiny should apply not only to the country’s highest offices, but also to everyday, local functions,...

Staff Editorial: Care for the Whole Person and Every Person

April 6, 2018

As the school year goes on, Fordham students may start to refer to their residence hall as “home”; there’s no reason why any portion of the population should be denied this privilege.

Staff Editorial: Students of Parkland: We Hear You

February 28, 2018

You are actively leading a sociopolitical movement with more conviction and dignity than many elected officials and American citizens far your senior.

Staff Editorial: On Love

February 15, 2018

The political climate of American is bleak. The actual climate is even bleaker. We are in the middle of the shortest and dreariest month of the year, and we need a pick-me-up. Lo and behold, we are met...

Staff Editorial: Dialogue Is Not Dead

January 25, 2018

If Fordham is to build a reputation as a campus that supports free speech, the defense of all people is a key component of that process.

Staff Editorial: Sports Go Beyond Rose Hill

November 16, 2017

“Two campuses, but one school.” This is a phrase heard often around Fordham University to emphasize that while the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses may be in different boroughs, they are connected....

Staff Editorial: Missing the Point: Domestic GO! Trips Are Important, Too

October 26, 2017

One of Fordham’s main marketing points has been the Global Outreach (GO!) programs, which send students to local and international destinations for service and learning opportunities. Over the years,...

Staff Editorial: The Fall of Student Democracy

October 22, 2017

In recent weeks, Fordham’s President, Rev. Joseph McShane S.J., stated that the administration is making strides to improve transparency in the community. With that decision comes the establishment of...

SJP Decision Limits Power of Student Government

January 25, 2017

On Dec. 22, 2016, Keith Eldredge, dean of students at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), overruled the decision of the United Student Government (USG) to grant full club status to Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Trump’s Cabinet Reflects Establishment Ideals

November 17, 2016

As members of this community, we have a responsibility to stand up for those in marginalized groups when their civil liberties are at risk.

Clinton is the Best Option for the Future We Envision

November 4, 2016

Despite our individual political convictions, the editorial board of the Fordham Observer holds the collective vision of a more socially-forward political climate.

The Millennial Voice Matters More Than Ever

October 13, 2016

It is irresponsible for millennials to not register to vote.

Rising Tuition Leaves the Students Without Answers

September 13, 2016

For the 15th year in a row, Fordham increased the tuition for the University.

CMS Cuts Ties With The Observer: Redux

August 23, 2016

Hitting the reset button is never easy.

On the “Bias” Incident

September 17, 2015

You Are Fordham. No one can ever take that away.

Farewell and Good Luck to the Class of 2015

April 29, 2015

The Class of 2015 has endured their four years and triumphed at Fordham University.

Progress Takes Time & Effort

April 15, 2015

Let’s face it: We at Fordham at Lincoln Center are just not involved in the happenings on campus.

The Story Here is the Campaign

March 25, 2015

With United Student Government (USG) elections on April 8 and 9, it’s an important time for students to think about who they want to have represent their interests in the coming year, a decision not to be taken lightly.

Stand Up to Cancer at Fordham

March 11, 2015

Cancer is one of the most destructive forces in our lives. It seems like almost every life has been touched by it--we all know someone who has had cancer or maybe we have battled it ourselves. But it’s time that we say no more. It is time to stand up to cancer.

A Possible End to Registration Woes

February 26, 2015

After months of trying to figure out a way to register Fordham College at Lincoln Center and Fordham College at Rose Hill students that makes everyone happy, the administration has finally reached a solution: simultaneous registration.

Staff Editorial: Set the World on Fire, Not Its People

February 11, 2015

Seven Fordham faculty members have come together to demand that Fordham revoke CIA Director’s John Brennan’s honorary degree, which was conferred in 2012.

Snow Day Survival 101: What To Do When You’re Snowed In

January 28, 2015

Nothing feels better than getting an email from Fordham saying that classes are cancelled. Not everyone may like snow, but it’s safe to say that no one is going to object to having a snow day, especially when our winter break was so short.

Staff Editorial: Give me access or give me death – or at least my tuition back

December 22, 2014

Effective Nov. 24, the Maloney Library in the Law School became one of the most exclusive places on campus: Fordham undergraduate students are no longer allowed to use the space during final exam periods. The kicker? While we are forced to succumb to the windowless abyss that is Quinn Library, law students have access to both libraries.

Staff Editorial: Error – Please Contact Your Registrar

November 6, 2014

Registration: Fordham’s very own Hunger Games, where the strong come out on top with the classes they want, and the weak are left scrambling for whatever is left over. Registration has never been an easy time. It’s not easy for us to wake up to register for classes when the sun is just peeping out, and it’s not easy for Fordham’s system to accommodate thousands of students who try to outdo one another to see who can log into My.Fordham.edu the fastest.

Staff Editorial: An Open Letter to Cuomo and Astorino

September 25, 2014

So Governor Cuomo, Mr. Astorino, come to Fordham to debate. Come home.

We Are Witnessing the Start of a New Chapter

August 28, 2014

For the incoming class of freshman, you’re about to embark on a four-year journey (for some of you, even longer) where you will find yourself (or at least try to). For the returning class of seniors, you’re about to finish that very same journey and find your place in the world, post-Fordham.

A Jesuit Education Could Have Prevented a Government Shutdown

October 2, 2013

How a Jesuit education could have prevented a government shutdown.

Greatness Happens (If You Work At It)

September 23, 2013

Think of all the things you could be doing right now. Think of all the things you could have done in the past. Here comes the really daunting one: think of all the things you could do in the future.

As a New Year Starts, What Will You Choose?

September 9, 2013

Choosing a college is without a doubt, one of the most life changing decisions you will make in your life. It’s right up there with choosing a spouse or your favorite member of One Direction.

Bittersweet Goodbye to Senior Class

May 1, 2013

With the countdown to graduation approaching single digits, the reality of the world is becoming very, well, real for many of our departing seniors.

Solidarity Travels As Disaster Strikes

April 18, 2013

April 15 was to be a joyful day that would continue Boston’s long-held tradition of its storied marathon, a tradition that has seen more than 100 years of celebration and triumph. But in the days following, all that has been left behind are grim photos of blood-stained streets and weeping marathon runners flooding our media outlets around the country.

Block Proposal Hinders Participation

April 18, 2013

The block schedule may seem like a relatively unimportant topic, especially in the midst of terrors like the explosions in Boston this week, but the actions of Thursday’s College Council meeting could lead the way to major changes at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC).

Expression Enables Representation

March 27, 2013

The biggest national news this week is probably the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments over two cases involving gay marriage.

Be Ready for Leadership Possibilities

March 6, 2013

These big changes, and many smaller changes occurring on local levels, are the changes that bring us, the next generation, into positions of power.

Campus Involvement Depends on You

February 20, 2013

It’s no secret that student involvement at Fordham College Lincoln Center (FCLC) isn’t the best.

Wage Verdict Hurts All at Fordham

December 12, 2012

You’ve got your mind on your money and your money on your mind. And so does our faculty. After seven months of negotiations ending in a compromise agreement on salary and benefit increases for the academic year, faculty are still disappointed in the final outcome.

WNBC Anchor David Ushery Visits Fordham

November 27, 2012

WNBC Anchor David Ushery spoke at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) on Nov. 27.

An Endorsement of Perseverance

November 6, 2012

Traditionally, The Observer would use this space to endorse a candidate that we believe truly represents the concerns of students like us. But in the mess of Hurricane Sandy, the traditions of the American political system seemed less important than making sure everyone is alright. With some editors stranded in Westchester and Queens and almost unreachable, needless to say we were unable to come to a complete consensus for an endorsement.

Change is a Part of Our Nature

October 17, 2012

Going to Fordham College at Lincoln (FCLC) makes us connoisseurs of change. And a lot of it.

Take Heed of Decreasing Rankings

October 4, 2012

Fordham’s ranking has, of course, gained 23 spots since 2003, and the numbers do not mean the end of the world.

Poor Communication Hinders Progress

September 19, 2012

Fordham has a communication problem, and it’s not the type that causes confused, emotional breakups.

Strive for Greatness in the New Year

August 22, 2012

Just like the city that houses it, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), is full of opportunities for new and returning students alike.

Expansion Focus Must Be Academic

May 2, 2012

The neuroscience major, under the natural science department, has been in the works since 2004 and was approved in 2011, as reported in Richard Ramsundar’s article, “New Neuroscience Major Added to Curriculum” on page one.

‘Queer’ Should Be Accepted, Not Feared

April 18, 2012

“Queer.” It’s short. Crisp. Easy to say. But it lingers in the mind, conjuring up ideas of the unusual or perplexing in its most traditional definition.

New Construction Plan Causes Upset

March 28, 2012

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.

Fordham Campuses Marred by Hate Crimes

March 7, 2012

In a university where principles of social justice, tolerance and solidarity are upheld alongside its mission to educate, racist and homophobic hate crimes have tainted its wholesome brand.

Transparency is Key in Birth Control Policy

February 22, 2012

As students, we expect Fordham to be open about its policies and provide students with information about what is clearly stated in its manuals. Many students are unaware that the Health Center is required to provide birth control in the case of specific medical conditions—and understandably so.

Technology Will Advance Fordham

February 15, 2012

We are undoubtedly living in a tech-savvy world where colleges are increasingly moving toward the worlds of multimedia and online.

SOPA Infringes On Intellectual Freedom

February 1, 2012

The Internet has been our savior in college.