With the Israel-Hamas war entering its eighth week, President Tania Tetlow has extended email statements and promoted resources intending to bring collective comfort to the entire university. Tetlow’s Oct. 10 message to the Fordham community titled “Prayers for Consolation and Peace” marked her first commentary regarding the Middle East’s latest war. Condemning Hamas’ Oct. 7 offensive as a “terrorist attack on Israel… from elderly Holocaust survivors to children,” she acknowledged the war’s impact on university members across cultural differences.
“For many of our Jewish students, colleagues, and alumni, this is yet another brutal reminder of their vulnerability, of rising antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world — an attack not just on a nation but on their identity. Many of our Muslim students, colleagues, and alumni also face the fear of collective blame and reprisals, worried about violence and discrimination,” Tetlow said. Tetlow added the aforementioned are likely “terrified for loved ones in both Israel and Gaza, or mourning friends and family already lost to the horrific attacks and now to the war.”
Muslim Students Association (MSA) President Hajer Merarda, FCRH ’24, expressed her disapproval at Tetlow’s email during a sit-down interview. “My reaction to Tetlow’s blatant neglect of Palestine and Palestinians in her first email was outrage,” Merarda said. She called it “completely filled with biased one-sided rhetoric,” criticizing its complete lack of the word “Palestine” and “the fear of collective blame” as the sole mention of Muslims.
The Ram reached out to the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center Jewish Student Organization, which declined to comment. One Fordham student, who identifies as Jewish, but did not wish to give their name, expressed their views on Tetlow’s statements.
“Regardless of how I feel about this war, I know that the people involved aren’t on this campus and are across the world. Tetlow has been put in a hard position overall, but especially in responding to this situation.”
Tetlow’s second email, on the war’s one-month mark, “Making Fordham Safe for Every Member of Our Community,” outlined the university’s responsive actions and commitment to protect each individual within it. Among what Tetlow described as officials’ “pragmatic things” were Public Safety’s “Enhanced Security,” billed as “hypervigilance across campuses, while continuing to work in close consultation with the NYPD, monitoring any threats in the community.”
At a Nov. 16 “Pizza with Public Safety” town hall, Public Safety supervisors addressed the current state of university security measures, which had evolved with feedback from the university. “People predominantly reacted adversely to the NYPD’s deployment as an army, so they’re not on campus now,” said Public Safety operations manager William McSorley. “But you might’ve noticed an increased police presence around campus gates and surrounding blocks. They’re more ready to respond than ever.”
In her Nov. 7 statement, Tetlow said that she has reached out to the student body to hear concerns about the current events.
“I have been listening hard to Palestinian and Jewish students, faculty, and staff,” Tetlow said, exemplifying her Student Leader Listening Sessions with students “representing those most impacted by the events,” where she would hear their concerns and discuss their physical and mental safety.
Tetlow highlighted Fordham’s Non-Discrimination Policy; expanding Interfaith Support’s aim to hire a university imam and rabbi respectively for Muslim and Jewish students; discussions guiding faculty on empathetically addressing the war to classes; and as on Oct. 10, reiterated hopes for unity and concluded with contact information for Campus Ministry, Counseling and Psychological and University Health Services and Public Safety.
While Merarda said she thought the second email was better, she said she believes there are more aspects that still need to be addressed.
“Her second email, only after we applied pressure, was an improvement,” said Merarda, “but it’ll never be enough until Tetlow refers to the war in Gaza as a genocide, and Israel is condemned for its heinous war crimes and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”
“I and many students sense an intentional wording in her statements absolving Israel of any responsibility,” Merarda said. “What I don’t think she realizes is that in stepping around eggshells not to upset anyone, she only continues to hurt one group and supportively validate the other.”
Merarda also said that the university administration continues to deny Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) a formal place on the Lincoln Center campus. Merarda said that many Palestinian clubs feel that they must compromise their ethos for any consideration of official recognition. She said she believes Tetlow and officials’ rejections reveal their standing on the war, calling their words “acts of censorship, whether they admit it or not.”
The Fordham student who preferred to remain anonymous credited their personal experiences with allowing them to have their own empathy for Tetlow.
“I’ve seen a lot at Fordham, especially as an RA,” they said. “During the past two years of summer RA training, President Tetlow met with us RAs to answer questions. She answered gracefully as she was pelted with challenging questions. It’s kind of become a meme to just blame her for anything that goes wrong on campus. But that’s unfair to her. Unreasonably unfair. Change is impossible overnight especially in a place as bureaucratic as a university. As an RA, I understand what it’s like to have tons of eyes on you constantly waiting for you to slip up to blame you for things you have no control over. I feel for her.”
Tetlow said in a press conference with student journalists on Nov. 27 that SJP’s Lincoln Center chapter has not received official recognition at Fordham because of its affiliation with the national organization.
“We continue to urge students to create a student organization to support Palestinian students, but what we’re resisting is just the association with the national group,” Tetlow said, citing concern with the rhetoric of the national SJP organization.
“I think at this moment, that is so fraught. The national group is a very decentralized organization, so it is hard to pin down what stances it actually takes. But [due to] some of what has gotten posted, on their social media, the National SJP group has been really worrisome,” said Tetlow.
Advocates for a Palestinian Perspective (APP) was approved as an official club on the Rose Hill campus in December 2020.
“The purpose of APP will be to educate students about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the human rights of Palestinians, and to promote actions towards peace,” said Bob Howe, associate vice president for communications and special adviser to the president.
Merarda said that many students have begun to feel that Fordham officials’ statements are “disingenuous and only an attempt to keep us pleased with the bare minimum.” She concluded, “I urgently call Tetlow and all students, families, faculty, and staff back to their humanity. We are living among a modern genocide. Absolutely nothing justifies these numbers. Nothing. We need to see Palestinian solidarity.”
Members of the general student population also expressed their reactions regarding the university’s response.
Jaylin Seldon, FCRH ’27, called Tetlow’s statements “Empty. It’s disgusting Tetlow already made it clear she stands with Israel, evident by her month-long refusal to finally mention Palestinians/Palestine, and the fact she hasn’t even done the bare minimum of calling for a ceasefire yet. All her posturing about campus equality and diversity once again feels empty because she seems quite fine with genocide overseas.”
Amy Konate, FCRH ’26, believes that there is not enough awareness surrounding the topic.
“More needs to be done,” said Konate. “Reading the frustrations pro-Palestinian communities endlessly endure is upsetting, from condemning Hamas to no mention of the IDF’s doings. Tetlow refuses to call Israel genocidal. How are you watching ‘bombs dropping on Gaza’ without mentioning who’s bombing? Until you address it head-on, you’re complicit in the atrocities.”
The anonymous Fordham student feels that unity is what the university needs most at this time.
“Fordham is a Jesuit institution, and while one of the core Jesuit ideals is to see God in all things, the most important is that we see God in other people. We understand that we are capable of bridging gaps and bonding over things at this school. We’re Fordham, a community that has diverse students and diverse perspectives, and it’s better for that. I don’t know how I would respond if I were her, but to President Tetlow, good luck, you have a position I don’t envy. To Fordham as a whole, let’s remember we are capable of amazing things when we are a community together, and that even if we disagree, we can respect one another. Godspeed.”
The Ram spoke to dozens of undergraduate and post-graduate students across the both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses about the university’s statements. Many students expressed reservations on speaking on such a divisive issue. No student would provide an on the record statement in support of Tetlow’s messages.
To close her Nov. 7 statement, Tetlow implored university members to remain respectful toward others on and off-campus.
“I need for all of us to choose our words carefully right now, to know that many members of our community are listening to us and trying to decide if they can feel safe here,” Tetlow’s Nov. 7 email closed. “While we never abandon our commitment to the importance of free speech to challenge and push each other, this is a moment to remember the corresponding obligations of community. We do not threaten, even unintentionally. And we do not question each other’s humanity or belonging here.”
Tetlow wrapped her initial Oct. 10 email, offering, “For those of you in need of comfort… we have been reaching out to many of our affected students directly but we are eager to do more.”
This article was updated on Dec. 4 with additional reporting.
