Fordham’s campus was buzzing with news throughout the 2023 spring semester from new unions and tuition increases.
Despite the bitter January temperatures in New York, Fordham Faculty Union (FFU) lit a fire of change as they voted to authorize a labor strike.
FFU is a union representing non-tenured and non-tenure-faculty members. If the university failed to meet the union’s demands, the labor strike was set to start on Jan. 30. The union’s ultimatum came after months of negotiations with Fordham administration and no guarantee of higher pay for union members, healthcare benefits for adjunct faculty, or pay parity among all university departments. On Jan. 18, FFU announced that the union and university administration came to a tentative agreement (TA) over the labor organization’s latest proposal. Later on in the semester, the agreement was ratified.
Non-tenured and non-tenure-faculty members weren’t the only group on campus unionizing. In a formal vote with the National Labor relations board in March, Fordham Resident Assistants voted 47-19 to ratify the Fordham Resident Assistants Union (FRA). The vote forced the university to recognize the union succeeding the university’s refusal to acknowledge the union a month prior.
Students can follow find the union @fordhamraunion on Instagram for updates.
In March, the university lifted the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine mandate starting on May 15. Since the vaccine policy was heavily mandated throughout the pandemic, Fordham College Republicans felt that the community’s previous requests to loosen the mandate were disrespected.
The club took to social media and posted a statement demanding a public apology from President Tetlow and the rest of the Fordham administrators responsible for needlessly forcing students and staff into this distressing situation last fall.
In January, Deming Yaun, university dining contract liaison, told The Ram that there would be improved dining options in fall 2023. Yuan shared that the upgraded dining options would include additional smaller venues around campus, a convenience store, and new healthy and convenient food options. During a United Student Government (USG) meeting in March it was announced that the McShane Campus Center cafeteria, the Marketplace, would be closed and under renovation during the 2023-34 school year. Beginning between Sept. 1 and Oct. 1 2023, the Marketplace closure will occur simultaneously with the start of “destination dining,” the installation of a variety of temporary dining options. While The Marketplace is closed for renovations, new dining options will be available throughout campus in locations such as the McGinley Ballroom, Bepler Commons and McShane basement, expanded seating at Starbucks and Cosi and food trucks. The Marketplace will open briefly at the beginning of the fall semester with the current dining program and “destination dining” will begin in October.
As the academic year was winding down, tuition prices were ramping up. On March 30, the Office of the President sent an email to the Fordham community announcing that there would be a 6% increase in tuition and room-and-board fees for the 2023-24 academic year.
The announcement also caused a raise in student activity fees and budget cuts for clubs.
