The Rose Hill United Student Government (USG) hosted a Meet the Candidates night for the Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) and Gabelli School of Business (GSB) Class of 2029 Senate candidates. Executive Vice President of USG Andrew McDonald, FCRH ’26, and Senator Ava Cascella, FCRH ’26, hosted the event on Friday, Sept. 12.
Of the six candidates, there are five students running for FCRH and one student for GSB. In total, there are five seats available; two seats open for FCRH candidates and two seats open for GSB candidates, with the remaining seat acting as a swing seat. Thus, five of the candidates will be competing for two to three spots, while the GSB candidate is running unopposed, with the other seat left open.
Evelyn Maravilla, FCRH ’29, was the first to present her platform at the event. Maravilla is a political science major on the pre-law track. She is involved in the Pre-Law Society and the Jetés, a dance club on campus. Maravilla noted that since she has only been on campus for a few weeks, she doesn’t have many specific goals and would rather observe problems on campus and work to fix them as she goes.
“It would be my honor to be at the forefront of finding solutions and making Fordham University an even better place for students now and for future generations of the Ramily,” she said. “I greatly enjoy listening to others, problem-solving and helping make things better for the greater good.”
She said she has already noticed problems with the Grubhub app. According to Maravilla, many first-years did not have access to their meal plans and dining dollars through Grubhub during their first week on campus. Maravilla also shared difficulties in communicating with the administration regarding this issue. If elected, she wants to work not only on issues pertaining to Grubhub but also on making communication between the Fordham administration and the student body more accessible.
Domenick Fedele II, FCRH ’29, a political science major and aspiring contributor to Fordham’s Political Review and The Fordham Ram, presented next. Fedele’s platform includes pushing for air conditioning in every dorm building on campus.
“In the couple of residences that don’t have air conditioning at all, it should definitely be a priority to have it implemented,” Fedele said. “Students are paying very large sums of money in room and board and deserve to be as comfortable as possible in their dorms. Having quality climate control is certainly part of that.”
Fedele would also like to make improvements to the orientation process for first-years, as he believes that the presentations are too long and don’t teach students as much information as they should.
“I understand it’s not entirely USG’s purview because of the [presence of] orientation leaders, but I think we could definitely provide some advice or suggestions,” he said.
More information about Fedele can be found on his website.
Jackson Cutrone, FCRH ’29, is a political science major who, despite joining many clubs to see what appeals to him, says USG is his priority. Cutrone’s potential initiatives would be to expand Marketplace hours and provide physical IDs for every first-year. He says the ideal scenario would be to shift the Marketplace hours around, having the dining hall open and close later on the weekends.
As per the physical IDs, Cutrone cited personal experience to explain his belief that every first-year should have a physical ID. He said that on his second night at Fordham, he was unable to get back into his dorm because his phone was dead. He had to borrow someone’s phone and call a friend in order to be let into his building. Cutrone is very emphatic about the need for physical IDs and says he will take the measures to make it happen.
“I will have a response to every negative they can come up with, I will go every day, I will petition, I will organize a student protest outside of the administration building to encourage them to do it,” Cutrone said. “It is my goal, it is my purpose in life, that we all get these cheap pieces of plastic to make our life a little bit easier.”
Adekunbi Oyekenu, FCRH ’29, is a political science major who is involved with a few other clubs on campus, such as Model United Nations (MUN) and Fordham’s Black Student Alliance. Her platform includes adjusting mail room hours to better fit student schedules and making improvements to the experience of commuter and international students. Per her mail room initiative, Oyekenu would like to change the mail room hours to open and close later.
“I think it should probably follow a work schedule, so it should open [at 8 or 9] and close around 6 pm,” she said.
When asked what her ideas were for improvements, she cited an experience that her roommate, an international student, had with Fordham’s app.
“[She] couldn’t access the Fordham app in a different language,” Oyekenu said. Oyekenu would like to address this issue and more if elected.
Henry Carstens, FCRH ’29, an interdisciplinary math and economics major on the pre-law track who is involved in the pre-law and finance societies, presented next. If elected, Carstens would like to focus on access to contraceptives, improvements to class selection and making positive impacts in the Bronx community. While he is still learning about how to get access to contraceptives, Carstens believes in working towards getting access for whoever needs it.
“While Fordham is a Catholic university, it’s also an institution that serves a diverse student body with real-world needs,” Carstens said. “I believe students should have easy, discreet access to contraceptives and sexual health resources.”
Carstens did acknowledge that since learning more about USG, he has found out that there are already initiatives in progress for this goal, and he hopes to support them however he can.
Carstens would also like to make communication between students and advisors easier and more accessible, as well as make potential changes to the process of registering for classes. He would like to add a feature to show students ahead of time how many other people are planning to register for a specific class.
Elijah George, GSB ’29, is a finance major on the pre-law track and is involved in the pre-law society and the GSB Dean’s Council. George’s initiatives involve several program ideas, most of which involve immersing the Fordham community further into the Bronx and holding crash courses into life at Fordham and in New York City. George cited his experience founding and directing a registered nonprofit as his inspiration for expanding Fordham’s relationship with the Bronx community, specifically with school programming.
“I was a part of the Urban Plunge program a couple of weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to work for nonprofits here in the Bronx,” George said. “I think that with my background working with youth, that I’ve seen firsthand what the power of student to student mentorship can do for the classroom, as well as outside the classroom … students find themselves with a lot of free time … instead of dedicating [their time] to maybe things that aren’t productive for the day, they can do something to benefit their community.”
As per his program ideas for sharing information on Fordham life and New York City life in general, George says that ideally, those would be led by upperclassmen as a way to make a mentorship program within the Fordham community.
Voting begins on Monday, Sept. 15, and will end Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 5 p.m. Students can vote through Rams Involved via a link sent to their email.
