Fordham University shared an email on Nov. 11 detailing two bias incidents that have occurred over the past week. In both instances, racial slurs were written on whiteboards on campus. Currently, Public Safety is investigating the events but has no camera footage or witnesses.
These events come after reports of text messages across the country that told Black people they had been “selected to pick cotton.”
In her email, President Tania Tetlow condemned the graffiti and reiterated the university’s Jesuit ideals.
“We risk expanding the impact of cowards scrawling anonymous graffiti by broadcasting their words,” Tetlow said. “But this message was seen by our students, walking into a classroom where they are meant to feel welcome, valued, and ready to learn.”
The instructor who reported the second instance was Gerardo Sámano Córdova, a writer in residence in the English department, who found the writing on the corner of the whiteboard on Monday morning.
“I came into the classroom and most of my students were already there,” Sámano Córdova said. “One of them pointed to a corner of the whiteboard where the racist remark had been written. I was shocked. And pissed off. And worried… Campus security asked me a couple questions and told me they’d be right over and to not erase the message… Three people from campus security showed up, they took pictures, took my name and some of my students’ who had seen the writing first. They left and I erased the message. It was a disgusting way to start the day and the week.”
Aryan Singh, FCRH ’26, is a student in Sámano Córdova’s class and saw the racial slur on the board. “Incidents like this occur when people think no one would care. I’ve talked to many peers about this incident, and an unfortunate truth I was met with is that this type of behavior is somewhat normalized; it’s one of those things we have to simply ‘deal with.’”
Singh emphasized that hate should not be tolerated and having difficult conversations is necessary to promote unity. “Perhaps this stems from a desensitization towards such behavior, or even apathy, believing that this incident is removed from any real individual. However to me, this kind of attitude is what excuses hate to run unchecked. It is important as a school, and as individuals, to step up and make sure it is known such hate is not tolerated. Having these tough conversations is what will allow us to fight hate as a unified front,” said Singh.
In general, students said they were surprised by the email. “It was so weird,” said Raina Kratz, GSB ’25. “The end of the email where she [Tetlow] talks about how ‘we’re all made in the image of God’ I was just kinda like ‘okay, yeah’ but I feel like that downplays how it [the graffiti] could affect minority students at the university.”
Director of Communications Bob Howe, FitzSimons Fellow Tony Berry, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion James A. Felton and Associate Vice President for Public Safety Robert Fitzer all declined to comment.
This is an updating story. This article will be updated online accordingly.
An additional student quote from Aryan Singh, FCRH ’26, has been added to this article.
