On Thursday, April 27, the Fordham Rose Hill Student Government (USG) met to discuss club presentations and upcoming proposals.

A student presented a club proposal for the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) club. They stated that ALPFA has a membership program that grants users access to networking and job opportunities. The goal for this club is to empower student leadership, create networking opportunities, and to create paid internship opportunities, jobs and careers. The student explained that this club would be unique due to its combination of cultural recognition and professional development. There would be biweekly meetings which would include an introduction to ALPFA, lessons on the membership process and discussions about events and the job portal. The student also explained that ALPFA is a nonprofit organization in itself so they will hopefully be receiving funding from them rather than the school. 

The next club to present was the Financial Literacy Outreach Club. The club’s purpose would be to build up knowledge on financial literacy and prepare people for life after college. The presenters explained that they realized that many students do not feel as if they are financially literate so they feel that this club will be beneficial to a large amount of Fordham’s community. Fordham students would go to club meetings, learn how to take care of personal financial concepts, and then go to high schools, like the West Bronx Academy, and talk to high school students about it. Possible events would include outreach trips and public speaker events. 

A group of students presented their proposal to create a Ukrainian Society at Fordham. They hoped that this club would create a home away from home for Ukrainian students. They explained that there is currently no other Ukrainian club despite there being a large population of Ukrainian students on campus. They would have biweekly meetings to build a community amongst the members and to have students express their thoughts. A few possible events would include Ukrainian cooking events, field trips, discussions on current events and discussions about Ukrainian history and culture. The students also explained that they would need funding from USG for Ukrainian food, metro cards, guest speakers, merchandise events and possible fees from instructors to teach traditional Ukrainian dance.

Senator Augustine Preziosi, FCRH ’23, and Senator Maya Dominguez, FCRH ’23, presented a proposal for expanding religious resources to Fordham staff members. They explained that the staff members who serve in the dining areas on campus are not allowed to attend Sunday mass or other religious services that are respective to their religious beliefs. Under past management (Sodexo), staff was allowed to take an hour to go to their religious services but since the switch to Aramark, the staff has not been allowed to do this. The goal of their proposal is to make sure that all staff members are able to practice their faith. 

Senator Nicky D’Abundo, FCRH ’26, presented a proposal to expand the access to accommodations for the deaf and blind student community. He stated that Fordham should work to increase accessibility on campus by increasing the amount of ASL interpreters available and expanding the accessibility of braille. He explained that a staff member in the McShane Center is deaf and she is simply given a white board to write down on but Fordham should do more to accommodate her needs. 

Executive President Santiago Vidal, FCRH ’24, reopened the discussion on the Off Campus Proposal. He explained that with this proposal Fordham would be partnering with a company called Starrez, a residential community management company, to ensure safe and affordable housing to all students who wish to reside off campus. He also stated that students are over paying broker fees for off campus housing so he is hoping that using the Starrez housing portal will help with this issue.