Since The Fordham Ram’s founding in 1918, it has been Fordham University’s journal of record detailing events in and around the university and the Bronx community. Throughout its history, the Ram has reported and shared the impact and outcomes of presidential elections on the Fordham community.
The Ram’s early election coverage was few and far between, with only two stories about the 1924 presidential election, one which stated that Democratic nominee John W. Dennis had won a student straw vote, and a second after the election, an opinion piece that said students should support incoming president Calvin Coolidge.
Coverage of elections remained slim, beyond a usual opinion piece, until 1940, when former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was running for his third consecutive term, visited Fordham’s Rose Hill campus on the university’s 100th anniversary. Roosevelt reviewed Fordham ROTC and gave a speech praising the university’s “part in national defense.”
By 1960, the Ram regularly had multiple articles per issue in the issues leading up to the presidential elections. Columns included “The Commentator” and “Between the Lines.”
Often, however, the top story was not the winner of the presidential election. In 1976, two days after the election of former President Jimmy Carter, the front page of the Ram was dedicated to an image of Rev. Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., captioned, “I kept my job through the Faculty Senate.”
The Ram also regularly highlighted the work of WFUV, a Fordham NPR affiliate radio station. In 1984, after former President Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term, the Rams front page was dominated by an article titled, “WFUV Campaign Coverage Coast to Coast.” The article detailed what WFUV did in terms of coverage and their experience with the election.
Coverage varied through different mediums. After former President Bill Clinton was elected for his first term in 1992, the front page of the Ram had columns from the Fordham College Republicans and the Fordham College Democrats, as well as quotes and photos of individual students sharing their thoughts. These “student views” would become a regular aspect beyond the Ram’s election coverage.
When President-elect Donald Trump was elected in 2016, the Ram had a myriad of articles leading up to and after the election. From club endorsements to students staying involved politically while studying abroad to coverage of a College Democrats and College Republicans debate, the Ram had everything.
In 2020, coverage was much the same, though done remotely. Opinion pieces on policy, dissections of the election results and straight news on the victor dominated the Ram’s website.
As of this year, the Ram continues to cover not only the presidential election but its impact on the Fordham students and community.
If you are a Fordham community member with strong opinions about the election, please share them with The Fordham Ram at [email protected]. The Ram will continue election reporting in the following weeks.
