The spring of 2024 marked a significant year of changes for the Fordham University community.
Early in the semester, Michele Burris was appointed as the vice president of student affairs. The university also began to allocate $50 million from an EPA Environmental Justice Thriving Communities grantmaking program awarded the previous year.
Students noticed key changes in their dining and housing. CHOMP trucks — offering on-the-go, boxed food — were added as supplemental dining options. The Office of Residential Life prematurely announced a change in guest policy that would allow overnight visitors of another gender, then retracted the change until later in the semester.
Several Fordham institutions achieved significant milestones. Fordham University Sleep Study, a first-year favorite that pays students to sleep, entered its third year. The biochemistry major, launched the previous August, completed its very first semester. Fordham Swag announced their one-year anniversary of providing students with university staple M.I.L.F. (Man I Love Fordham) shirts.
Members of the United Student Government (USG) Budget Committee began holding a Student Activities Fee Referendum. The referendum proposed increasing the student activities fee from $135 to $230 to increase funding for campus clubs. Though the referendum failed to pass in the year prior, it successfully passed this spring.
After a highly contested election, USG announced its president and vice president for 2024-25 — Lucas Hjertberg, FCRH ’26, and Eron Maltzman, GSB ’25.
Later in the spring, students came together to witness the eclipse on Edward’s Parade. On Martyrs’ Lawn, Teezo Touchdown and Chelsea Cutler headlined the annual Spring Weekend concert.
After 19 months of negotiations for improved contracts, Fordham Graduate Student Workers (GSW) passed a strike authorization vote in early April. Demanding stipend raises and comprehensive insurance coverage, the union held extensive practice pickets and protests throughout the spring semester. GSW and Fordham reached a tentative agreement later that month, effectively avoiding a strike.
In light of the ongoing war in Gaza, various departments, including the Center for Jewish Studies and the Middle Eastern Studies Program, co-hosted a four-part series titled “A Deep Dive Into the History of Israel and Palestine.”
Members of the Fordham community came together in solidarity with the Palestinian people. On May 1, students and alumni of Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine held an encampment in the lobby of the Leon Lowenstein Center at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. Lasting about 12 hours, the encampment drew significant crowds, counter-protests, media coverage and police presence. Students and alumni were arrested by evening, and a police presence was maintained until May 22. SJP organized additional demonstrations throughout the last few weeks of the school year.
In the upcoming semester, Fordham students can look forward to key traditions such as the annual President’s Ball — a semi-formal evening of dancing on Edward’s Parade — during Homecoming. Incoming and returning students alike can look forward to the long-awaited reopening of the Marketplace — a student-favorite dining destination.
