Volume 104 Issue 1

The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 Volume 104, Issue 1

TheFordhamRam.com

January 26, 2022

Deadly Fire in Tremont Building

OMA Hosts MLK Week

By SEBASTIAN DIAZ

By ISABEL DANZIS

FEATURES EDITOR

NEWS EDITOR

On Jan. 9, a fire in the Bronx tragically killed 17 people in an apartment building, including eight children, and hospitalized at least 33 others. The Twin Parks North West building, located in Tremont’s Twin Parks affordable housing complex, became the site for one of the deadliest fires in New York City History.

On the night of the fire, Fordham University’s Office of the President sent an email announcement to all members of the Fordham community anticipating Fordham’s response to the tragedy. A Fordham News article published on the same night and written by Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, states, “This is obviously a terrible tragedy for our Bronx neighbors … I know you join me in keeping them in your thoughts and prayers.”

Before 24 hours had passed, McShane provided a medium for concerned Fordham community members to help the victims of the fire. In another email, McShane wrote: “The most expeditious way

This past week Fordham’s Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) hosted events in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK). The MLK Week of Celebration is meant to celebrate and remember King’s legacy in the United States.

This year’s week of celebration began on Monday, Jan. 17, as the official holiday always falls on the third Monday in January. King’s actual birthday is on Jan. 15.

While some people have celebrated the holiday for years, MLK Day became an official federal holiday in 1983. The university closed so people could observe the holiday. In an email sent out to the Fordham community on Jan. 17, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, reaffirmed the university’s commitment to racial justice.

“I promise you that that work goes on. It may seem sometimes to be overshadowed by other events in the life of the University, but our resolve to live up to Fordham’s Jesuit calling to be people for others remains strong. We may best honor Dr. King by continuing his work, and by emulating his devotion to the cause of racial justice,” wrote McShane.

Martin Luther King Jr. spent his life advocating for racial justice in the United States. King took on an active role in race relations in the United States around the mid1950s, when racial segregation was still legal. King was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Ga. His father, Michael King Sr., was a Baptist pastor and involved in the racial justice movement. King was described to be a brilliant student, and he received his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955. A year earlier, in 1945, King had taken over as pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

In 1955, Martin Luther King Jr. was head of Montgomery, Alabama’s The National Association for the

SEE TREMONT, PAGE 3

COURTESY OF THE FORDHAM RAM

Fordham announced via email in January that instruction for the spring 2022 semester will be fully in-person.

Fordham Plans for Fully In-Person Spring Semester

By LUCY PETERSON

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Jan. 10, in a message to the university, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, announced that Fordham would resume with in-person instruction for the spring 2022 semester.

Despite the spike in cases of the

omicron variant of COVID-19, McShane stated that “the weight of all the factors comes down on the side of a fully in-person spring semester,” citing that the omicron variant appears to be “far less likely to cause severe disease, especially within a fully vaccinated community.”

Later in the statement, McShane

addressed that new health and safety protocols would be implemented to increase student and faculty safety throughout the spring semester.

McShane’s message was received with various responses across the student body. In the weeks following, John SEE IN-PERSON, PAGE 4

New Student Center Opens

By EMMA KIM

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

COURTESY OF FORDHAM NEWS

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Tyler Stovall unpexctedly died on Dec. 10 in his home in Manhattan.

Fordham Community Mourns Loss of GSAS Dean Tyler Stovall

By ISABEL DANZIS NEWS EDITOR

On Dec. 10, the Fordham community suffered the unexpected loss of Tyler Stovall, Ph.D. When he passed, Stovall was serving as dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts

and Sciences (GSAS). Stovall joined the Fordham community during the fall semester of 2020.

“Dean Stovall started at Fordham in the fall of 2020, which meant that he had the incredibly difficult task of getting to know this community in

the midst of the pandemic,” said interim Dean of Fordham ’ s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Patrick Hornbeck.

Entering the Fordham community when the world was dealing with COVID-19 and dealing with the first semester back on campus came with SEE STOVALL, PAGE 5

The new campus center’s first floor is open and the student lounge is available for use.

While the building’s inspections have been passed, the final paperwork is still needed to open the rest of the building, and, for now, a Temporary Permit of Assembly has been granted, according to Stephen Clarke, assistant director for Campus Center Operations.

“Once we have received the necessary paperwork, we will be permitted to open the remainder of the building,” said Clarke.

“This includes the new offices for the Career Center, the Center for Community Engaged Learning and Campus Ministry. It also includes the third-floor event center and the lower level Fitness Center.” Besides final touches to the A/V and furniture installaSEE OPENING, PAGE 5

SEE MLK, PAGE 4

in this issue

Opinion

Page 7

Sports

Page 20

Culture

Page 14

Flaws and Benefits of Fordham’s Return to In-Person Instruction Men ’s Basketball Navigates Four Game Skid but provesmuch more in A-10

Betty White: The Passing of a True American Icon

NEWS

Page 2

PUBLIC SAFETY BRIEFS Jan. 18 Terra Nova 6:10 a.m.

Public Safety was notified that the fire alarm was going off at Terra Nova and responded. The students that had set off the alarm had burnt food on the stove.

Jan. 19 McGinley 1:00 p.m.

The old and new McGinley Centers were evacuated because of the fire alarm. The dust from construction activated the fire alarm system.

Jan. 20 Third Avenue 3:30 p.m.

A student was slashed across the face on Third Ave. He was approached as he was walking westbound and was slashed across the face by a man with a boxcutter who said “You’re lucky.” Public Safety and the NYPD did a camera canvas which led to an identification, and the man was arrested.

Jan. 22 Fordham Road 7:30 p.m.

A student was the victim of aggravated harassment. She was returning to campus with a friend at the northwest corner of E. Fordham Road when she was non-sexually touched by an unknown man, who said an anti-Asian slur. He continued to mutter slurs as she returned to campus.

Fordham Introduces Chinese Studies Major

By SAMANTHA MINEAR

By MICHELA ASSISTANT NEWS FAHY EDITOR CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Fordham University has recently introduced a new major in the Modern Languages department: Chinese studies. The Chinese studies major is a passion project spearheaded by department chair Andrew Clark, Ph.D. and his colleagues Yiju Huang, Ph.D. and Britta Ingebretson, Ph.D. Acknowledging a severe void in representation of Asian studies at the university, these three sought to establish a Chinese studies major with the goal of “[enabling] Fordham students truly to be exposed to different ways of thinking and viewing the world,” brought on by the tremendous popularity of the Mandarin minor and “Dr. Huang’s upper-level classes continuing to grow,” said Clark.

In the past, Fordham has been criticized for the Eurocentricity of its curriculum; professor James Kim launched a petition in 2021 calling for the establishment of an Asian American studies department. Given that the university prides itself on its global and well-rounded liberal arts education, many faculty members and students have been disappointed by the lack of opportunities afforded to those looking to study Asian cultures and languages. In the face of a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric and a particularly small Asian student population, this complacency has been viewed as ignorance.

According to Clark, a Chinese studies major has been in the

COURTESY OF ANDREW CLARK FOR THE FORDHAM RAM

The Chinese studies major is an interdisciplinary culture major offering courses in both Mandarin and English.

works since fall 2019 and special care has been taken to acknowledge the “multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary” nature of China, as well as its relationship to other countries. In the proposal to the university, Clark, Huang and Ingebretson state that there is an “unmet demand for the Chinese studies major” and that the program would “encourage productive conversations and collaborations among the faculty.”

Huang, a specialist in Chinese culture, said that the major will help students “develop a complex

Jan. 21-22 Fordham Road 8:29 p.m.

A student lost his iPhone on Fordham Road and Belmont. He did not report it. Later on, an individual found his phone on Brook Ave. and turned it into the 40th precinct. It was picked up by Public Safety.

Follow us on Twitter! @TheFordhamRam

January 26, 2022

COURTESY OF UNSPLASH

Mandarin is the second-most spoken language in the world, such as in Beijing.

understanding of China” and its “diachronic and synchronic dimensions,” something that has become essential in the growth of our international order.

Upon learning about the new release of this major, Fordham’s Asian Cultural Exchange felt it was a “welcomed step in the right direction,” knowing that “many students will be interested in taking at least a few courses offered by the Chinese studies major.” The club celebrated the fact that “as the world becomes increasingly globalized,” the university has enacted real change in its curriculum to reflect our diversified nation and world.

Courses will be offered in both Mandarin and English, giving non-native students the opportunity to learn about the country and apply it to their own majors, such as international studies, history or political science.

In the proposal submitted by the Modern Languages department, the major has a diverse and impressive course catalog, including: MAND3055, China and Globalization, and POSC3631, China and Russia in Comparative Perspectives. The major itself will consist of ten courses — four required, six elective — and will hopefully represent an important beginning in Fordham’s attention to Asian studies.

Currently, the major has five students across Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, but the depart-

ment anticipates “20-25 stuOF UNSPLASH dents” becomingCOURTESY Chinese studies majors by the end of the academic year, as per its proposal. Clark and Huang have stated their intention to recruit a “new tenuretrack assistant professor with an ideal specialization of political science (or history)” to begin teaching next semester. This professor would join the department and teach a number of these new courses within the breadth of the Chinese studies major. The university has “77 amazing candidates” from all over the world, “the vast majority native speakers of Mandarin,” said Clark, and all eager at the prospect of this new program.

This major will mark the start of an important turning point in Fordham’s history: an acknowledgment of Asian cultural diversity is paramount in order to provide a global curriculum.

According to Clark, one of his personal goals since becoming department chair seven years ago has been to “make Fordham more multilingual,” in which he feels this is the first step.

“We often speak of Fordham as global but we often forget the linguistic and cultural components of what being global requires,” said Clark.

This program represents the beginning of something greater for the university and will act as motivation for a more diverse course and major offerings in the future.

This Week at Fordham Wednesday Jan. 26

Thursday Jan. 27

Friday Jan. 28

Saturday Jan. 29

Monday Feb. 7

Dean’s Office Support Meet & Greet

Commuter Monthly Social

TOP: The Curious Savage Auditions Dealy Hall 304-308 5 p.m.–8 p.m.

Jetés: Spring 2022 Auditions

Dance Studio, Keating Basement 9 a.m.–12 p.m.

Personal Branding Workshop

Join the FCRH Dean’s Office and Commuter Student Services in a tabling event seeking to offer support to transfer and existing students in wake of the spring semester. Be sure to come with questions!

Keep an eye out, commuters!

Commuter Student Services will be holding their monthly social on McGinley’s 2nd floor, which is sure to gather a crowd. Check out their Instagram, @fordhamcsa, for updates.

Join the Theatrical Outreach Program as they hold auditions for their spring 2022 production of “The Curious Savage.” This is the first of two time slots for auditions, the second on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m in the same classrooms.

Fordham’s ballet coupe, the Jetés, are holding their spring 2022 auditions at the dance studio in Keating Hall’s basement. Sign up using the link in their Instagram bio, found at @fordhamjetes.

Fordham will be holding a series of “Club to Career” workshops over the course of spring 2022, the first being about personal branding. Register on Handshake to guarantee a spot in the workshop hosted by Sarah Viner.

McGinley Main Lobby 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

McGinley 2nd Floor 12:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m.

McGinley 235 & 236 1:30 p.m.–2:30p.m.

NEWS

January 26, 2022

Page 3

Apartment Fire in Tremont Raises Questions FROM TREMONT, PAGE 1

to get aid to survivors and the families of the victims is to give to Catholic charities, an organization that already has a sizeable footprint in the community, and a low overhead, [e]nsuring that your aid goes to those in need. This is a method fully supported by Father Cecero and the Division of Mission Integration he leads.”

As of Aug. 2, 2021, Rev. John J. Cecero, S.J., has been the vice president for Mission Integration and Ministry.

McShane’s correspondence, delivered to the inbox of all Fordham community members on the afternoon of Jan. 10, remains the only official response from Fordham University’s administration about the fire. The Fordham Ram reached out to Bob Howe, senior director of Communications Office, for further comment but received no response.

Fordham University students have also taken it upon themselves to organize charitable drives to financially support victims of the fire.

On Jan. 12, the Fordham Ramblers and the Satin Dolls, two of the university’s a capella groups, announced a joint fundraising campaign via Instagram “to raise money for those that have been affected by the tragic fires in our community.”

Members of both groups posted piano-themed bingo boards to their social media accounts and encouraged their followers to donate a specific amount of money listed on the individual piano keys, crossing off each key as they received donations.

“All of the funds raised will be donated to The Mayor’s Fund’s Bronx Fire Relief Fund,” reads the Instagram posting. Olivia Eguia, FCRH ’22, and Satin Dolls treasurer commented on why the club felt like it was important to organize a fundraiser: “It just felt like the most natural next step was to use our platform on campus to help in whatever way we could, so we launched this fundraiser. Ultimately, the fundraiser was about raising as much money as we could for those affected by the tragedy, and by including the Ramblers we were able to increase the amount of people who heard about our fundraiser and donated. We ended up raising $920!”

Subsequent New York City Fire Department investigations concluded that the source of the fire stemmed from a malfunctioning electric space heater in one of the building’s 120 apartments. The 17 victims killed in the fire were determined to have died due to smoke inhalation.

While the fire was contained to the same floor it started on, the investigations concluded that an open door between the floor and a stairwell allowed smoke to travel throughout the building. The FDNY and Mayor Eric Adams released public service announcements urging tenants to keep building doors closed.

A New York Times article stated that the owner of the building claimed that all locks on all automatic doors in the building had

been functioning properly since the last inspection in July 2021, but investigations from FDNY revealed that “the door at the apartment where the fire started — and doors at a handful of other units — did not close as designed.”

Official responses since the fire have gone towards enforcing safety codes and giving reparations to the fire’s victims.

On Jan. 14, Adams announced that the city’s relief plan would provide immediate payments of $2,250 to every family affected by the fire.

In a statement, Adams said, “the city is acting now to provide immediate relief to impacted families, and we will continue to provide all of the support and resources we can to those affected.”

On Jan. 17, a group of elected officials announced a new bill for federal legislation to hold landlords accountable for malfunctions of or lack of adherence toward codes for building infrastructure. The bill is sponsored

by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Richie Torres and has since been supported by Mayor Adams and Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson.

According to ABC7, the new bill would “require installation of heat sensors so federal, state and local housing administrators can assess heat levels in real-time and prevent future fire tragedies, and improve fire safety and housing quality.”

Torres stated, “[i]t is no accident that the four worst fires in New York City history in the last thirty

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An apartmnet building in local neighborhood Tremont suffered a deadly fire.

years have all been in the Bronx.”

A large majority of the victims of the fire are low-income and working-class families. The West Bronx, where the building is located, contains some of the highest rates of eviction filings.

In April 2021, The Gothamist

named the West Bronx as “Ground Zero for Eviction Filings.”

Based on a map published by the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, there are about 72 eviction filings for every 1,000 housing units in the same zip code where the Twin Parks fire took place, 10457.

A Look at Fordham’s Prepardness for a Omicron Outbreak

BY VALERIE GLASS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Jan. 18, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, announced via email Fordham University’s decision to resume full in-person instruction and campus operations for the spring 2022 semester. In order to safely return to in-person instruction and minimize the likelihood of a potential omicron outbreak, Fordham has announced several COVID-19 precautions for returning to campus.

Considering the contagious nature of the omicron variant, many in the Fordham community have expressed concerns regarding the administration’s precautions and its overall preparedness for a potential outbreak. Assistant Vice President and Dean of Student Services Keith Eldridge said the biggest precaution Fordham is taking is requiring students to receive a booster dose of the vaccine before Sunday, Jan. 23.

“All the research continues to say that the vaccine is the best way to stop the spread,” said Eldridge.

Fordham’s student body has been extremely compliant with past vaccination requirements, with 99.37% of the student body being vaccinated as of Sept. 19, 2021. So, it is hopeful that students will continue to comply with the requirements for the booster.

“I’m glad Fordham is requiring the booster shot for this semester. It’s been proven to work effectively, and I’m hoping making it mandatory on campus will allow us to stay at some level of normalcy,” said Sarah Becker, FCRH ’24.

Similar to the fall 2021 semester, Fordham required re-entry testing

for students to return to campus for the spring 2022 semester. In addition to re-entry testing, Eldridge said Fordham is discussing requiring surveillance testing throughout this spring semester that will likely be announced in the upcoming weeks.

However, it is uncertain how long this periodic testing will last throughout the semester, but it will most likely be instated on an interim basis depending on the number of cases on campus and other variables pertaining to omicron’s transmission.

Fordham announced cancellations of any on-campus events that involve the consumption of food and beverages and the closure of fitness centers.

“It’s difficult to figure out where exactly people contract COVID-19 from, but according to our contact tracing team it seems as though it's social situations where people aren’t wearing masks,” said Eldridge.

Thus, these restrictions are an attempt to limit the misuse or non-use of masks on-campus. However, the decision to close fitness centers has proven to be particularly unpopular amongst much of Fordham’s student body.

Jessica Long, FCRH ’24, said, “I understood what Fordham was trying to do in order to protect us from the spread of COVID, but it was disheartening to hear … Closing the gym and canceling other activities on campus is effectively decreasing students’ options for taking care of their physical, mental and social wellbeing.”

Fortunately for Fordham students, Eldridge said that all Fordham’s precautions and restrictions are being constantly re-evaluated depending

PIA FISCHETTI/ THE FORDHAM RAM

With the highly infectious nature of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Fordham resumes survillence testing.

on the number of cases on campus as well as the science behind trends of the omicron variant.

As a result, many people are hopeful that students will see the return of certain on-campus activities, including the fitness centers, as long as COVID-19 cases on campus stay at a low level.

The precautions Fordham has put in place this semester are all a part of the administration’s plan to prevent the likelihood of an omicron outbreak. Many students are uncertain about the protocol following a positive test result while on campus or exposure to someone with COVID-19.

“Everyone I’ve talked to seems to be a bit worried about the logistics of quarantining. As of right now, I have no clue where I’d go or what is expected of me if I test positive,” said Becker.

Justin Callegari, FCRH ’24, said, “I think Fordham needs to do a better job at maintaining transparency

when conveying important information relating to COVID-19.”

According to Eldridge, Fordham is following CDC and the Department of Health of New York State’s protocols pertaining to potential COVID-19 exposures closely.

“If you are fully vaccinated with the booster dose, then you do not have to quarantine even if you are a close contact,” said Eldridge.

People considered to be close contacts are highly encouraged to wear masks and required to get a PCR test five days after being in contact with a COVID-19 positive individual.

Eldridge states that “there is space on campus for students to quarantine and there is actually more space than last semester.”

Considering the possibility that Fordham could experience a large spike in COVID-19 cases, Eldridge notes Fordham is discussing a number of contingency plans in case this quarantine space fails to

accommodate all students quarantining on-campus.

“I certainly think we are going to see high numbers of positives, but how huge this will be or how high it might go is hard to tell … But I think we are as prepared as we can be,” said Eldridge.

Due to the unpredictability of COVID-19, it is uncertain what exactly would be done in the event of an outbreak. Fordham’s response to a potential outbreak will vary depending on the severity of the scenario.

“It is certainly possible that we would be forced to return to online learning, but that is one of the more extreme responses,” said Eldridge.

In addition to the protocols and plans Fordham has in place, members of the Fordham community play an equally important role in reducing the likelihood of an on-campus outbreak by adhering to mitigation protocols such as wearing a mask.

Eldrige told students to stay up to date with official Fordham emails.

NEWS

Page 4

January 26, 2022

Martin Luther King Remembrance Week Commences FROM MLK, PAGE 1

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In December of that year, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person, which was illegal at the time. Parks was arrested.

In response, King helped to organize the Montgomery bus boycott. As a result, Montgomery lifted the bus segregation mandate. This was King’s first considerable and visible action against racial injustices, but it certainly was not the last. Some of King’s other especially memorable actions were leading the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, the Greensboro sit-in in 1960 and, of course, his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 by James Earl Ray. His death sparked protests all over the country. Many people attribute Martin Luther King Jr. with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Today, MLK Day is celebrated in his honor and to remember his legacy.

“It is important to remember MLK Jr. because there are many important teachings that he left behind that we need to continue to understand,” said Lilibeth Ramos Flores, a graduate school intern in the Fordham Office of Multicultural Affairs. “The world is not devoid of racism or xenophobia, and Dr. King was a firm believer that our differences should not be

cause for segregation but rather unity and love.”

During Martin Luther King Jr. Week, OMA hosted events ranging from a social media campaign to trivia tabling events to the screening of the movie, “King in the Wilderness.”

The Instagram campaign occured on @blackhistoryatfordham. The account posted information every day that highlighted a different part of King’s life. The campaign covered King’s childhood through his teen years and young adulthood as well as his general legacy and some of his influential quotes.

“King in the Wilderness” is an HBO movie documentary that covers King’s life and accomplishments.

The movie includes information about his role in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to his assassination.

OMA made the decision to celebrate and remember MLK for an entire week, instead of just Jan. 17.

“Dr. King's teachings are not and should not be limited to one day of the year. It is not only on the 17th that Dr. King is important,” said Ramos Flores. “In that same breath, we cannot look at Black History Month as just existing in one month; it is relevant and important every day. Anti-racist teachings and marginalized identities do not only exist in the dates/timelines that are marked on a calendar.”

Additionally, OMA has found

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The Office of Multicultural Affairs observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day by hosting a week of events and celebration.

that doing programming for the entire week, instead of just for MLK Day, has allowed them to be able to fully capture his legacy, instead of just the most popular aspects.

“Just as any great historical figure, Martin Luther King Jr.'s history and legacy is a complicated one with parts that are often ignored or skewed for the sake of sugarcoating his message,” said Mary Olivette Bookman, FCLC ’24, program liaison of the Black History Month Committee at Lincoln Center.

“By celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. all week instead of just one day, we seek to showcase a fuller view of this great Civil Rights leader, one that extends beyond his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech to who he was as a person and why he continued

fighting for what he did.”

OMA has found that honoring MLK day in this way is very important to students. In the past, the feedback they have received from their programming has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We've heard from students in the past that MLK Week programming has meant a lot to them in terms of seeing our office continuing to highlight notable persons in history that are sometimes forgotten or passively mentioned. When you dedicate time, energy and resources to showcase identities and teachings from marginalized communities, you are better for it,” said Ramos Flores.

“Students are better for it. The intention behind it is also very important. At OMA, we don't view

MLK Week programming as just a check box to tick off for the year, but rather something absolutely integral to students to help them feel welcomed and valued on campus.”

The organizers of MLK Week have found the program to be rewarding because the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. feels unique. “​​I think the most rewarding thing about running a week like this is getting a chance to tell Martin Luther King Jr.'s full story, or at least much more of the full story than would normally be shared,” said Bookman.

“We get time to educate but we also have time to reflect on what we have learned and the ramifications of all Martin Luther King Jr. did.”

Fordham Community Voices Opinions about In-Person Semester FROM IN-PERSON, PAGE 1

Lonie, FCRH ’22, started a petition arguing that the mandate for in-person learning “goes against the physical and mental health of many students,” leaving “immunocompromised students, faculty and family at risk with no option to learn remotely.”

Lonie, who had previously advocated for a pass/fail option for students in the fall 2021 semester, said he was motivated to write the petition because he “saw a unified outpour of anger and concern from students.”

In addition to the petition, Lonie organized a walk-out protest at the Lincoln Center campus on Jan. 24 in hope that the Fordham administration will implement a hybrid option for all spring 2022 classes.

“I’m a lifelong New Yorker and I’ve seen this city be the epicenter of the entire pandemic. I don’t want to see them go through that again,” said Lonie.

Columbia University announced in a statement that they would begin the first two weeks of the spring semester with remote instruction.

However, other New York institutions such as New York University and The City University of New York (CUNY) communicated that they would begin the spring semester with in-person classes.

Evan Madrid, FCRH ’22 stated that as a commuter student, “Fordham’s decision to go fully in person is really taxing.”

“Fordham choosing to exclusively go back in person brought a lot of people [who are] ignorant of their surroundings to crowd around bars and shops [in the local community]” said Madrid.

Many commuter students worry about contracting COVID-19

on campus and spreading the illness to immunocompromised family members as well.

Despite concerns among students, especially those who commute, a Fordham Rose Hill professor in the English department, who was reluctant to comment publicly due to the divisive nature of the issue, highlighted many of the added difficulties that come along with remote classes.

These difficulties include gaining special permission and approval for the curriculum from the New York State Education Department.

However, the professor did add that there are mixed opinions amongst faculty citing the recent Faculty Senate meeting that resulted in a vote against vaccine mandates.

The professor said that there are positives and negatives to both online and in-person classes, noting that students are sometimes more reluctant to participate in class with masks and when they never see the faces of their classmates.

Despite concerns surrounding COVID-19, many students were eager to return to in-person classes and resume campus activities in the spring semester.

Libby Vernon, GSB ’22 and vice president of student life, stated that the greatest benefits of returning to an in-person semester include “keep[ing] students accountable to school work and being able to foster relationships with other students.”

Vernon said that being in-person impacts every single aspect of student life, “You can tell the camaraderie amongst students is better on campus and in person,” citing all the various performance

groups and events that reach the community beyond the classroom.

Bob Howe, assistant vice president for communications and special advisor to the president, expressed sentiments similar to Vernon's. He stated, “as a fully vaccinated, fully boosted community, Fordham personnel have a significantly lower risk of severe illness from COVID-19.”

While “the health of our local communities (in the Bronx and Manhattan) was certainly a

consideration … contact tracing efforts from the fall 2021 semester determined that the primary paths for COVID-19 transmission involved informal social gatherings where students interacted without wearing face masks,” said Howe.

Howe believes the most crucial element to ensuring that the spring semester runs smoothly will be “the diligence and cooperation of our students, faculty and staff.”

“The more conscientious our com-

munity is at observing COVID-19 precautions, the better our chances are for a smooth spring semester.”

Whether in support of inperson classes or not, there have been widespread suggestions that the Fordham administration could improve its response with increased testing measures, greater communication and transparency with faculty and students.

Spring 2022 is the second inperson semester since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PIA FISCHETTI/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Students and profesors adjust to fully in-person instruction in the midst of the omicron wave in the COVID-19 pandemic.

NEWS

January 26, 2022

Page 5

GSAS Dean Tyler Stovall Dies Unexpectedly in December FROM STOVALL, PAGE 1

its own sets of challenges. “[Stovall] came to GSAS in the throes of the pandemic and immediately focused on student needs, particularly working on funding opportunities for students who were experiencing food insecurity and income scarcity during this very difficult time,” said Joanne Schwind, assistant dean of the office of academic programs and support in GSAS. Stovall was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1954. He studied history at Harvard University. After Harvard, Stovall eventually received his graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There he became interested in European history. Stovall had a particular interest in France and French studies. After receiving his graduate degree, he traveled to France to work in the Paris suburbs. There, he spent his time working with the community and turning what was once a disgruntled community whose issues felt ignored into a flourishing electoral base. Stovall eventually went on to earn his Ph.D. in French and European history in 1984. Stovall was primarily a French historian; however, he also worked in education, administration and became an author.

Stovall wrote six books in his lifetime. His first book, “The Rise of the Paris Red Belt,” was published in 1990. It came from his time working in the Parisian suburbs. The book was a revised version of his dissertation, “The Urbanization of Bobigny,” written in 1984.

Throughout his career, Stovall was an educator. He taught Université de Polynésie Française in Tahiti, Ohio State University and UC Berkeley.

Stovall served as dean of humanities at UC Santa Cruz for six years before eventually coming to Fordham.

One of the hallmarks of Stovall’s character was his ability and priority to see people for who they truly were.

This was expressed through how he treated those around him and his

continued work and advocacy for diversity, antiracism and inclusion.

“His own background and his own academic interests led him to prioritize anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion. And to do so not just on the level of how we take care of each other, which is obviously super important, but also thinking about what social, political and cultural forces that led to systems of exclusion and marginalization,” said Hornbeck.

Stovall’s final book, “White Freedom,” came out just before his death. The book looks at how the Western idea of freedom — specifically those of the U.S. and France — only embodies freedom for white people.

Stovall’s career focus on equity seemed to translate into how he interacted with his colleagues and students. He was passionate about getting to know students and connecting to them on a deeper level through both his life experiences and learning things about them.

“My observations were that Tyler related to other graduate students using the lens he developed during his own training. A native of Gallipolis, Ohio, he knew what it meant to be a minority in graduate school and in less-inclusive circles, which afforded him an empathetic ear,” said Marc Arteaga, GSAS ’23, vice president of the graduate student government.

Arteaga said he thought of Stovall as a mentor. While he did not get to know Stovall’s capacity as a scholar, Arteaga developed a relationship with him through personal dialogues.

“I will share the last lesson he imparted before his passing, one that speaks to truth. I mentioned to him about a large degree of anxiety that I suffer from and, in a way to assuage my fears, reflected on the way he felt as he stared down the barrel of the latter half of his own twenties. ‘Most importantly,’ he said, ‘you have to understand what your convictions and beliefs are in moving forward. Only

then can you discern between the choices you will be faced with,’” said Arteaga.

Arteaga said he remembers that interaction distinctly because of the profound effect it left on him.

He said that this memory helps define Stovall’s mentorship style.

To his staff, Stovall also expressed interest in getting to know them as people and beyond just their job title.

Lauren Grizzaffi, director of marketing and communications at GSAS, recounted bonding with Stovall about their children.

“I have a young daughter. She’s nine months old now, but early on in his tenure with us, I had to have some conversations [with Dean Stovall] of ‘I’m now pregnant,’ ‘what does my maternity leave look like,’ as well as some additional personal conversations,” said Grizzaffi.

Grizzaffi remembered that her interaction with Stovall about her child continued when she met him in person.

“The first time I physically met him, already having worked with him for over a year, we went to his office for a meeting, and he said, ‘let me start off by saying, here’s my baby.’ He [showed me] a picture of his son, who I know is in college now. It was a double-sided picture of his son when he [was about] four years old, and another when he was a little bit older,” said Grizzaffi. “Just the fact that he started the conversation that way was such a standout. What we had to talk about was a heavier topic, but I remember the way he started the conversation from the meeting, not the stuff that I had to share or what I needed to inform him about.”

Hornbeck also shared that Stovall was passionate about interacting with people and getting to know them.

“At first, I got to know Dean Stovall through Zoom; he was in a number of meetings I was in. At

PHOTIO COURTESY OF FORDHAM UNIVERISTY YOUTUBE

Stovall began his tenure at Fordham in July 2020, in the COVID-19 pandemic.

that time, I was working part-time in the Provost Office in addition to teaching, and so we would see each other with some regularity through these meetings,” said Hornbeck.

“What I remember of him is that he had a really infectious smile. He had a deep excitement for wanting to get to know the people he was getting to meet.”

Stovall’s death was unexpected. He passed the day after the GSAS holiday party. Many people recount that he was full of light and life at the party.

According to Hornbeck, people have forwarded him emails that Stovall sent them the morning of his death.

“At the holiday party, people told me that they had seen him just beaming about the fact that he and his family were about to take their son to Paris for his study abroad program, and, of course, for Dean Stovall, Paris and France, in general, was such a place that formed his imagination and formed his own understanding of himself and concepts like race and racism,” said Hornbeck.

Stovall left his legacy not just on the university but on the world through his work and influence. American author Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name, bell hooks, wrote about many social issues in the U.S. and grew to prominence in the African American community. She unfortunately passed away a few days before Stovall.

“So many people commented on

Twitter to something of the effects of ‘this was a really cruel week for the Black Academy to lose both bell hooks and Tyler Stovall in the same week.’ And because bell hooks was such a world-transforming figure as well, I thought it just spoke volumes about how people thought of Dean Stovall’s work, that they were mentioned in the same sentences,” said Hornbeck.

Stovall’s memory lives on at Fordham through the people that worked closely with him, as well as his family.

“He inspired me to pursue my goals with a focus on equity and inclusion, and a vision toward the future of GSAS and its students.

Even though his time with GSAS was brief, Dean Stovall's kindness and compassion toward his colleagues, staff and students will have a long-lasting impact on us all,” said Schwinn.

Grizzaffi shared those sentiments with Schwinn.

“I know he was probably working on so much behind the scenes, and it seems like it just stopped, which it did. As a school, I hope in whatever way we can [carry on] his name, legacy and whatever his vision was,” said Grizzaffi. “I don't think anyone could have a bad thing to say about him. He was just a good person, and it didn’t take long to figure that out.

I wish Fordham and GSAS got to know him more and for longer.”

New Student Lounge Now Available for Student Usage

EMMA KIM / THE FORDHAM RAM

The new student center lounge, that went under construction in 2020, is now open for general student usage.

FROM OPENING, PAGE 1

tion, the building is ready to open.

COVID-19 has contributed to the delays in opening the new building, which was predicted to open during the previous fall semester. According to Clarke, the

offices in charge of the necessary paperwork have been backed up due to the virus.

The new first floor includes a 9,500-square-foot student lounge that provides a new space for students to gather for recreation, group work

and individual study. The second floor includes individual interview rooms, as well as reflection rooms within the new Campus Ministry office. The third floor provides new floor event spaces for groups on campus to use.

Caitlin McBride, FCRH ’25, is most excited about the new student lounge and having “a new place to study that does not have a tense atmosphere like the library,” because of the open space and more relaxed and friendlier environment. “The new amenities also allow commuter students and resident students to have a place to hang out safely on campus.”

The new fitness center has double the space of the current one, and it has new equipment.

“There are many new weight training pieces including weight and selectorized machines, squat racks, cable and free weights and core machines. A variety of functional training cardiovascular machines and a body weight/suspension training structure by Precor called the Queenax,” said Sarah Bitzer, administrator of Fitness and Recreation.

Many students have been anticipating the gym’s opening.

“When I heard that Fordham was expanding the gym, I was very excited because I enjoy working out on a regular basis. With the former gym, there were not a lot of free weights or space in the weight room. However, from the pictures I have seen, I am glad they have

expanded the weight selection and overall space,” said Liliana Kinnan, GSB ’25. “It is upsetting that the gym is not open at the beginning of the second semester.

However, I hope it opens soon.”

With renovations still underway, the new campus center will be the main point of entry into the building for the next phase of the construction project.

Clarke noted that the existing lobby will be offline and entry to the building will be through the new campus center entrances during the upcoming phase. In addition, the cafeteria entrance will be relocated, and guests will enter through the gallery.

When the new building is fully open, the second-floor terrace, the current first-floor lobby and the lower level will be closed off by a weather wall.

The next phase of renovation will take 15 months to complete, and it will create a new unified entrance between the new campus center, the Rose Hill Gymnasium and the Lombardi Fieldhouse. The final phase of the construction project, which started in 2020, is not expected to be completed until sometime in 2025.

OPINION

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R

Serving the Fordham University campus and community since 1918 The Fordham Ram is the university journal of record. The mission of The Ram is to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas to the community and to be a student advocate. The Fordham Ram is published and distributed free of charge every Wednesday during the year to the Rose Hill, Lincoln Center and Westchester campuses with a readership of over 12,000 and a web readership of over 300,000.

Website TheFordhamRam.com Email Address theram@fordham.edu Editor-in-Chief Ava Erickson Managing Editor Hanif Amanullah Editorial Director Hasna Ceran Multimedia Director Pia Fischetti Business Director Matthew Colucci Production Editor Michael Sluck Copy Chief Amanda Yarolin News Editor Isabel Danzis Features Editor Sebastian Diaz Assistant News Editors Samantha Minear Emma Kim Opinion Editors Nicole Braun Noah Osborne Assistant Opinion Editor Daniella Terilli Culture Editors Elisabeth Murray Kari White Assistant Culture Editor Illaina Kim Sports Editor Nick Guzman Assistant Sports Editors Thomas Aiello Maddie Bimonte Digital Producer Ava Carreiro Justin Charles Sofia Donohue Visual Director Nicoleta Papavasilakis Photo Editor Theodore Wai Nick DeSilva Graphics/Illustrations Cory Bork Faculty Advisor Beth Knobel Editorial Page Policy

The Fordham Ram’s editorial is

selected on a weekly basis and reflects the editorial board’s view on a campus issue.

Opinions Policy The Fordham Ramaccepts submissions to fordhamramopinions@gmail. com. Commentaries are printed on a space available basis. The Fordham Ram reserves the right to reject any submission for any reason, without notice. Submissions become the exclusive property of The Fordham Ram. The Fordham Ram reserves the right to edit any submissions. The opinions in The Fordham Ram’s editorials are those of the editorial board; those expressed in articles, letters, commentaries, cartoons or graphics are those of the individual author. No part of The Fordham Ram may be reproduced without written consent.

January 26, 2022

From the Desk | Isabel Danzis

Self-Growth,Self-Understanding and Reflection in the New Year My New Year’s Eve this year was anything but spectacular. The omicron variant was conquering my city and hometown, so I watched the ball drop with two of my high school friends in one of their basements. And, while my celebration of the new year was mundane, I still left my friend’s house with the thought I have every year: what will I do differently?

The idea of making New Year’s resolutions has always slightly irked me.

It may sound pessimistic, but I have honestly never understood the point or reason for New Year’s resolutions.

Why do we only make resolutions at the beginning of the new year? How much can a person change from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1? Why is it so much more appealing to people to make a resolution at the beginning of the year than halfway through the year? What is the point of resolving to eat healthier only to pick up the same eating habits when Christmas break ends, and you inevitably get too busy to cook and fall back into the same eating patterns?

Why would you resolve to work out, only to realize how cold it is in January and how unappealing going to the gym is when it gets below 30 degrees? Why resolve to spend less time on screens only to realize that half the world operates online now? I know this sounds overly cynical, and maybe it is, but I speak from experience.

New Year’s resolutions are not just contemporary practices. The ancient Babylonians are thought to have made the first sort of New Year’s resolutions nearly 4000 years ago. They would reaffirm their loyalties to old kings, return anything they had borrowed from the year prior and make promises to the pagan gods. They thought they would be gifted with good fortune from the gods the following year if they kept their promises. In Ancient

Rome, Julius Caesar changed the calendar so the new year would begin on Jan. 1. The Romans then engaged in promising good behavior in the upcoming year. Interestingly enough, they would pray to the god Janus, who they believed to be a two-headed god who looked forward into the new year and back into the past. The name “January” can be traced back to Janus, which means “beginnings and transitions.”

That’s all to say that the idea of New Year’s being a time of self-reflection and change is not new — in fact, it’s ancient. For the last few years, I have struggled to make a resolution.

In 2020, I was a senior in high school, and I was going into the year with no idea where I would go to college or where I would be at the end of the year. I didn’t feel like making a resolution was even possible since the trajectory of my life was so unclear. How could I possibly make a goal when it felt impossible to know if I would be in place to uphold it in a few months?

As it turns out, the unexpected did happen that year. In March, COVID-19 shut down the world.

The world still seemed unclear going into 2021. COVID-19 cases were picking up, and even though the promise of mass vaccination was on the horizon, it still felt too far away for me to get excited about it. I had become comfortable at Fordham to a certain extent, but I was still a lost freshman in many ways. I had just joined the Ram staff, which I was excited about, but I had never even stepped foot in the office or met any of the other staff members in person. In lots of ways, I felt totally disconnected to the entire operation. Last year, I didn’t think I had enough direction to formulate resolutions or goals since my understanding of myself and what

I was doing was low.

However, when I left my friend’s house this year, I felt slightly different from the past two years. The idea of making a resolution seemed a little less daunting. As a sophomore, I have much more of a grasp on my life and myself than in years past. I realized on that cold and dreary walk back to my house on New Year’s that resolutions can be small. They don’t even have to be tangible goals with visible results.

In American society, we tend to praise self-improvement incessantly.

The entire unrealistic American ideal of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” relies on the idea of being able to improve your situation independently and visibly. In the U.S., I’ve noticed that we tend to praise self-improvement for changes that people can see. We applaud people that can get in shape. We praise those who get a big promotion or pay raise. We love to see people who change their career paths and are widely successful.

While I’ll admit all those things are worthy of praise, so are other feats.

Making an effort to improve yourself mentally in small ways or making time every day to do something you

enjoy are good resolutions. But for some reason, these things aren’t as applauded as being able to talk about how you haven’t eaten processed sugar in 30 days. For lack of better words, pulling your mental health up by its bootstraps is much less impressive than getting a job promotion.

For me, it took understanding that a resolution’s scope doesn’t have to be so obvious to see the value in them. This year, I want to improve myself continuously. Not because I dislike myself, but because I think always striving to be a little bit better every day would make me happy.

For me, that’s a doable resolution.

It’s a resolution not measured in any metric other than how I feel every day. I know there will be dips and climbs throughout the year. I understand that this resolution will not radically change my life, nor will I feel drastically changed at the end of this year. I know that thinking like this will help me have a better year, which honestly is one of the primary purposes for making a resolution in the first place. But I also know that if I make a resolution in July, it will be just as valid as one made in January.

Editorial | Education During the Pandemic

Fordham’s Slow Start to the Spring Semester New normal. Return to normal.

Post-pandemic reality. These are all phrases that have been hanging over our heads since most of the country has returned to school or work which have since doubled in incidence as we entered the new year — the traditional period of fresh starts. With that in mind, it’s easy to see how the community’s priorities may have shifted, for the worse or better.

The last editorial published by the staff of Volume 103 focused on the executive board’s question of whether The Fordham Ram spoke too much about the COVID-19 pandemic that semester. To that end, we here at the Volume 104 staff of the Fordham Ram are wondering this: is Fordham itself saying enough about the COVID-19 pandemic?

On Jan. 3, the Office of the Vice President for Administration sent students an email promising information on the university’s new policy for surveillance testing “in the coming weeks.” The next week, students received a message from the Office of the President stating that students should shortly expect details on Fordham’s new health and safety policies for the spring semester, “many of them new.”

As of Jan. 25, the only details given to students on the new health and safety policies are two emails sent on Jan. 20 and 21, from the Office of the Senior Vice President (SVP) for Student Affairs and the Office of the Vice President, respectively. These emails once again claimed that there would be surveillance testing on campus for this semester, but failed to provide any instructions regarding testing beyond the initial test to enter campus. Although they promised new rules, they only reiterated previous policies such as the mask mandate for community spaces on campus and the requirement of the booster vaccine. Perhaps controversially, it also reminded students that the spread of omicron in New York City had already peaked — something that’s difficult to accept for those of us on campus who remember Fordham’s campuses host students from 49 states and 87 countries, including California, who has only recently peaked and begun declining.

However, one thing we at the Ram haven’t seen from Fordham is communication regarding surveillance testing, as well as any meaningful changes to Fordham’s COVID-mitigating policies. Most of us on the

editorial board have already been contact-traced within our first week of classes and note with trepidation that the email we received said that we were “strongly encouraged” to test, wording that doesn’t suggest it being mandatory. With the amount of students coming onto campus from states where omicron has only begun its spread, is it really safe to not require that students get tested after being exposed to COVID-19?

Similarly, despite assurances that The Marketplace would be offering to-go options for Fordham students due to the risk of transmission when eating, many students had not specifically been informed of the containers students are allowed to request from the cashiers, containers which run out more often than not.

As much as we’d like to have a fresh start to the semester and achieve the true “return to normal” that’s been dangled in front of us for the past few months, the lack of any substantial information from Fordham remains a concern. Are we still in enough danger to require stricter reminders of mask policy on campus and closing down the gym, or is the spread of omicron largely over?

Can Fordham afford to keep students waiting for information on surveillance testing and contact-tracing procedures? With students eagerly attending classes, going to their jobs or internships and meeting up with their peers after a lengthy winter break, these are the kinds of questions Fordham can’t risk not answering.

OPINION Flaws and Benefits of Fordham’s Return to In-Person Instruction

January 26, 2022

Page 7

Fordham created policies that complied with the CDC and required everyone on campus to have the COVID-19 vaccination and booster shot, barring an approved exemption.

Everyone at Fordham (vaccinated and unvaccinated) has to wear a mask indoors, decreasing transmission of the virus. In addition, Fordham is continuing contact-tracing and reintroducing surveillance testing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

With these guidelines in place, continuing in-person instruction this semester makes sense; it works to keep students healthy and prioritizes academic performance and mental health.

While remote learning was

an acceptable replacement at the beginning of the pandemic, in-person learning has benefits that remote learning can’t compete with. Research involving online learning shows that reduced learning time impedes student learning and development, and without personalized and sufficient resources hinders student performance.

Mental health issues have also become more prevalent.

Since the start of the pandemic, college students have reported lower levels of psychological well-being than before the pandemic. These are attributed to the feelings of isolation and loneliness that come from limited social interactions and

gatherings when students are forced to stay in their home or dorm room. If Fordham can follow a health-conscious plan that allows for in-person instruction, there is no doubt that it is the superior choice.

While Fordham’s plan goes above expectations regarding classroom settings, there are flaws in its approach to other aspects of student living and contingency plans for those who contract COVID-19. For example, Fordham’s announcement that it would be closing the gym for the month of January was met with student protest. Additionally, Fordham stated that it would be restricting indoor dining options without much elaboration on what this would entail. All Fordham students are required to be vaccinated and to wear masks in all campus buildings. With all of these precautions enforced by the university and New York City, closing the gym and limiting other social interactions is hurtful to the student body and deviates from the logic behind the return to campus.

Even before the pandemic, research showed there were clear correlations between exercise and mental health benefits. Now, more than ever, students need ways to relieve stress; why close something that relieves stress and has no reasonable downside to keeping it open? If Fordham says that being vaccinated and

nians and sanctions for Russia, both measured in dollars, are attempts to balance sides of a precarious equation.

It is possible that if Kiev falls to Russia, Taipei will fall to China and despots everywhere will feel emboldened to redraft their local maps. The next domino will topple sequentially. It is plausible that an emboldened China will sweep southward as a preoccupied America watches helplessly. Or so the thinking seems to go.

One can presume that the U.S. will draw a line in the sand, protecting Ukraine as an example to the world, despite Ukraine having little to no strategic importance from the American perspective.

According to a 2015 evaluation by American political scien-

tist and international relations scholar John Mearsheimer, it’s unlikely Russian forces will even try to reach Ukraine’s capital of Kiev. Putin, Mearsheimer holds, is more interested in wrecking Ukraine than conquering it: “If you really want to wreck Russia, what you should do is encourage them to try to conquer Ukraine,” Mearsheimer said.

Russia, like Israel, Britain and the U.S., has already learned to avoid fighting bloody and protracted campaigns against guerilla resistance. Additionally, the Chernobyl exclusion zone lies on the shortest path between Russia and Kiev, presenting a daunting challenge to Russian ground troops.

The State Department announced over the weekend following Biden’s statements that U.S. diplomats would begin evacuation from the region. The urgency echoes the rushed and embarrassing exodus of U.S. personnel from Kabul. Unlike in Afghanistan, however, it’s unlikely we are about to see an entire government wiped away.

Then again, maybe something has changed in the seven years following Mearsheimer’s proclamation.

If a puppet government is indeed installed in Ukraine, Russia would be taking a page from a very old playbook.

Like Moscow, Washington is also reluctant to tolerate foreign influences near the homeland. To think anti-American regimes would be allowed to stand in Canada or Mexico is

absurd. Granted, ground invasion is a less subtle method of regime change than the infiltration and subtle spy games favored by the CIA. As an American, I am not ashamed that my country regularly topples inconvenient or hostile regimes. I appreciate the foresight and the logic of defending American interests, except for those rare occasions when deposed rulers were democratically elected and replaced with brutal autocrats.

Usually, spreading democracy is in America’s best interest.

Other nations are understandably eager to imitate this type of hard power by spreading their own brand of governance. Since the Clinton administration, Russia has watched as NATO swept relentlessly eastward towards their historically vulnerable border. Putin’s aggressive posturing is neither insane nor evil, it’s logical and bigger than the personality of a single man.

By threatening Russia with everything short of war, Washington is underestimating the resolve of a nation pressed into a corner.

In maintaining a hardline anti-Russian stance, the U.S. is falsely emboldening Ukrainians to confront an enemy they cannot possibly hope to defeat. Much like the fate of Iraqi Kurds, Washington’s current tactic is bound to end in catastrophe for those Ukranians in whom false hope has been fostered. As tragic as the Ukrainian

COURTESY OF NICK DESILVA/THE FORDHAM RAM

In-person instruction is the best choice for students, but its return to Fordham has not been seamless.

By SAMANTHA SCOTT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Fordham returning entirely in-person is the best choice for students, but that doesn’t mean it is flawless.

Fall semester 2021 marked a massive shift: after nearly two years of online classes, limited gatherings and lack of social interactions, it felt like there was a return to normalcy and the traditional “college experience.”

However, with the spread of the omicron variant, Fordham’s in-person policy was called into question as other universities (Harvard, Yale and Columbia, to name a few) chose to start their spring semester online.

testing is sufficient to return to class, why is it not good enough to maintain the social and health aspects of returning to campus?

Fordham could also do better for the students who do contract COVID-19 and have to isolate.

Vaccines are not perfect; it is still possible for someone to contract COVID-19 while fully vaccinated. The number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. reflects this, with an average daily number of 20,000 cases in New York City in January. Without the option for students to go to class virtually if they contract COVID-19 or are contact-traced, Fordham creates an environment that allows students to potentially spread the disease and hinder academic performance for those who do become ill. Students should not have to choose between their academics and the health of the community. By creating a hybrid model that can be used if a student is ill or has been exposed, Fordham would continue to emphasize the importance of inperson learning while protecting the health of the community.

No plan to return to campus time will be perfect, but Fordham can do more to make sure that the decision to remain fully in-person is the right choice.

conflict has been, Russia should be allowed to defend its interests when they do not threaten those of the U.S..

By providing arms to soldiers with no hope of winning, an inevitable conflict is made bloodier, and the U.S. stands to lose Ukrainian and Russian trust. Enlightened intervention would not antagonize Russia or embolden Ukraine — it would be neutral. Instead of arming foreign paramilitaries, Washington should learn from its mistakes in Afghanistan. American armaments have a funny way of ending up in the hands of its adversaries.

By continuing to insist on a pro-American, anti-Russian Ukraine, Washington only validates Russian fears of an enemy on their doorstep and justifies the rationale behind invasion.

As Americans, we should ask ourselves if our national policy would be any different from Russia’s, if we were in the same situation.

We must contexualize Moscow’s decisions without condoning them. An ascendent China will present challenges unlike anything the U.S. has ever experienced, and we will want Russia on our side when that day comes. The continual paranoia that followed American-Russian relations in the wake of World War II has no place in foreign policy.

Samantha Scott, FCRH ‘24, is an International Political Economy major from Columbus, Ohio.

US Should Not Rush into Conflict with Russia

By MICHAEL LEIFER

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The U.S. should have a policy of neutrality towards the Ukrainian crisis.

“I’ve already shipped over $600 million worth of sophisticated defensive equipment to the Ukranians. The cost of going into Ukraine, in terms of physical loss of life for the Russians, and they’ll be able to prevail over time, but it’s gonna be heavy, it’s gonna be real, it’s gonna be consequential,” President Joe Biden said in a Jan. 20 news conference addressing the Ukrainian crisis last Thursday.

American intervention is designed to make invasion as expensive as possible for the Russians. Armaments for Ukrai-

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM

The United States should have a policy of neutrality towards the Ukrainian crisis.

Michael Leifer, FCLC ’22, is a journalism major from Princeton, NJ.

OPINION

Page 8

January 26, 2022

Pandemic America: A Year in Review

COURTESY OF NICK DESILVA/THE FORDHAM RAM

2021 was a real-life manifestation of “The Tower” tarot card, a year of rebuilding and reconstruction.

BY DANIELLA TERILLI

ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR

“A lot can change in a year.”

Everyone’s heard something to this effect at least once before. Whoever first expressed this sentiment was certainly not wrong. 2020 was a year of devastation. In many ways, 2021 was a year of rebuilding and remedying the impacts of the one prior.

The first year of the pandemic was unlike anything we’d experienced before.

Witnessing mass amounts of death changed the lives of healthcare workers forever.

Many talk about experiencing “nightmares” after seeing more deaths since March 2020 than they had in their entire careers; the stress of overcrowded hospitals and long hours only made it more

difficult for them. Countless people lost loved ones. Plenty of people who survived COVID-19 are now struggling with long-term health issues from the disease. Businesses shut down, many of them permanently. Students lost out on milestones like graduations and proms.

But in the first half of 2021 vaccines became widely available. This meant that contracting the virus was no longer a death sentence for a large part of the population.

This meant that we could start to go about everyday life safely again: going to restaurants, attending concerts and embarking on vacations.

This meant that the economy could recover. The vaccine allowed people to return to their jobs without the fear of

becoming ill or dying. More people were also able to shop and spend money; due to the vaccine, the United States saw economic savings of $438 billion in terms of 2021 real GDP gain.

After a tumultuous year of political and social unrest, 2021 restored some balance.

After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, protests erupted in hundreds of cities across the country and lasted for months. 13 months later, Floyd’s killer was not only convicted but received “one of the longest sentences a former police officer has ever received for an unlawful use of deadly force.” People cried tears of joy in the streets of Minneapolis at this moment, described as one of “true accountability.”

would be 82 on Inauguration Day 2025, leaving “a leadership vacuum in the party, which Mrs. Clinton viably could fill.”

Yet, many card-carrying Democrats can’t stand Clinton.

Maybe she can campaign with the guidance of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

He remains popular, although a problematic and scandalous sexual history still lingers over his legacy. Then again, using Bill Clinton as a means to boost electability may not be enough to demonstrate Clinton’s strength as America’s first female president.

In 2020, Democrats ran establishment politician Joe Biden in an attempt to recenter the party. The DNC understood the party was swinging too far left for the ideological pendulum to handle. So, the establishment elite attempted to reel it in, but it didn’t pan out as hoped with Biden’s approval rating tanking.

The Democrats’ domestic agenda is also in disarray with the congressional failure of Biden’s Build Back Better growing increasingly more likely.

Other policies, or lack thereof, negatively weigh on the Biden administration. So, what went wrong besides electing a senile “old white man” to the most demanding and powerful position

in the world?

The elite class is out of touch with the American populace.

Hillary would essentially be a second dose of the Biden administration, as she too will likely bow down to the progressives, leftism and the clamor of nonsensical politically “woke” outcries. She is a career politician through and through, not a somewhat relatable outsider with populist appeal.

The majority’s patience has run thin with radical leftist antics and ideologies, and this could arguably lead to a more centrist candidate for the Democrats in 2024.

Clinton could fit the bill as a corporate establishment left-ofcenter politician. She has a knack for expressing her elitism, which isn’t especially well-regarded in a post-Trump America. Describing Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables” may have cost her the 2016 election. Remember, a lot of Sanders’ votes became run-offs for Trump.

Clinton is an experienced politician who is mildly younger but clearly more cognizant than the current president.

To her credit, she has also taken a stance against the progressive wing rejecting far-left positions, which could possibly afford her a wider voting block

Last year marked the end of Donald Trump’s divisive time in office. The year began on a rough note within the first week, when his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, leading to the deaths of five people. But this incredibly dark moment for our country didn’t just pass by – within a matter of days, Trump was removed from multiple social media platforms to mitigate the threat of potentially inciting more violence. Two weeks after the Capitol attack, Joe Biden took the oath of office to become the 46th president of the United States. During his inaugural address, he promised to unify the country. Biden’s performance has been debatable throughout the last year, as shown by his low approval rating, so it appears he still needs to deliver on that front.

With that said, Biden somehow doesn’t seem to be as polarizing as Donald Trump; evident in his unwillingness to use Twitter as a means to post inflammatory statements on a regular basis.

Another major shift within the last year has been people’s approach to work. The pandemic has caused millions of employees to rethink their life choices; they want to be paid better, have more flexibility in their work and lead generally happier lives.

These realizations have led to a phenomenon known as “The Great Resignation.” An average of 3.9 million work-

ers voluntarily quit their jobs each month through to November 2021. This is a contributing factor to the labor shortage issue we’re currently facing. It now seems that businesses will have to change their practices, not just to attract new people to fill spots but also to retain their current workers. Companies need to start compensating employees better and adapting to their other demands.

Remote work, for example, is a significant benefit that people desire. Working from home has been found to have “had a positive impact on overall employee experience” and even improved productivity levels. When possible, businesses should be offering remote work as an option, at the very least to keep workers happy. As a result of the pandemic, flexibility and free time are paramount to many, and this feeling likely isn’t going wanywhere.

A lot can change in a year; that is an understatement for what we’ve experienced since the pandemic started.

It’s been a total upheaval to our health, day-to-day lives, our country on a political, social, economic and cultural level. If 2021 was the year of rebuilding, hopefully 2022 is the year we can enjoy the fruits of that labor.

to include moderates and centrists.

Democrats can anticipate having losses in both the Senate and the House, providing a chance for Republicans to control both chambers of Congress.

Clinton could champion herself as the “change candidate.”

Again, Republicans will still want to investigate Clinton’s role in the Steele dossier, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court warrants and the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy. However, Democrats are unlikely to deny Biden’s nomination, if 1980’s Jimmy Carter versus Ted Kennedy is anything to go by.

If Clinton seeks to become the answer for Democrats, she must

amass support from independents and moderate Democrats.

If Trump runs, she may have her desired blockbuster rematch.

Maybe the “Orange Man” will be the igniter to a more moderate Democratic party.

All hypotheticals aside, do Democrats want to continue the old order with Harris? Or do they want to embrace something similar or reactionary to Trump’s movement? Expect a Clinton 2024 appearance, but it may be short. Harris will be the ticket.

Daniella Terilli, GSB ’24, is a marketing major from Westchester, N.Y.

Considering a Hillary Clinton 2024 Comeback

BY BRIAN PFAIL

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Democratic party is currently experiencing an identity crisis. Authoritarian leftism rose to prominence by the many exclamatory progressives. The leftist ideology demands change which establishment Democrats, like Hillary Clinton, just can’t offer.

“I think that it is a time for some careful thinking about what wins elections, and not just in deep-blue districts where a Democrat and a liberal Democrat, or so-called progressive Democrat, is going to win,” said Clinton in a recent interview with MSNBC. The 2024 ticket should be a left-wing populist or Marxist to juxtapose the probable Republican populist, but the establishment will not let that happen.

Private corporate donors and super PACs will hoist Clinton onto the ticket, although buying the bid doesn’t guarantee votes,.

We learned from previous elections, including Clinton’s last stint in 2016.

An op-ed from Douglas E. Schoen of Schoen Cooperman Research, a polling and consulting firm, and Andrew Stein, a former New York City council president and state assemblyman, show differently: Biden

Brian Pfail, FCLC ’22, is a communications major from Ronkonkoma, N.Y.

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Unpopularity with the Biden administration spotlights Clinton for 2024.

CULTURE

January 26, 2022

Page 9

Don’t Bother with “Don’t Look Up”

BY ZOE ALATSAS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

When I first heard that Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence were going to be starring in a movie together, I was ecstatic. When I heard about the premise of the movie, I was over the moon. I love disaster movies because they are

all notoriously awful. “Don’t Look Up” was definitely not an exception.

The plot of the movie is very simple: two astronomers — played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence — discover a comet that is going to destroy Earth in six months and 14 days. When they tell the president of the United

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM

Despite the impressive cast, “Don’t Look Up” fails to make an impact.

States — Meryl Streep — about the comet, as well as the rest of the world on national television, nobody takes them seriously. They act the same way they always do when they hear the world is going to end, thinking it’s just two crazy attention seekers waving their arms and claiming oblivion.

The same thing happened in 2012 when a rumor spread that a giant asteroid was going to hit Earth and destroy all of humanity. Some people panicked, but most just ignored it and called them crazy.

Now, despite the very reputable cast, all of whom gave well-executed performances, the movie was not what it was supposed to be. The entire premise of the movie is that it is supposed to be ironic; it’s a satirical analysis of how politics and greed get in the way of saving human lives. This is displayed when Peter Isherwell, a Steve Jobs-esque tech billionaire, hears the comet has rare minerals that would help his company and bribes the president to let the comet hit Earth in order to mine it. In the end, the comet does hit Earth, and the president’s son — ironically the Chief of Staff — emerges from the rubble while calling for his mother.

The message of the movie was one that was too important to have a comical approach. It was very clear that it was a spin on what hap-

pened with the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 — the national government did not immediately react which caused an economic collapse and millions of deaths. Even now, the government lowering the isolation period for people infected with COVID-19 from 10 to five days, as well as nurses still being forced to work after testing positive in order to keep the workforce alive, is mocked when Isherwell protests to let the comet hit Earth to exploit it.

The president is supposed to be a satirical representation of President Trump, that much was obvious: the nepotism, the obsession with approval ratings and points in the polls and nominating a Supreme Court Justice with multiple sex scandals.

But that’s not the issue I had with the film. I’m all for mocking political figures on both sides. There’s a lot to mock. My issue was that the entire movie felt like watching one long, drawn-out SNL skit. The premise is hilarious as a short film or a YouTube video because it is very true to what actually occurs when disaster strikes. However, the movie is two-and-a-half hours long. We get the joke, and it stopped being funny an hour ago.

Now, I have no issue with long movies. Some of the best films I’ve ever seen are three

hours long. Some of the most critically acclaimed movies of all time are three hours long. When the movie is genuinely interesting, it is worth it. Length is never an issue.

However, “Don’t Look Up” is a comedy. Nothing involving comedy is ever that long.

Stand-up specials are an hour at most; comedy movies are never over two hours. It’s difficult to be consistently funny for over an hour and a half.

There’s a reason for that: the jokes simply get old. And with “Don’t Look Up,” the joke got old an hour in.

Needless to say, I was thoroughly disappointed with the movie. With such a respected team of not only actors but writers as well, I expected more. But all audiences received was an endless loop of the same joke over and over again. I’m a firm believer in finishing whatever I start, but with “Don’t Look Up,” I quite literally could not finish it because I was so tired of it.

Here’s a list of everything I did instead of finishing “Don’t Look Up:” my chemistry homework, a 500-word essay for my communications class, this article, refolding everything in my drawers, three loads of laundry and my history quiz. So if anyone tells you to watch the movie, even if it’s in an ironic way, it’ll be two-and-a-half hours you’ll never get back.

Bob Saget in Memoriam His Life’s Work and Legacy

BY CHRISTA DOMINY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Bob Saget, American comedian and actor best known for his role as Danny Tanner on the early 90s sitcom “Full House,” recently passed away at the age of 65. Many are left devastated by the passing of this iconic father figure, including his onscreen family.

The castmates collectively posted on their social media accounts a heartfelt goodbye to Saget: “35 years ago, we came together as a TV family, but we became a real family. And now we grieve as a family. Bob made us laugh until we cried.

Now our tears flow in sadness, but also with gratitude for all the beautiful memories of our sweet, kind, hilarious, cherished Bob. He was a brother to us guys, a father to us girls and a friend to all of us. Bob, we love you dearly. We ask in Bob’s honor, hug the people you love.

No one gave better hugs than Bob. John, Dave, Candace, Jodie, Lori, Andrea, Scott, Jeff, Ashley and Mary-Kate.”

Saget was found dead in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, where he was in the midst of his stand-up com-

edy tour. Although the cause of death has yet to be confirmed, any signs of foul play and drug use have been ruled out by the medical examiner and the sheriff. Because Saget’s family has a history of heart attacks, which unfortunately killed three of his uncles, officials suspect that his death may be attributed to a sudden medical emergency.

Bob Saget is survived by his wife, Kelly Rizzo, and his three daughters. He is also survived by his impacts on comedy, his everlasting characters on television and his dedication to the Scleroderma Research Foundation.

Saget’s love of comedy and film began at an early age.

He graduated from Temple University where he pursued this love of film and later attended the University of Southern California’s prestigious film school for only a few days before dropping out. After dropping out, Saget stayed in Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy, where he spent years in the comedy club circuit. Along the way he met fellow comedian Dave Coulier, who went on to play Joey Gladstone on “Full House.”

Saget’s big break came as he joined CBS’s news show

“The Morning Program.” Following this debut, his most well-known roles were playing Danny Tanner on “Full House’’ from 1987 to 1995 and hosting “America’s Funniest Home Videos” in 1990. Saget was also the voice of narrator Ted Mosby on “How I Met Your Mother,” and starred in sitcoms “Raising Dad” and “Surviving Suburbia.”

Along the way, Saget left a mark on his fellow co-stars, especially his “Full House” family, who have all stayed in close contact with one another. Many have publicly stated how special Saget was to each of them and shared their condolences.

Onscreen daughter Candace Cameron Bure stated, “I don’t know what to say. I have no words. Bob was one of the best human beings I’ve ever known in my life. I loved him so much.”

John Stamos posted on Twitter, “I am broken. I am gutted. I am in complete and utter shock. I will never, ever have another friend like him. I love you so much, Bobby.”

His offscreen family ultimately inspired Saget to support the Scleroderma Research Foundation. His older sister, Gay Saget, unfortunately passed away due Scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disorder, in 1996. Be-

cause of this, Bob Saget spent the last 25 years dedicated to raising awareness for the medical condition, eventually joining the SRF Board of Directors in 2003.

His co-board member, Luke Evnin, shared with People Magazine, “He was very disappointed with the sophistication of the tools that were available at the time to alleviate or change the course of her disease, and even just ease her suffering at the end. I think that he was

committed to really see[ing] that it would not happen to any other patient.”

Alongside his career in acting and comedy, this foundation was his life’s work. Donations can be made in Saget’s memory on the Scleroderma Research Foundation website.

Although his time was cut short, Saget lives on through the legacy he left in the hearts and memories of his family, castmates and fans as a beloved comedian, actor, and friend.

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Although Saget’s life was tragically cut short, his legacy will be remembered.

Page 10

meet the staff ava erickson, Editor-In-Chief

Ava Erickson is a junior from Denver. Her passion for writing and language led her to double major in journalism and Spanish studies. She began working for the Ram at the end of her freshman year, writing for Culture and Opinion and later served as Culture Editor for one year. She is looking forward to taking on the role of Editor in Chief for Volume 104, as the Ram has been such an important part of her time in college!

hasna ceran, Editorial Director

Hasna Ceran is a junior double majoring in economics and Middle East studies. She began by writing the USG Column for Volume 101 and served as an Assistant News Editor for Volume 102 and Features Editor in Volume 103.

She has stepped out of the News section for her final year on the Ram, serving as Volume 104’s Editorial Director.

Ask her about White Wolf TTRPGs and her vintage science fiction magazine collection.

matt colucci, business director

Matt Colucci is a freshman from Long Island, N.Y. at Gabelli School of Business. He joined the Ram Business team to further his interest in advertising. He is also involved in other clubs such as Autism Speaks. He is excited to be the next Business Director for Volume 104 and his first spring semester!

Amanda yarolin, copy chief

Amanda Yarolin is a sophomore from Yonkers, N.Y., majoring in biology on the pre-health track. She began as copy editor for the Ram in the Fall 2021 semester and will now serve as Assistant Copy Chief for Volume 104. She loves the STEM work she has done so far at Fordham but is excited to explore her passion for writing while being part of a great creative team. Her hobbies include reading crime fiction novels, exploring the city and spending time with her friends and family.

sebastian diaz, features editor

Sebastian Diaz is a sophomore majoring in journalism and film & television. Returning to The Fordham Ram staff for Volume 104, Sebastian remains on the News staff as the Features Editor. When they’re not practicing on a drumkit, watching movies or listening to music, Seb can usually be found writing articles for the Ram or other publications.

January 26 2022

hanif amanullah, Managing Editor

Hanif Amanullah is a sophomore from Austin, Tex., majoring in international studies, whose passion for news writing and multimedia led him to the Ram. Hanif began writing opinion pieces about film and politics for the paper in late 2020, eventually supplementing the staff as an Assistant Culture Editor in 2021 and as Managing Editor for 2022’s Volume 104. In addition to working with the Ram, Hanif plays in a jazz ensemble, works as a print staffer for FURJ and has been published in Fordham’s Rhetorikos journal.

pia fischetti, MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR

Pia Fischetti is a junior from New York majoring in new media and digital design. She began her journey with the Ram during her freshman year as a photographer. She is so excited and grateful to be acting as Multimedia Director for Volume 104. When not busy with class or extracurriculars, she can often be found watching sitcoms or listening to show tunes.

michael sluck, Production editor

Michael Sluck is a sophomore from New Jersey majoring in political science and computer science. He began working for the Ram at the beginning of his freshman year as a copy editor and will now serve as the Production Editor for Volume 104. He is looking forward to becoming a part of The Fordham Ram’s legacy, as well as making sure no Oxford commas slip through the cracks.

Isabel danzis, news editor

Isabel Danzis is a sophomore from Maryland majoring in journalism and digital technologies & emerging media. Her passion for writing and journalism drove her to start writing for the Ram her freshman year. She worked as Assistant News Editor for Volume 103 and will be working as News Editor for Volume 104. Outside of the Ram, Isabel loves to explore new places in New York City. She is looking forward to being on staff for Volume 104!

emma kim, ASST. NEWS editor

Emma Kim is a freshman from Pittsburgh majoring in economics. She began writing for the Ram last semester in News, and she is excited to continue working in the section. She enjoys participating in other school activities and exploring the city.

samantha minear, asst. news editor

elisabeth murray, culture editor

Samantha Minear is a sophomore double majoring in international studies and communications. A Jersey Shore native, Sam began writing for the Ram during her first semester and has enjoyed profiling various Fordham-adjacent Instagram accounts. Outside of the paper, Sam is a resident assistant in Loschert Hall, an employee at the health center and a member of the Fordham Pep Band, playing flute. She is super excited to join Volume 104 and work with this incredible staff!

Elisabeth Murray is a junior from New Jersey majoring in international political economy with a double minor in economics and history. She started at the Ram in Fall 2021 copy editing and writing for Culture. Outside of the Ram Elisabeth has also been involved in Global Outreach and Mode.

Now, as Culture Editor, she is excited to continue working for the Ram pursuing her passion for writing while exploring all of the excitement the city has to offer. She is thrilled to be on staff for Volume 104!

kari white, culture editor

Kari White is a sophomore from Wilmington, Del., home of President Biden and Aubrey Plaza! Devoted to writing and literature, she is pursuing an English degree at Rose Hill and has written articles for both the Ram and STEM magazine, BioMag. She hopes to use her position as editor to share the amazing talents of Fordham students and lay the rich culture of NYC at Fordham’s doorstep.

ilaina kim, asst. news editor

Ilaina Kim is a sophomore from Atlanta, Ga. majoring in English with a minor in philosophical studies. This is her first year as an assistant culture editor for the Ram, and she is eager to fully immerse herself in the Volume 104 community. An avid reader of both literature and foreign film subtitles, her consumption of media will be promptly channeled into her writing.

January 26, 2022

volume 104 nick guzman, sports editor

Nick Guzman is a freshman from Flemington, N.J. majoring in journalism. He first got involved with the Ram last fall, writing pieces about a variety of different sports. When not working at the Ram, Nick is involved with WFUV. He is thrilled to be the Sports Editor for Volume 104!

thomas aiello. asst. sports editor

Thomas Aiello is a junior from New Jersey majoring in journalism. He began writing for the Ram following his COVID-19 quarantine experience in February 2021 and hasn’t stopped since. While writing for the Ram, Thomas simultaneously works in WFUV and Fordham Athletics in various capacities. He is a struggling Knicks fan, thriving Packer stan, confused Yankee fan and a Fordham basketball almanac. His hobbies include tweeting, shooting hoops and reading the Fordham men’s and women’s basketball record books.

Page 11 maddie bimonte, asst. sports editor

Maddie Bimonte is a sophomore from North Carolina majoring in journalism with a minor in political science.

As a transfer, she got involved with the Ram’s Sports section during her first semester at Fordham. When not talking about her love-hate relationship with the New York Mets, she also is involved with WFUV and gives tours as a Fordham Ambassador. She’s super excited to get to work on Volume 104 as one of the Assistant Sports Editors with such an amazing team!

nicole braun, opinion editor

Nicole Braun is a sophomore from New Jersey majoring in English and minoring in French. Outside of the Ram, Nicole expresses her passion for women’s rights as an E-Board member of Leading Women of Tomorrow. You can often find Nicole reading, baking or forgetting to delete the Oxford comma.

noah osborne, opinion editor

daniella terilli, Asst. opinion editor

Noah Osborne is a junior and journalism major at Fordham College Rose Hill. A Harlem native, Noah found his passion for journalism in 2019 as a Culture, Opinion and News writer for the Ram. Noah is a reporter and anchor for Fordham’s NPR-affiliate radio station, WFUV where his passion for journalism expanded faster than his ability to publish articles for the Ram every week. Now, as Opinion Editor for Volume 104, Noah looks forward to cementing his legacy at the Ram by helping others cement their own.

Daniella Terilli is a sophomore from New York majoring in marketing. She joined the Ram as an opinion writer in September. Outside of school she loves beach days, going to Rangers games and spending time with her friends! Daniella has been passionate about writing for as long as she can remember, and she is beyond excited to start working as the Assistant Opinion Editor for Volume 104!

ava carreiro, digital producer

Ava Carreiro is a sophomore from New Jersey pursuing a major in marketing. She began her time at the Ram in the Fall of 2021 as a copy editor and will now serve as Digital Producer for Volume 104. At Fordham, she is also on the USG Marketing & Communications Committee and the University Orchestra. She is excited to be part of the staff and to start managing the Ram’s social media pages!

justin charles, digital producer

Justin Charles is a junior from Boston. He is majoring in English and marketing. This is his first year contributing to the Ram as a Digital Producer having previous experience writing for his high school newspaper and working on multiple online media projects. He spends his free time watching too much soccer, listening to music and spending time with his friends and family.

He is excited to continue being involved on campus this year with the Ram!

sofia donohue, digital producer

Sofia Donohue is a freshman from Washington, D.C. majoring in political science. She wrote for the Ram as a contributing writer throughout Fall 2021 and will serve as Digital Producer for Volume 104. Having been involved with her high school’s literary magazine, Sofia joined the Ram to continue her passion for writing and further explore her interest in journalism. She is excited to step into her new position and be a part of the Ram’s staff!

theodore wai, photo editor

Theodore Wai is a freshman from Queens, N.Y., majoring in finance with a concentration in alternative investments.

His passion for photography and writing led him to join the Ram. A News Editor and Layout Editor for his high school magazine, Theodore hopes to explore his passions in a college setting as this year’s Photo Editor.

nicoleta papavasilakis, visual director

Nicoleta Papavasilakis is a junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, majoring in journalism and minoring in Spanish. She is still quite new to the Ram, as she only began writing for the Culture section of the newspaper at the beginning of Fall 2021. Unfortunately, the pandemic put the brakes on her plans to join earlier. Nonetheless, Nicoleta is thrilled to be the Visual Director of the Ram and continue to tell stories that engage the different senses. She also runs track and cross country for Fordham University and announces track meets at the historic Armory Track in Washington Heights. frances schnepff, social media director

Frances Schnepff is a freshman from Chicago majoring in communications and culture. This is her first year on the Ram and she is looking forward to working on social media this volume. She loves all forms of media and is a big movie watcher. Her favorite movie is “Frances Ha” and not just because they share a first name!

nick desilva, photo editor

Nick DeSilva is a junior from Massachusetts majoring in international political economy. He picked up photography in search of what some may call a “hobby.” Looking for something to do, he decided to try his luck and apply for a Photo Editor position. Now, Nick asks himself every day if he can actually call himself a professional photographer. He is super excited to join the Ram for his first volume!

cory bork, graphics/illustratoins

Cory Bork is a junior majoring in communication and culture with a minor in marketing. Beginning in his sophomore year, Cory wrote articles extensively and grew interested in producing graphics for the Ram, which he continues to do until this day! Outside of the Ram, you can catch Cory recklessly skiing down a mountain somewhere in Upstate New York.

CULTURE

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January 26, 2022

Who’s That Kid| Jaya Joyce, FCRH ’24

Fordham Sophomore is Ready to Light up New York

By NOAH OSBORNE OPINION EDITOR

There’s a special kind of person that keeps New York City in awe — a person who keeps the unforgettable city shining its brightest. That person is Jaya Joyce, FCRH ’24, and none shine as brightly as she does.

Hailing from Rhode Island, as a child, Joyce was not yet aware that her journey would see her ascending to her rightful throne in New York with a larger-thanlife personality towering over the city skyline. Like many, she envisioned a life of fame and lavish living in Los Angeles or New York — something today, she claims, was romanticized and unrealistic. Joyce is not one to sit around and let her dreams go unrealized, as she auditioned to be on the Disney Channel. Yet upon her entry to high school, Joyce knew her love for the entertainment industry had to be manifested in something concrete. Hence she began her quest to become an entertainment lawyer, which will enable her to fulfill two of her most characterdefining passions: working in the entertainment industry and helping those in need.

Joyce makes it clear in everything she does that the flashing lights of fame will never eclipse her priority to serve communities in need of compassion, warmth and love: three things anyone who speaks with her will find she possesses an abundance. Before she became a film and television major, Joyce es-

tablished and contributed to a Unified Movement throughout her school district in Rhode Island during her junior and senior years of high school to foster a more inclusive culture for all students. Joyce believes that her ability to amplify underrepresented voices plays an integral role in her character. Yet, in true Ram fashion, Joyce was not satisfied with the power her voice already proved to possess, as she would seek not to become a one-trick pony in helping underserved communities, but a unicorn of unity for all.

Whether it was her participation in the National Student Leadership Conference or her advocacy for hosting the Unified Polar Plunge, where her high school raised over $13,000 for the Special Olympics, Joyce’s love has proven all-encompassing: “At first, we were focusing on students with disabilities, but then, as it took off, we focused on everyone who might not feel included. Our unified pledge was to look for the lonely, isolated, challenged and bullied. Any student who might feel alone,” said Joyce. “I was bullied in middle school, and I didn’t want anyone else to ever feel that way.” Though she earned the Prudential Spirit of Community award, the work Joyce has done to uplift silenced voices can not be celebrated enough.

Fast forward to her sophomore year at Fordham, Joyce’s mission for unity has not changed. Joyce

serves as the very embodiment of Fordham’s motto, Cura Personalis, and shares her love for Fordham to wide-eyed freshmen as an orientation leader. “It was just really nice to be able to help freshmen acclimate to Fordham. “Because of how much I love it, I was able to project my love for Fordham onto them, and help them get situated and make them more comfortable. I’m still in contact with some students from my orientation group which is really nice!”

Joyce remains enigmatic because of her ability to be relatable, yet distinguishable from other Fordham students. Her love for pop culture is just one characteristic that simultaneously makes her relatable and sets her apart, as she proudly touts being a Harry Styles fan. She even met One Direction in 2015 and sat in the front row for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards last semester. Having been to nine of Harry Styles’ shows, Joyce shares that when she is presented with the opportunity to jump in jubilance at the venue her heart warms with a sense of community for all the fans who attended with her.

It is this sense of community Joyce engages with on a monthly basis during her work with Fordham’s NPR-affiliate radio station WFUV, as she is the host of the station’s podcast, “Community Dialogues.” It is a program that features discussions on racial justice and gives Joyce the platform she needs to confront the

social injustice of racism infecting our country. She uses it to speak with community members and professionals about a multitude of organizations and issues occurring in New York City. “If there are issues going on in society, if people are hurting, if people need help, I think people should know about it, and I think that their voices should be heard,” says Joyce.

“It’s really eye-opening to see things from another person’s perspective, and learn about what other people are going through. Because as students at Fordham, we’re very privi-

though the long awaited ship of Jules and Rue finally falls into place , we can see that Elliot has already ruffled Jules’ feathers by causing Rue to keep secrets from her.

Whether or not Elliot and Rue become romantically involved, it is evident that his influence will strain Rue and

Jules’ relationship.

Finally, the other love affairs we see are Rue and Kat’s struggles with addiction.

Rue, as we know, struggles to stay sober, and usually depends on Jules for her overall happiness. Her unhealthy relationship with drugs has caused her to end up trapped

in a cycle of love, drugs and Jules. Although Jules will always love Rue, she has made it clear she cannot be friends with an addict, and tells Rue that she needs to set her priorities. However, Rue will always find herself tempted with drugs, possessing a love for them that she can’t break.

leged, and learning more about our Bronx neighbors it’s just really eye-opening to see what they’re going through and how they live.”

A pre-law student, black-belt in karate and One Direction fan, Joyce’s passion for entertainment and community makes her one of Fordham’s most multidirectional students. “No matter how old I get, in the back of my head, I’m always going to have that dream,” says Joyce on her dream of the world one day knowing her name — she should keep this in mind, because it’s already come true.

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM

Joyce is a multitalented student with big goals and aspirations.

Finding Lessons of Love in “Euphoria”

By JACQUELINE DELIA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

After waiting three years for the return of HBO Max’s original series “Euphoria,” viewers were left in awe after the premiere of the first two episodes. Not only were fans already theorizing who was going to end up with who, but they also questioned Rue as a narrator and whether or not the narration foreshadows her future with addiction.

The season starts with the presentation of multiple love triangles, the obvious one being between Cassie, Nate and Maddy. So far, this season centers around addiction and Cassie’s battle with being alone. Cassie is known as the girl who is never single and craves constant male validation. After ending things with McKay, her attention is suddenly turned to Nate — and they find themselves tangled in a secret love affair.

However, this is not the only complicated triangle.

Fans have predicted more drama with the arrival of Elliot, a new student whom Rue has taken an interest in ever since she relapsed. Al-

COURTESY OF TWITTER

The new season of HBO’s “Euphoria” is filled with love triangles and affairs tackling tough subjects like addiction and toxic relationships.

Rue is not the only character caught up in obsession.

Kat has entered a new relationship with Ethan, her lab partner who she never saw herself giving a chance. In the second episode of season two, Kat battles with whether or not she loves him. A choreographed scene meant to highlight Kat’s insecurities reveals how her own struggles with self acceptance keep her from truly loving Ethan. This scene displays the importance of having a healthy relationship with yourself in order to have a loving and meaningful connection with a significant other.

Ultimately, there are still many unknown destinies and open-ended theories.

With six more episodes to go, I am very excited to see how the rest of the new season pans out. I am looking forward to the new characters, new dynamics and even new obstacles that arise out of the season.

Hopefully, each character will find the strength to pull themselves out of the vicious cycles of addiction and toxic relationships.

CULTURE

January 26, 2022

Page 13

A Norwegian Cure for Seasonal Depression

By CARRIE DURKIN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Growing up in Chicago, I am no stranger to brutal winters.

Winters complete with frigid temperatures, black ice, snow piled up taller than me (not the pretty, aesthetic snow that lasts about five minutes — the mud stained sludge that freezes over and sticks around until March) and long, bleak stretches of nighttime. On one hand, the Windy City’s “polar vortex” can seem debilitating.

But as the leaves turn from green to brown and the temperatures drop, I’ve grown to

love the twinge of hominess and nostalgia in the frosty embrace of Northern Illinois.

Moving to NYC for college wasn’t too much of a change. I think every Fordham student has walked into Keating for an afternoon class and been surprised by how quickly it became dark. Oftentimes, I find the trek to Starbucks from my dorm not worth braving the blustery cold during the winter months (which my DCB thanks me kindly for).

In both states I’ve lived in, I’ve found an odd comfort in it being too cold outside to leave

COURTESY OFPIA FISCHETTI

“Coziness” could combat seasonal gloominess for college students.

the house — an excuse to light way too many Target candles, put on more comfy layers and brew my favorite tea. I was pleased to learn there was a name for this optimism and it wasn’t just mindless romanticization.

Northern Europeans use a similar tactic to combat the long winters and short days.

Norwegian hygge (hyoo-guh) has been the saving grace to citizens of Denmark, Norway and Sweden to combat seasonal depression in one of the darkest, coldest regions in the world.

First of all, what exactly is hygge, and where did the term come from? There’s no exact definition, but hygge roughly translates from Norwegian to “coziness.” The Danes adopted it around the 18th century, and have been liberal in employing it ever since. Characterized by indulgence, comfort and consolation, hygge quickly gained popularity. The Oxford English Dictionary describes hygge as “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” Hygge became popular in the U.S. in 2016 — a result of the popularity of “Little Book of Hygge - Danish secrets to happy living” by Meik Wiking. Wiking describes hygge as both a mindset and an atmosphere we create by embracing our circumstances and appreciating the little things. Think the “You HAVE to start romanticizing your life” TikTok sound.

Things Wiking describes as hygge are “the art of creating in-

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timacy,” “the absence of annoyance,” “cozy togetherness” and “cocoa by candlelight.”

Denmark is a country characterized by horrific winters and high taxes — probably the two most complained about things in the U.S. However, according to the World Happiness Institute, Denmark often is ranked “Happiest Country in the World,” and hasn’t dipped below the top five happiest countries in ten years. According to Wiking, while Danes are trademarked as the “happiest people in the world,” they are also the ones who make the most time for visiting with family and friends, and have been reported to be the calmest and most at peace. After looking at Denmark, it can be safe to say that the link between hygge and happiness and well-being isn’t a random one.

As not only college students, but college students in what’s viewed as one of the most fast-paced cities in the world, practicing hygge can seem silly, pointless and even impossible. But hygge is about the little things, embracing and learning to love life as it is. One of my favorite ways to create a “hygge” atmosphere is by treating my dorm room as my sanctuary. My salt lamp and mini-string lanterns (I am vehemently anti-overhead light), plants and lavender room spray make my space feel cozy, comforting and like a home away from home. If you’re an on-campus

student, an electric candle and a plug in diffuser is the perfect way to achieve a “ResLifefriendly” cozy ambience. Another way I’ve embraced hygge is making both social and alone time a priority — which can be WAY easier said than done. Squeezing in a Starbucks date with an old friend between classes, hosting a self-care night in your dorm or even staying in to recharge instead of going out are all ways we can be more mindful and feel more at peace. Personally, I always try to brew my favorite tea (Tazo Earl Gray) and listen to my favorite cozy-calm playlist (LOTS of Evermore) while chugging through homework to make things that are stressful or mundane bring some comfort or peace.

Taking a moment to wind down and be mindful is something overlooked by so many, but the Dane’s have proven “stopping to smell the roses” can make all the difference. Especially in the gloomy winter months, prioritizing peace and mindfulness can be the key in staying sane this semester. In short — treat yourself. Do what feels good. Buy that new book you’ve had your eye on, don’t deprive yourself of spending time with friends or calling loved ones at home, keep your space tidy and make it a place you can relax in, treat yourself to your favorite latte and for the love of God — turn off your fluorescent overhead lights.

“Sex Lives of College Girls” Demystifies Female Sexuality and Friendships

By ELISABETH MURRAY CULTURE EDITOR

It’s hard to sum up the college experience — a time that is often filled with so much change and self-discovery — into just one theme or lesson. My time at Fordham has brought so many new experiences and moments filled with excitement, stress and curiosity. But one thing has remained constant throughout my journey: the friends I made along the way. “Sex Lives of College Girls” perfectly represents the unbreakable bonds that are formed in the early days of college throughout all of the adjustments, mistakes and hardships.

The series follows four suitemates as they navigate friendships, sexuality and their first tastes of freedom during their first semester at Essex College, a fictional school in Vermont. As an elite, small, liberal arts college, Essex fosters an environment filled with cliques, elitism and questionable influences. Although the girls seem to come from drastically different backgrounds, they demonstrate solidarity in the challenges that they face.

“Sex Lives of College Girls”

reimagines the typical popularity centric cliches we’re used to in school-setting dramas like “Gossip Girl” and “Pretty Little Liars” with Leighton’s storyline. An affluent legacy student from a New York City prep school, Leighton is harboring a deep secret that she spends the first few weeks desperately trying to conceal.

At first glance, it seems like fitting in should be much easier for Leighton than her humble suitemate, Kimberly; however, the fourth episode reveals that Leighton struggles to get comfortable in her top-tier sorority despite her stereotypical look. Eventually, after making a desperate attempt to suppress her sexuality by dating a boy in her brother Nico’s elite fraternity, she comes to terms with the fact that she is a lesbian for the first time in her life. This reality is terrifying to her as she fears it could completely change her life and the reputation she is supposed to uphold. She spends the rest of the series struggling to navigate self-acceptance, finally admitting the truth out loud to Kimberly at the end of the series after her breakup with Alicia, her secret girlfriend.

Whitney, a star soccer recruit and the daughter of a senator, is also hiding a massive secret. The first episode introduces her illicit affair with her assistant coach which gradually declines as the series unfolds. Despite both of their best efforts to keep their relationship under wraps, the coach’s wife eventually finds out. Whitney is forced to come clean to her teammates, head coach and mother, facing her fear of being punished or shunned despite the fact that she was the victim of a toxic power dynamic.

When Whitney reveals this to her suitemates, they are quick to comfort her as Bela had recently been through something similar. An aspiring comedy writer, Bela had made tremendous efforts to be on The Catullan, Essex’s renowned comedy magazine.

When she started to gain success and recognition from her fellow writers, she was slutshamed because of her actions at a party at the beginning of the semester. She continued to work hard at her comedy writing and was eventually “tapped by the Catullan.”

However, in a later episode, she is assaulted by one of the

editors. Then, she discovered that he assaulted the only other new female writer. After confiding in Leighton at Nico’s surprise birthday party, she feels empowered to explore her options in taking action against her assailant.

Leighton also comes to Kimberly’s rescue when she finds out that Nico had been secretly seeing Kimberly and cheating on his long-distance girlfriend. Knowing how deeply this hurt Kimberly, a shy, naive girl from the midwest, Leighton stands up to her brother and tells his girlfriend, Maya,

about the affair.

Tackling female sexuality from four varied perspectives, Mindy Kaling’s newest show gives a very refreshing look into this pivotal point in young adult life. Instead of using sexuality to pin girls against each other, “Sex Lives of College Girls” utilizes this theme as an avenue to explore the complexities of female friendships.

The HBO Max series was renewed for a second season, and I am so excited to see how these characters grow as I continue my own journey through college.

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“Sex Lives of College Girls” shows the bonds formed through colege awkwardness.

CULTURE

Page 14

January 26, 2022

Betty White: The Passing of A True American Icon

By AVA ZINS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” said Jeff Witjas, Betty White’s agent and close friend. Betty White died on Dec. 31, 2021 at age 99, less than a month before her 100th birthday on Jan. 17. With her death, White leaves behind an impressive

comedic acting career in addition to her historical legacy.

Betty Marion White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1922 as an only child to Horrace and Tess White, moving to Los Angeles when she was two years old. She had aspirations ranging from opera singing to being a park ranger before deciding on acting and writing. White’s time in the spotlight started with her

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Betty White passed away at the age of 99 on December 31, 2021.

lead role in her high school’s senior play, which, almost prophetically, she also wrote.

Choosing not to attend college, White made her media debut on various radio shows in the 1940s before breaking into the television scene.

In 1949, White appeared on “Hollywood on Television” as girl Friday until she was later promoted to host of the show. In 1952, she founded Bandy Productions to create her own productions, one of which being the series “Life with Elizabeth.” White not only produced the series, but starred in it as well.

Arguably, White is best known for her roles in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Golden Girls.” In “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” White played the role of Sue Ann Nivens beginning in 1973. The series ended in 1977, which is when White began starring in “The Betty White Show.” However, once the iconic series “The Golden Girls” debuted in 1985, White soon became known as Rose Nylund. The actress also appeared in other major programs around the time, including “The Love Boat,” “That ’70s Show” and “Boston Legal.”

In 1995, White was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. Ray Richmond, author of “Betty White: 100 Remarkable Mo-

ments in an Extraordinary Life,” explained that “she and TV were pretty much born for each other,” primarily because “her association with TV began just as it was becoming relevant, and she helped to give it form and style when the medium was still in its infancy.”

Nonetheless, White’s talent transcended television.

She made appearances on multiple game shows, including “Password,” which was hosted by White’s future husband Allen Ludden. From appearing in Super Bowl commercials to hosting “Saturday Night Live,” White became nothing short of a pop culture icon. Later in her career, she made appearances in the movies “Lake Placid,” “The Proposal,” “Toy Story 4” and “You Again.” Her time on the screen earned her a plethora of awards, including eight Emmys, 21 Emmy nominations, three American Comedy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Grammy.

In addition, she was honored at the Emmy Awards in 2018 to commemorate her eighty years in show business.

Despite the magnitude of her groundbreaking comedic career, White became influential in her other endeavors as well — most significantly in her work and philanthropy regarding animal rights advocacy. She was a prominent

trustee with the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, a nonprofit that she worked with in order to advocate for better conditions for the animals housed at the zoo. White served on the zoo board for over 50 years, advancing and improving the zoo’s exhibits and habitats tremendously.

Additionally, she was involved with the Morris Animal Foundation for an equally extensive amount of time, contributing financially to their various animal health studies.

In many ways, White will live forever. She will undoubtedly be remembered for her iconic television and pop culture presence as well as being a trailblazer for women in the entertainment industry. She will be remembered as Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and as Rose Nylund from “The Golden Girls.” She will be remembered as an advocate for animal rights, and more broadly as a kindhearted, high-spirited voice for the voiceless. Most importantly, she will be remembered for who she was: a wholesome, witty woman dedicated to making the world a better place.

99 years is a long time, but with her contagious sense of humor and extraordinary perseverance, Betty White managed to makeher legacy infinite.

Best Performance of an Actress in a Drama Series for her role in “Pose,” breaking ground for future queer, Latina and Black artists hoping to follow in her footsteps.

After the ceremony, the HFPA released a statement from its podcast, “Golden Globes Around The World,” on its website. In it, one of their new members spoke about the continued critiques of the HFPA. Kimberly Reyes asked who critics are “punishing at this point by turning [their] back on the HFPA?” She continued, saying, “Are you going to sully the wins of last night for the first trans actress and first Korean actor?” Reyes’ question, much like Hoehne’s aforementioned quote, fails to acknowledge the active role that the HFPA has taken in excluding the very people Reyes’ is using as a defensive shield. Of course the “first trans actress,” Michaela Jia Rodriguez, and “first Korean actor,” O Yeong-Su, deserve acclaim for their performances, but they are the “first” only because the HFPA has been a participating member of the exclusive Hollywood that barred artists like them from the roles and praise they deserve. The HFPA has made strides to change, and that is laudable, but the world of entertainment cannot simply move beyond the exclusive history it itself has created.

The very institution of a ceremony like the Golden Globes brings to mind old Hollywood, and who was invited to those red carpets. Reading the tweets, devoid of their usual glamor, makes an avid award show watcher like me wonder what truly compels us to turn them on: exclusion.

Even now, as I ogle over the red carpet, the magic of the night comes in two parts. One, my fingers upon the television screen will, most likely, be as close as I ever come to these people. Two, if I were to succeed and find my-

self on that red carpet, I would be better than every person at home with their fingers pressed against the screen.

The question rattling through my mind, then, as I scroll through the Golden Globe’s twitter feed, is how can these award shows be relegated with the push for more inclusion, less elitism? Can these shows simply be a celebration of the wonderful artwork that people all across the world make? Can an organization built upon exclusion ever truly purge itself of its original sin?

Only time will tell.

Golden Globes 2022: Brought To You by Twitter

By KARI WHITE

CULTURE EDITOR

On Jan. 9, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and controversy surrounding a general lack of diversity, the Golden Globes announced the winners of their 2022 awards through Twitter.

While the Golden Globes are usually thought of as the Oscar’s less prestigious, boozier sibling, the decision to scale back was forced upon them by widespread backlash against its parent organization, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).

When the HFPA announced the winners, the Golden Globes official twitter tweeted this quote from Helen Hoehne, the HFPA’s president: “The #GoldenGlobes are a bridge to a world audience of many colors, many faiths, and many cultures, all united with the same passion – a love of movies.” This quote, although a nice sentiment, embodies the flawed mission of the HFPA. The organization purports that it connects foreign bodies together through their love of film and art, but it fails grievously. Until NBC refused to air its broadcast in 2022, the organization’s body of 87 foreign entertainment journalists did not include a single Black writer.

In May 2021, NBC reneged on its contract to air the Golden

Globes due to concerns about the organization moving too slowly to enact change. Even before NBC refused to air the broadcast, the HFPA released a statement on its website saying, “We understand that we need to bring in Black members… and we will immediately work to implement an action plan to achieve these goals as soon as possible.” NBC’s boycott did not put the thought of much needed change into the HFPA’s mind, but it lit the fire beneath its feet.

That fire has certainly got HFPA moving. On Oct. 1, 2021, they announced the names and nationalities of its newest 21 members, six of which are Black, six are Latinx, five are Asian and four are Middle Eastern/North African. Along with increasing its members, HFPA has announced its partnership with St. Elmo’s Village, Get Lit and other organizations that help fuel artistic achievement and imagination in underprivileged communities all across the world. HFPA has also partnered with the NAACP to create the Reimagine Coalition, which hopes to spread diversity and equity throughout the entertainment industry.

While not the “party of the year,” as the HFPA website dubs it, the Twitter awards still garnered a lot of attention.

Michaela Jia Rodriguez won

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The Golden Globes are an award show steeped in Hollywood elitism.

CULTURE

January 26, 2022

Page 15

A New Dawn For The Weeknd

By MARIBELLE GORDON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, has once again proven to be an incredibly unique musician and artist with his fifth studio album, “Dawn FM.” Bordering the line of concept album, The Weeknd turns something as simple as tuning into a radio station into a complex and ominous experience, as he introduces heavy themes such as nihilism, desperation and purgatory.

In the introductory and title track, The Weeknd previews the entire album experience with several standout features. From the 103.5 Dawn FM jingle to the encompassing Jim Carrey narration, The Weeknd creates a track that simultaneously soothes and unsettles listeners. The synthesizer heavy sound introduced in this song is carried throughout the rest of the album, paying homage to 80s R&B and dance pop.

The artistic collaborations

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The Weeknd has once again proven to be an incredibly unique artist.

are another captivating aspect of the album. More conventional features include Tyler, the Creator and Lil Wayne. The Weeknd also collaborates with Swedish House Mafia and Agents of Time on the Alternate World edition of the album, contributing to the album’s complex and unique sound. There is an interlude track of Quincy Jones talking about his childhood trauma and how his mother’s dementia affected his ability to love, jarringly set to a smooth 80’s R&B instrumental. Finally, Jim Carrey was a surprising feature that made many surprising cameos throughout the album, taking on the role of 103.5 Dawn FM’s DJ. His soothing voice and the vaguely alarming messages he broadcasts create a deliberate sense of confusion and haze which contributes to the recurring theme of purgatory and the unknown.

The Weeknd took this album in a very unexpected direction thematically, as songs like “How Do I Make You Love Me?” and “Is There Someone Else?” move away from confrontations with his own toxic behavior that are especially present in “After Hours” and “My Dear Melancholy.” He presents an entirely new perspective where he is now the victim, succumbing to desperation and begging. However, he still explores his own weaknesses with songs like

“Less Than Zero” and “Out of Time,” highlighting the nuances of love as inherently flawed beings.

While the album does contain songs with great replay value and potential to be mainstream radio hits, there are edgy and experimental tracks as well. “Every Angel Is Terrifying” is the eccentric exploration into the universe this album aims to create.

The inclusion of a commercial for the afterlife is an emphatic reminder of The Weeknd’s constant urge to expand creative boundaries.

Critics of this album have argued that many of the songs sound alike, but this points to one of the album’s most prominent and effective features: transitions. Each song transitions seamlessly into the next, giving the album a strong sense of continuity that reflects the experience of listening to songs fade into each other on the radio. Many artists incorporate transitions in between songs, but The Weeknd’s use of them on an entire album is unique in how they help support the main theme of the album.

Known for having an extremely loyal and dedicated fanbase, The Weeknd has kept fans intrigued and obsessed with each album rollout by essentially creating entirely new personas for each of his albums. Rather

than just making his creations about the music itself, he builds universes with each era of music through carefully crafted visuals, sounds, costumes and cosmetics. Following the drug-fueled mania that comprised his “After Hours” image, The Weeknd’s new identity includes both a current and aged version of himself, an interesting nod to the messages of life, death and what comes in between.

The journey isn’t over for The Weeknd fans, as the singer recently revealed on his Twitter that “After Hours” and “Dawn FM” are a part of a new trilogy. This project alludes to the album that launched his career, comprising three mixtapes. It will be interesting to see how he closes out this saga that began in the intense, chaotic and dangerous nighttime and transitioned into a hazy morning that has yet to see the consequences that a new day will hold.

Two weeks after the release, The Weeknd has repositioned himself as the most listened to artist on Spotify and has absolutely dominated the charts once again.

He’s in the prime of his career and the success of this daring and highly unconventional creation shows that he has found success in pushing mainstream audiences to become more open and receptive to different kinds of art.

ping into the past and becoming accustomed to what it must have been like to live there.

All of the classes that I am enrolled in are three-hour-long lectures that meet once a week.

Obviously, this is completely different from Fordham’s New York campuses, so it has been a major adjustment. However, the professors grant short breaks throughout the lesson to partition up the class time.

It is far from unbearable, but I would recommend only taking classes that you are genuinely interested in so that it is not something you dread going to.

The workload is about the same as any other class I have taken at Fordham, but it is a little overwhelming to hear a week’s worth of material in one class. I would advise you spend a little time every day reviewing what you have learned in the class to fully understand it. That being said, having only one class a week makes for a lot of possibilities in your schedule. Most people I know have four-day weekends, with Thursday to Sunday free from classes. There are no classes offered on Fridays.

So far, my weekends have been spent attending ticketed

events at club-like venues.

Pubs are also a huge hit among college-age people. Many of the places I have gone to are usually majority American study abroad students from other colleges or universities, and a mix of European students as well. Of course, there are also locals that visit, but they typically steer clear of the notoriously American-ridden places.

These places are very similar to clubs in New York, but here, live music is a really big part of the experience for people. In New York, this is not typically the case, as normally EDM or pop music just plays from speakers. Most places I have visited thus far have live performances by local bands which really adds to the entire experience.

Life in London as a Study Abroad Student: The First Few Days

By HALEY DANIELS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

I have been living in London for just over a week now and I want to share my experience thus far for anyone interested in studying abroad here I am a part of the study abroad program at Fordham London Centre located in the borough of Camden. My apartment, or “flat”, is called “Kamden House.” It is just a fiveminute walk from campus. I have four roommates and we share double bedrooms and two bathrooms. The rooms are not too spacious, but they are fully furnished with two dressers, two nightstands and two lamps in each, giving us a decent amount of storage space.

Though the bedrooms may be small, the kitchen and living room are rather large.

However, I have spent very little time inside since there is so much to do in the city. Fordham hosts several orientation programs including Krazy Golf, where students went to a minigolf course that was also a restaurant/bar venue, and a boat cruise that was open invitation.

A few other programs offered included a tour of Harry Potter filming locations, an “espio-

nage” tour and tickets to the Tower of London. Because of limited capacity, students had to sign up for these events beforehand.

Though some of these events cost money, they are worth it for the experience. One of my favorite events was a boat cruise that I attended with some friends. It was an almost four-hour journey on the River Thames. The boat had two bars, a dance floor and catered food. It was an amazing sightseeing opportunity; we cruised underneath the London Bridge and saw the city from a new perspective.

My roommates and I decided to go to the Tower of London, which I would recommend to anyone who is visiting the city.

Although I have only seen it twice in my life, I feel that it is one of the must-see landmarks in London. It is essentially a museum and it is so massive that someone could undoubtedly spend hours there. You get to walk through the rooms of the castle, peruse artwork, admire authentic armor and most notably, view the crown jewels. It does not feel like you are learning as you walk through the old walls of the castle; it feels like you are step-

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Fordham London Centre Campus in the day time

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SPORTS

January 26, 2022

Page 17

Rams Track and Field Start Off With A Bang

By MADDIE BIMONTE ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Fordham Track and Field competed in their first meet of 2022 this past Saturday at the Ramapo College Season Opener, with the women finishing first out of 15 teams and the men finishing 12th out of 19 teams. This meet marked the first of the season for team rankings, as previous meets focused on individual scoring.

The women’s team entered 2022 with a commanding presence. After multiple strong individual placements in last week’s Lions Indoor Invitational, sophomore Kyla Hill and graduate student Kathryn Kelly spearheaded the women’s victory. Hill took first in the 60m dash with a time of 7.75 while Kelly recorded first in the 200m dash, marking a seasonbest time of 24.96. In addition, Kelly went on to finish second in the long jump event with a mark of 5.44m.

Rounding out second place finishes for the women that included junior Taylor Mascetta in the 800m at a time of 2:20.06 and senior Dominique Valentine in the 400m with a season-best time of 1:00.41. Valentine would also play a role in the second place finish of the 4x400 relay team featuring Valentine and sophomores Michele Daye, Molly Mulvaney and Marin Bogulski with a time of 4:06.69.

On the field side of the events, junior Amanda Gurth brought home a second place finish in the shot put with a distance of 10.51m, just two inches shy of her career best.

Senior Casey Metzler placed third in weight throw, with an impressive improvement from her distance of 12.56m during the Lions Invitational to 13.93m.

While the men’s team did not finish in the top ten, junior Erik Brown and the men’s 4x400 relay team claimed top five finishes in those races for the Rams.

Brown secured the men’s side highest individual finish at second place in the 600m with a time of 1:22.48. Brown graduate student Antony Misko and juniors Eric Jacobson and Jack Reilly took home fourth in the 4x400, with a time of 3:29.23. While it may not be where the Rams had hoped to finish, they did place higher than their sixth place finish at the Lions Invitational.

Other placements for the men include senior Alec Wargo who had finished in fifth place in the weight throw, tossing a distance of 13.32m and senior Brandon Hall placing seventh in the mile run with a time of 4:21.64. The Rams will look to keep momentum going for the long season ahead and hopefully improve even more as they compete this weekend in the John Thomas Terrier Classic at Boston University on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 10:30 a.m.

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The women’s track team started on the right foot, while the men have struggled.

Chaos Ensues in the Divisional Round

By NICK GUZMAN SPORTS EDITOR

In the NFL playoffs, it is almost impossible for an entire weekend of games to live up to the hype they had going in. The weekend began on Saturday afternoon when the Cincinnati Bengals traveled to the Music City to take on the No. 1 seeded Tennessee Titans. The Bengals defeated the Raiders 2619 in the Wild Card round last weekend, while Tennessee had a bye. Tennessee was the clear favorite with home field advantage and star running back Derrick Henry returning from injury.

As the game began, Tennessee was never able to get rolling on offense. Cincinnati’s defense forced three turnovers from Titans’ quarterback Ryan Tannehill and kept the game a low scoring contest.

Despite getting sacked nine times, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow made the clutch throws that he needed to.

With the score tied 16-16 and 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson intercepted a deflected Tannehill pass to set up Cincinnati with a chance to win the game.

Burrow connected with wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase on a 19-yard completion to set up rookie kicker Evan McPherson for the game winning 52-yard field goal, sending the Bengals to their first AFC Championship since 1989.

With the AFC’s No. 1 seed eliminated, the NFC’s top seed, the Green Bay Packers, took the field on Saturday night. Their opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, were coming off a 23-17 road win against the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round. Like Tennessee, the Packers were heavily favored.

After an opening drive touchdown, the Packers were stymied by the 49ers defense. Likely MVP Aaron Rodgers struggled to find his receivers as the Packers offense put up just ten points late into the fourth quarter. Despite this, Green

Bay held a 10-3 advantage with five minutes to go in the game.

Then, the San Francisco special teams unit came up huge. Jordan Willis blocked a punt from Corey Bojorquez, and Talanoa Hufanga scooped it up for a 49ers touchdown to even the game at 10-10.

A missed throw by Rodgers on the Packers next possession gave San Francisco an opportunity to win the game. Kicker Robbie Gould drilled a 45-yard field goal that advanced the 49ers to the NFC Championship and eliminated the Packers.

The drama spilled over into Sunday as the Rams battled it out with the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers. The Rams jumped out to a 27-3 lead in the second half behind strong play from Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. With Tampa Bay down big, a series of costly turnovers by the Rams allowed the Buccaneers back into the game. With two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles running back Cam Akers fumbled, giving Tampa Bay a shot to tie the game. Tampa did just that, as Bucs running back Leonard Fournette evened the contest with a nine yard touchdown run and just 42 seconds remaining. With the game looking destined for overtime, the Rams had one more possession and

one timeout remaining. Stafford hit wide receiver Cooper Kupp on a 44-yard completion to allow kicker Matt Gay to connect on a 30-yard field goal to give the Rams the victory.

With all three games thus far ending on last second field goals, the Bills and Chiefs had a lot to live up to. The teams combined for a remarkable 25 points in the final two minutes of the game in one of the most exhilarating finishes in recent memory. After Bills quarterback Josh Allen hit wide receiver Gabriel Davis for the go-ahead score with just 13 seconds remaining, the game looked all but over.

Somehow, the Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes led his team down the field in just two plays, and kicker Harrison Butker connected on a 49-yard field goal to send the game to overtime. Kansas City won the all-important coin toss in overtime, and Mahomes connected with tight end Travis Kelce for the game winning score, sending the Chiefs to their fourth successive AFC Championship.

In a weekend where all four games were decided in the dying seconds, NFL fans were treated to an unbelievable two days of drama and intrigue. After Super Wild Card Weekend fell a bit flat, the Divisional Round had everything and more you could ask for.

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In a classic Wild card Weekend, the Bills and Chiefs delivered an exquisite ending.

Varsity Calendar HOME AWAY

Wednesday Jan. 26

Thursday Jan. 27

Friday Jan. 28

Saturday Jan. 29

GWU 12 p.m.

Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball

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Sunday Jan. 30

St. Bonaventure 2 p.m.

St. Joseph 7 p.m.

Cornell Club 1 p.m.

Squash Women’s Tennis

UTR TBA

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Dartmouth 12 p.m.

Men’s T&F

BU 10:30 a.m.

BU 10:30 a.m.

Women’s T&F

Milrose Games 10:30 a.m.

Men’s Swim & Dive

Iona 5 p.m.

Massachusetts 11 a.m.

Women’s Swim & Dive

Iona 5 p.m.

Massachusetts 11 a.m.

Conn. College & Wesleyan 1 & 3 p.m.

Brown 10 a.m.

Monday Jan. 31

Tuesday Feb. 1

SPORTS

Page 18

Frustration Boils in Edmonton

By CHRIS HENNESSY STAFF WRITER

The Edmonton Oilers were flying high in the season’s early stages.

Coming off a disappointing sweep at the hands of Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs, Connor McDavid and crew needed to go deep in the postseason to validate General Manager Ken Holland’s offseason moves. Now two weeks out from the All-Star break, the Oilers are out of the playoffs, with a 3-11-2 record since Dec. 1 and frustration beginning to boil over.

Starting with the offseason, Holland traded for Duncan Keith with his full salary and signed Darnell Nurse to an absurd $9.25 million extension. Keith was being shopped by Chicago to make room for Seth Jones, but Edmonton needed to have Chicago to retain salary or a prospect in return for a the massive cap hit. Instead, it got a third-round pick (second if the team makes the Cup Finals) and Tim Soderland, who is struggling to get AHL time. This disaster of a trade made their suspect blue line worse. As great as Keith was during Chicago’s dynasty, those 30-minute nights have caught up to him. The big signing was Zach Hyman, who inked a seven-year contract for $5.5 million per season with trade protection.

Hyman has been average, scoring 21 points in 32 games, but not the winger fans have been dying to see play with McDavid.

Instead of fixing the worst goalie tandem of Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith, they added an overthe-hill defenseman, overpaid a grit forward and their offense first defenseman whose numbers are inflated by playing on the powerplay with McDavid.

Leon Draisaitl and McDavid are second and third in points in the NHL with 54 and 53, respectively, and they have made all of their frustrations with the rest of the roster abundantly clear. McDavid looked disinterested and sad after many losses in the past month, making headlines for saying the team wouldn’t say no to adding Evander Kane in free agency.

Draisaitl, on the other hand, got involved with journalist Jim Matheson last week after practice when Matheson asked what needed the most improvement, and Draisaitl had said everything.

Matheson followed up with if he wanted to expand, Draisaitl had denied saying, “You can do that.

You know everything.” Matheson then proceeded to call Draisatil “pissy” twice in front of everyone and had the audacity to ask another question which Draisaitl rightfully dismissed. Clips of both have lazy armchair GMs wondering if the two will ask for trades out of Edmonton after the season or if Holland will get fired upon their request. The second seems more likely, requested or not, as the team has not been successful during his time in charge.

As for the upcoming trade deadline, Holland needs to save his job by getting this team into the playoffs. Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury, Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo or Los Angeles’ Jonathon Quick need to be walking in the door to take the starting goaltender role.

Adding a winger such as Joe Pavelski from Dallas, Claude Giroux from Philadelphia or an even Evander Kane via Free Agency would be a much needed help to McDavid and Draisaitl, even though the Kane signing would be a locker room disaster.

Edmonton still has a chance to make a playoff run, especially with Jack Eichel’s return date unknown.

The drama continues for now.

January 26, 2022

Success on the Horizon for Gang

Varsity Scores & Stats Men’s Basketball Fordham 70 Richmond 83 (FOR) D. Quisenberry: 23 PT, 8 AST. Davidson 69 Fordham 66 (FOR) D. Quisenberry: 36 PT Dayton 68 Fordham 61 (FOR) J. Colon-Navarro: 15 PT, 4 STL

Women’s Basketball Fordham 61 George Washington 53 (FOR) A. DeWolfe: 21 PTS

Men’s Track & Field Ramapo College Opener Fordham 12th Place

Fordham 63 Davidson 51 (FOR) A. Dingle: 18 PTS, 6 REB

La Salle Fordham

Dayton 48 Fordham 52 (FOR) A. DeWolfe: 14 PTS Women’s Track & Field Ramapo College Opener Fordham 1st Place

Men’s Swim & Dive

150 136

Women’s Swim & Dive La Salle 115 Fordham 183 Men’s Tennis Cornell Fordham

7 0

Athletes of the Week Darius Quisenberry

Anna DeWolfe

Graduate Student

Junior

Men’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball

Adversity has hit the men’s team hard this year, however, there are many bright spots to highlight, and none shined brighter than Darius Quisenberry this week. On Tuesday, against Richmond, Quisenberry dropped 23 points, eight dimes and five rebounds on 8-15 shooting.

He followed that up with 36 points against Davidson while hitting six three-pointers on Saturday.

The women’s team has been on a roll with Anna DeWolfe leading the charge on the Rams’ four-game win streak. She scored 21 points against George Washington at home, then followed that with 20 points in a massive win against Davidson on their home floor to help propel the Rams to a 13-5 record on the year.

Each week, The Fordham Ram’s Sports editors honor two athletes for their on-field performances as their “Athletes of the Week.”

News & Notes Quisenberry Named A-10 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week

Zakelj and Conway Earn FCS All-America Honors

Graduate student Darius Quisenberry received his first A-10 Basketball Player of the Week award for the week of Jan. 17-23, the first time a Ram has received the award since guard Javontae Hawkins in 2017. In those games played, Quisenberry racked up 29.5 points and 6.0 assists in two games last week. He scored a season high 36 points, shooting 6-for-13 (.462) from behind the arc, and added five rebounds, four assists and three steals against Davidson. It was the most points scored by a Ram in a game since 1990.

After finishing 6-5 this past season, Fordham football continues to make waves in awards season. Senior offensive lineman Nick Zakelj received first-team All-American honors, making this his third All-America accolade. Freshman James Conway also received an accolade, with the linebacker making the Freshman All-America team (second team). In total, 16 Rams players added their name to one of the Phil Steele AllPatriot League teams.

Eleven Fordham Athletics Teams with a Graduation Rate of 100% Fordham athletics prove not only how skilled they are in competition, but in the classroom as well. In data reported by the NCAA on Graduation Success Rates, Fordham recorded 11 teams sporting a perfect 100% graduation rate. The teams in question included baseball, men’s soccer, men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, softball, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track and field/cross country, women’s track and field/ cross country, volleyball and water polo. Across all sports at Fordham, the school boasts a 96% graduation rate — tying them for second highest in the A-10 Conference.

–Compiled by Maddie Bimonte

By RYAN OLSON

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

After two horrendous seasons with a 6-25 overall record, it was safe to say that Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor had his job on the line. However, second year star quarterback Joe Burrow’s very promising future is probably what saved his coaching career. In his do-or-die third season, Taylor led the Bengals to the 2021 AFC North title for the first time since 2015.

That’s the magical part of sports, and Cincy fans were lucky enough to witness the rapid transformation of a franchise still vying for its first Lombardi trophy. The team’s immediate improvement 4-11-1 to 10-7 should serve as a blueprint for many cellar-dwelling teams.

There is one specific team comes to mind that may have the potential to dramatically improve in the span of one season: the New York Jets. So what do the Jets have to do this offseason to make this fantasy a reality?

It has to start with weapons. The Bengals struck gold with an arsenal of weapons on the outside: Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.

Each of these wideouts are playmakers. They lack a Ja’Marr Chase or, in other words, a star. Calvin Ridley, D.K. Metcalf and Amari Cooper have emerged as possible trade targets for Gang Green. If that falls through, the Jets should pursue one of the available game-changing free agents like Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson or even Davante Adams. If the Jets can bolster their wideout group this offseason, they would present Zach Wilson with playmakers.

Staying on the offensive side of the ball, the Jets need to improve their offensive line. Wilson was the third most sacked quarterback in the NFL this season, getting tackled for a loss a whopping 44 times.

Though, 2020 first round pick Alijah Vera-Tucker proved he can be a formidable force up front. The team is hoping for a healthy recovery for 2019 first round drafte Mekhi Becton who sat out the season with a knee injury. Despite Becton’s status heading into next year, the Jets need to address their offensive line in the draft or via free agency.

That brings me to the defensive side of the ball. The 2021 Jets had one of the worst defenses in the NFL, ranking 29th in opponents rushing yards per game and 30th in opponents passing yards per game.

However, there is hope is in their secondary is composed solely of first and second year players. That’s not to say the Jets should not look for secondary help in the draft. If this team wants to undo 13 losses from a season ago, they’re going to need all the help they can get. Don’t forget about the return of defensive lineman Carl Lawson. Lawson’s presence on the line coupled with Quinnen Williams has the potential to wreak havoc in the backfield.

The Jets should still utilize one of their first- or second-round picks to strengthen their defensive line.

Look for them to target Aidan Hutchinson or Kayvon Thibodeaux with one of their two first-round picks.

The Bengals should be applauded for their remarkable turn-around because it is not easy. The Jets can make major strides with the right moves in the offseason.

January 26, 2022

SPORTS

USMNT Prepared for Upcoming

By JAMES BIRLE

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

This week, The United States Men’s National Team returns to World Cup qualifying action for the first time since November in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football league, otherwise known as CONCACAF, with three very important games against El Salvador, Canada and Honduras. The U.S. National Team currently sits in second place after eight matches with a total of 15 points, trailing the first place Canadians who have a total of 16 points. The final qualifying round in CONCACAF consists of a round-robin among eight teams, each facing the others twice for a total of 14 matches. At the end of the 14 matches, the top three teams advance to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, while the team placing fourth advances to an intercontinental playoff. The USMNT comes off of a win against Mexico and a draw against Jamaica this past November.

The United States’ roster for the qualifying window includes many familiar faces like Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie, Leipzig midfielder Tyler Adams, Lille forward Timothy Weah and Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic.

Fans have once again voiced their opinions about the various omissions from head coach Gregg Berhalter’s squad, especially regarding the status of Wolfsburg defender John Brooks, who was left off the roster for the second consecutive window. In Brook’s absence, Chris Richards and Miles Robinson will anchor the defense, who have both shown promise within their respective clubs and throughout the qualifying cycle.

Qualifying Window The USMNT return to Lower. com Field in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday for their matchup against El Salvador, where they previously defeated Costa Rica in October.

Columbus is the USMNT’s winningest city, having played host to eight wins, five of which have come while qualifying for theWorld Cup. The team opened up World Cup qualifying with a 0-0 draw against El Salvador in September. The U.S. National Team should be able to take all three points with some comfort, as La Selecta sits in seventh place with six points, having only one win and three draws in the final qualifying round.

The USMNT’s second match of the window takes place north of the border in Hamilton, Ontario, at Tim Hortons Field on Sunday.

Canada has proven to be a giant in the region, previously defeating Mexico and tying with the United States in Nashville, Tennessee.

With momentum and home field advantage on their side, Canada is the favorite to take all three points in the contest. However, they will be without their best player, winger Alphonso Davies, who is out due to myocarditis caused from contracting COVID-19. Without Canada’s

most talented and creative player in Davies, the U.S. National Team will have little to worry about, with an easier time controlling play. New York born Lille forward, Jonathan David will be healthy and ready for Canada. At just 22 years old, David has become the most dangerous goalscorer in the entire CONCACAF region.

The U.S. National Team returns to the Allianz Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota, for their final match of the window against Honduras on Wednesday, Feb. 2. The USMNT defeated Los Catrachos 4-1 back in September off the back of a stellar performance from talented striker, Ricardo Pepi. After his recent move to Augsburg, Pepi comes into the window with confidence and terrific form, leading the American front line. Honduras on the other hand, has been nothing short of a disaster. In the final “octagonal” round, Honduras sits in last place with only three points, despite having one of the most talented crop of players in all of CONCACAF. Anything but three points for the U.S. should be considered a failure.

Should results regarding teams at the top of the table go the U.S.’s way, the team may be able to clinch

Page 19

Swimming and Diving Returns to Action, Splits Meet with La Salle

By NICK GUZMAN SPORTS EDITOR

Fordham Swimming and Diving returned to action on Saturday against the La Salle Explorers in their first meet since Nov. 21. The women’s team was able to come out on top, improving their record to 5-0 on the season. The men’s team came up just short, falling to 2-3 on the year.

Starting on the women’s side of the pool, where graduate student Becky Kamau and freshman Leire Martin led the Rams with two individual event wins each. Kamau won the 100 and 200 breaststroke with times of 1:05.39 and 2:20.60, respectively. Martin triumphed in the backstroke events, winning the 100 with a time of 59.10 and the 200 with a time of 2:04.17.

In total, Fordham won 12 events on the women’s side. Freshman Emilie Krog claimed the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:07.50, while graduate student Vaula Vekkeli won the 100 freestyle with her time of 53.81. The Rams were also winners in the 100 butterfly and the 50 freestyle, with freshman Jessica Zebrowski taking home first in the former with a time of 58.19 and freshman Madeline Bergin winning the latter with a time of 24.83.

The final individual event winners for the Rams were freshman Ainhoa Martin, who took home the 200 IM crown with a time of 2:05.31 and senior Natalie Ortof, who was victorious in the 1M

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The USMNT continues World Cup Qualifying this week.

dive with a score of 274.20.

The Rams’ success also carried over to the relay events, where Kamau and Martin combined with Zebrowski and Bergin to win the 200 medley relay, finishing in 1:48.46. Zebrowski and Bergin were also winners of the 400 freestyle relay with Vekkeli and freshman Zoei Howard, finishing with a time of 3:35.39 On the men’s side of the water, freshman Alexander Shah was victorious in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.83. Senior Spencer Clark won the 100 freestyle coming in at 47.03, and sophomore Alex Wilhelm finished top of the podium in the 200 backstroke at 1:54.24. The last male individual winner for the Rams was Freshman Daniel Langlois, who finished first in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:09.83.

Fordham won five total events in the men’s competition, with the final victory coming in the 400 freestyle relay. Clarke, Shah, junior Nicholas Chao and freshman Vitalis Onu combined for the win at 3:09.87.

Entering the second half of the season, the Rams have three more meets until the Atlantic 10 Championship begins on Feb. 16. Next, Fordham will travel to Iona on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

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The women’s swim team keeps their perfect season alive at 5-0, while the men dip to 2-3.

Beantown Boom: Could Boston Sports be making a comeback?

By COLIN LOUGHRAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Not too long ago, Boston was considered the home of champions. Local teams like the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, and Boston Celtics always seemed to provide moments of pure euphoria. Fans will remember the Sox’s riveting comeback in the 2004 ALCS against the rival New York Yankees, the Celtics NBA Finals victory in 2008 and the many moments of glory provided by the combined greatness of Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick and former quarterback Tom Brady. These victories were made even sweeter given the fact that they followed years of turmoil for the majority of these franchises. The Pats were once a laughingstock, the Sox hadn’t won in 86 years before the 2004 Series and the Celtics faced years of heartache in the postBird era. Clearly, Beantown had earned their success. Also woven

into the fabric of New England sports are the Boston Bruins. Like their neighboring franchises, they have enjoyed a great deal of success over the past 15 years. Since 2007, the B’s have won three Conference titles and two Presidents’ Trophies. However, their level of success has been different than that of their peers. Missed opportunities have plagued them on the ice. In this stretch, the Bruins were only able to bring home the Stanley Cup once. In fact, this lone Cup win came after a 39 year drought. Prior to 2011, Boston’s last reunion with the Stanley Cup was in 1971. Losses in the 2013 and 2019 Stanley Cup Finals have made their triumphant win in 2011 seem like ancient history. With the 2021-2022 season potentially being the last one for many of the original Bruins core, this could be the last chance for Beantown’s hockey club to experience one final boom and

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Boston last won the cup in 2011

bring home the ultimate prize.

The good news for Boston is twofold. In terms of both personnel and momentum, the team is headed in the right direction.

Much of their original core is still intact. Indeed, members of the 2011 team like center Patrice Bergeron and left Wing Brad Marchand have been staples. Further, the team has watched players from the 2019 run, such as defensemen Charlie McAvoy and right wing David Pastrnak, continually grow and mature. The “icing on the cake” came a few weeks ago as longtime goalie Tuuka Rask returned to the team after a brief hiatus that was sparked by a torn labrum. Even after losing key skaters, such as David Krejci and Zdeno Chara, the Bruins have managed to keep who they could and build a unit that shares a common thread of playoff experience.

Importantly, last season’s addition of Taylor Hall and this year’s free agent signing of goalie Linus Ullmark have cemented a “win now” mentality among the front office. They are clearly “all in.”

This season held a slow beginning. Thankfully, the new year has been kind to the Bruins thus far. The team is catching fire at the right time. At the time of this article, they’ve won 10 of their last 12 and are in the midst of a solid homestand. Offensively,

Boston has been playing critical hockey; specifically, right winger David “Pasta” Pastrnak has been on a hot streak. Over the last 12 games, “Pasta” has scored 11 goals. With his rejuvenated game and steady leadership from Bergeron and Marchand, Boston has become scary once more. In terms of the literal standings, the Bruins have firmly planted themselves in a wild card spot and are hot on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ tails for a top three finish in the Division. All of this certainly gives Bruins’ fans a reason to hope.

The reality for the Bruins is that this will inevitably be the “old guards” final chance at another Stanley Cup win. Given that Rask only signed a one-year deal and that this may be captain Patrice Bergeron’s final season, the pressure is on. The Bruins will need all of the experience they have gained. Young teams like the Rangers, Hurricanes and Lighting pose the greatest threats to win the Eastern Conference from a talent perspective, but if the Bruins are able to clinch a “spot in the dance,” anything can happen. It is fully possible that experience, as it so often does, becomes a determining factor.

For this to happen, Rask will have to gradually get crisper in the net after his hiatus.These events will ensure that the always solid play of the top lines does not go

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The Bruins look to send out their core with one final Stanley Cup victory.

unnoticed. In other words, Pastrnak, Marchand and Bergeron cannot do it alone. The Bruins need to bring a complete unit to the playoffs if they want to keep up with the young bucks.

After this season, the Bruins will look quite different. The wheels of change have swung into motion, but one question remains: Can the Bruins officially signal the end of an era with a Stanley Cup Championship and

SPORTS

Page 20

January 26, 2022

Men’s Basketball Navigates Four Game Skid but proves much more in A-10

By Alexander Wolz

SPORTS EDITOR EMERITUS

One month ago, Fordham Men’s Basketball concluded its non conference schedule with a narrow 72–66 loss at the Barclays Center to the University of Miami. Despite being a team that takes minimal pride in moral victories, the effort was to be rewarded nonetheless.

As the team departed Brooklyn, however, no one could have predicted the storm that has followed.

It has featured the highs of a victory against La Salle University, their first in Philadelphia since 2016, to a buzzer-beating layup over Duquesne University.

But then, there are the lows too.

Those include COVID-19 pauses, the news of junior guard Antonio Daye Jr. suddenly departing the program, graduate forward Chuba Ohams Jr. missing the latest two contests and the team losing four consecutively to fall to a 9–9 record.

Considering all of that, it would have been very easy to fold.

Fordham, though, has remained true to its roots that have already grown to play some of its best basketball of the season so far.

Their Atlantic 10 saga started back on Dec. 30 in the aforementioned contest with La Salle. The Rams have historically struggled on the road to open conference play. In fact, that’s quite an understatement. They were 0–12 when doing so in their 25 year history in the conference. That all changed this year, though.

After playing one of the poorer first halves of the season, Fordham stormed back with 43 points in the second to overcome the Explorers, 69–61. The difference came from an unlikely source too, a three point barrage by graduate guard Josh Colon-Navarro who finished with 17 points, tying his careerhigh.

Graduate student guard Darius Quisenberry paced the Rams with 19 points and Ohams added another double-double, 15 points and 11 rebounds, in a stat line that has become all-too-familiar for the nation’s fifth best rebounder. Sophomore Antrell Charlton, whose scoring continues to fluctuate, impacted the game in other ways with a season-high nine assists himself.

Back in the Bronx nearly two weeks later after a series of postponements, Fordham showed a

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Fordham has lost four straight games in the A-10 but have been competetive in all their games.

flair for the dramatic, falling behind and crawling back to defeat the Duquesne Dukes in the very last second, 72–71 on a winning layup from Daye Jr. Even though there were, and still are, no fans inside the Rose Hill Gym, the shot reverberated around the nation. Fordham notched its first win against Duquesne in the last seven tries, and more triumphantly, its first ever 2–0 start in the A-10. There is no greater evidence of change than achieving the unprecedented.

Ohams etched himself into Fordham history too. In addition to achieving another double double, he patrolled the paint to a career-high eight blocks. It felt fitting that a statistical line rivaling the top of the Fordham record books ushered in an exciting new future.

But how quickly the story of a season can change.

Less than 24 hours later, Daye Jr. vanished from the program entirely. In an official press release, Fordham Athletics announced the following; “Men’s basketball player Antonio Daye Jr, a Fordham junior, has announced his intention to withdraw from the University for personal reasons, and will not be competing with the team, effective Thursday, January 13, 2022. The University will not be releasing any further information on Mr. Daye’s decision.”

From a purely basketball perspective, 16.8 points per game, gone. A lethal playmaker, gone.

Now, those numbers will travel

to Coastal Carolina. Regardless of the reasons why, which remain unknown, the Rams had one challenge in front of them: move on.

And so they have, impressively competing in the games that have followed despite all the challenges presented to them. Their record may now sit at 2–4 but the tape tells a different story, especially against some of the very best the A-10 has to offer.

First came a trip to Saint Louis, a place where Fordham has never won. This year, the one man difference showed as the Rams fell by nearly exactly Daye’s scoring output, 63–45, to the Saint Louis Billikens.

The main player expected to pick up the scoring load will be Quisenberry, who mustered up 15 on an off-shooting night. And the rest of the team followed, shooting an abysmal 16–56 overall, the worst shooting percentage of the season (29%), and 5–20 from the perimeter.

The story then shifted home, where The Rams lost to the University of Richmond Spiders, pegged second in the preseason poll, 83–70. The final line is not representative of just how close a contest it was, however.

Quisenberry buffed his scoring total to 23 and junior Kyle Rose awakened with 16 points and four triples. Ohams noticed his ninth double double of the year and Fordham collectively accumulated 17 assists. A group that had been shaken to its core just a short while ago was already beginning to

emerge even stronger.

The trend forward continued against the Davidson Wildcats, a seemingly insurmountable force riding a 14 game win streak into the Bronx. Coming off two wireto-wire contests with Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, it was certainly tempting for Davidson to let its foot of the gas against Fordham. That became even more pronounced when Ohams did not play due to a knee injury.

But, Neptune’s squad deserves more respect than that, and proved it on Saturday.

Fordham blitzed out of the gates to take a 31–24 lead into the locker room. They carried that momentum into a strong start to the second half too. However, a 15–3 run compounded by Fordham’s offensive struggles flipped the outcome entirely. Quisenberry leaned into contact in hopes of forcing one last foul call but it did not come. The buzzer sounded at 69–66, Davidson.

Quisenberry finished with 36 points, the most by a Ram since Andre McClendon in 1990 and overall for an A-10 player this season. He was recognized for it too, with the conference naming him Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on Monday, Fordham’s first since Javontae Hawkins in 2017. He averaged 29.5 points over the two game stretch, while shooting over 40% from three, and paces the conference scoring 17.9 points per contest.

As sensational as Quisenberry

was, the story for Fordham will continue to come down to the others. 10 players factored into this game, including a first appearance for New Zealand sensation Zach Riley, yet none were able to hit double figures.

That number in itself though, 10, is encouraging enough. So are the equal number of threes, the second straight contest in which Fordham has hit double digits. The defense continued to perform too, holding a prolific shooting team in Davidson, second in the NCAA in three point shooting at around 42%, to just 23%.

While Fordham’s next opponent may not have the national ranking next to its name like Davidson, it certainly posed the same type of threat This Tuesday, Fordham made the trip to UD Arena to take on the University of Dayton.

Fordham may have shockingly won the last meeting but that was a remarkable exception, with 16 of the previous contests going the Flyers’ way. This time around was no different, as the Flyers fended off Fordham to a 68–61 final score.

The play-by-play is a story that Fordham will recognize all too well, stumbling early and fighting until the last minute. Dayton used a 14–0 run to take a first half lead that remained at 13 all the way until just three minutes remaining. There, Fordham made one last push, narrowing things down to six, but failing to ever creep any closer.

Quisenberry led the way with 17 points, as he has now finished in double figures in that many of Fordham’s 18 contests. Rose had another strong night too, finishing 3–5 from deep to continue a hot shooting streak sitting at 73% over the last five games. Ohams, again, did not play.

With all of that said, the last few weeks have featured a mix of emotions for Fordham. It is an incredible achievement to have competed so closely against four teams picked within the top six of the A-10. Yet, it is even more frustrating to have come up one step, one piece short.

In the end, the question of “what could have been” will continue to linger, but for a team repeatedly striving to play its best basketball at season’s end, these last few games have introduced an even more enticing question of “What will be?”

Student Athlete Column: Why RamFit Needs To Open

By Kelly Bright STAFF WRITER

I’m using my platform this week as a voice for non-varsity athletes at Fordham University.

On Jan. 3, the school’s Office of the Vice President Administration announced COVID-19 limitations for the Spring 2022 semester including the closure of, “all campus fitness centers through Jan 31, 2022.” As a member of a scholarship team here at Fordham, I’m fortunate enough to still have access to our weight room and Lombardi training center. Working out has always been an outlet for me, like many others, to deal with stress and anxiety. Right now, thousands of students here are being blocked from a potentially vital space for improving mental and physical health during an emotionally taxing time as we enter into the third year of a global pandemic.

There is ample research and

statistics that prove the legitimacy of exercise as a supplementary and/or replacement treatment to mental illness. For example, clinical trials performed by the University of Bergen in Norway found exercise to be roughly as effective as antidepressant drugs, with faster-acting effects and for a cheaper price. Engaging in physical activity releases endorphins neurotransmitters that relieve pain and stress. Regular exercise has also been proven to boost serotonin levels in your brain which improve mood, well-being, appetite and sleep cycles. Given the high stress nature of being a fulltime college student at an esteemed university, while also balancing extracurriculars, work and relationships (not to mention the added anxieties attached to living in a world dictated by a super-spreading and mutating virus), having a space dedicated

to healthy physical release and stimulation should be a necessity at any college campus.

Now, I understand you must take special precautions in dealing with a virus we still know very little about, but requiring full vaccination, negative tests and masks upon entrance into RamFit, as well as mandating designated cleaning times like in the fall semester, should be more than enough to warrant allowing students back into the gym.

If a student has been deemed healthy and safe enough to enter a classroom, dining hall or common space, they should also be allowed to exercise (especially if masked-up). The students at this school are paying a substantial amount of tuition money to not even have access to crucial physical and mental health amenities.

They shouldn’t have to spend even more money on purchasing

at-home gym equipment or nonuniversity gym memberships (where there would be even less sanitary monitoring) when there is a perfectly good fitness center located on the campus they’ve chosen to attend.

I am blessed as a student-athlete at Fordham with productive outlets to destress and benefit my overall physical health. It is not

fair that those who have similar passions or preferences for therapeutic activity lack the same basic rights as members of this institution for everyone involved, not just student athletes because they generate revenue.

This is my call to action. Open Ram-Fit, open Lombardi and you open the door for better mental health for everyone.

The fitness centers are restricted to student-athletes only.

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