Volume 102 of The Fordham Ram has faced a year of unparalleled challenges. Though we are disappointed that we could not share as much time together in person nor share physical copies of our publication with the Fordham community, we are immensely proud of our staff for stepping up in a time of crisis and continuing a tradition one hundred and two years in the making. 

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered the course of this volume, just as it altered so much else in our lives. When the administration made the difficult decision to suspend in-person classes, we showed our support for their choice. Still, we expressed our sympathy for a university community that has missed so many moments and traditions that make our all-too-short time in college so meaningful. 

Over the course of this volume, we have been able to provide crucial information to the Fordham community amid incredible uncertainty. Our dedicated news team has worked incredibly hard to cover all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic as we navigated a semester like no other. 

We highlighted the concerns among Fordham University students and faculty regarding COVID-19 testing as campus reopened and urged the administration to institute comprehensive testing policies. 

Following the onset of COVID-19 lockdown measures, we made our production of The Fordham Ram entirely virtual. Despite the abrupt shift, we look back with pride on the content that each of our sections were able to produce. 

Our culture section highlighted the experiences of the Fordham community amid lockdown protocols with “Quarantine Diaries,” which included everything from appreciations of the grocery store to a love letter to New York City after an abrupt goodbye. Elsewhere in the section, guilty pleasures were analyzed, classic movies and literature were given a new sense of life and an up-and-coming Brooklyn rapper and a beloved game show host were remembered.

Our sports section pondered an important but alarming question: What does a world without sports really look like? We asked hard-hitting questions about the reality of sports amid a pandemic and continually reported the ups and downs of Fordham’s own attempts to resume athletics. We mourned the loss of a basketball legend, celebrated a historic hire in Major League Baseball and ushered in the Bryson Cavanaugh era.

Our opinion section continued to provide a platform for the Fordham community to express their points of view at a time when divisive politics and immense uncertainty clouded so many of us. Writers pushed for a tuition reimbursement following the transition to online classes, raised questions about the electoral college following the conclusion of the 2020 presidential election and even pondered the future of snow days in an increasingly virtual world.

Our news section continued the Ram’s mission of seeking truth and highlighting all that is important to the Fordham community. We reported on the wide variety of virtual events held throughout the year, chronicled the legal disputes between the faculty senate and the university and paid tribute to the memory of a man who embodied everything that makes The Fordham Ram so special. 

Although we are incredibly proud of our COVID-19 coverage, we hope that Volume 102 will be remembered for its ability to tackle pressing questions in all areas and confronting difficult truths about our Fordham community.

In May, our executive board published an editorial in response to the tragic killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests that emerged across the country against police brutality and systemic racism. We urged the Fordham community to address the systemic issues that underlie primarily white institutions such as Fordham University. In the following months, we continued to put a spotlight on anti-racism movements within Fordham University, including the demands of the Fordham Black Student Alliance (ASILI) and anti-racist intiatives released by Fordham academic departments, athletics and administration. 

When we first began Volume 102 at The Fordham Ram, we anticipated the coming presidential election as our biggest event to cover. While this ended up being unexpectedly overshadowed, our news team provided consistent coverage of primaries, debates, polls and, finally, the long-awaited conclusion. 

2020 presented us with an opportunity to prove ourselves as a publication in our ability to provide accurate reporting and in-depth investigations into university policies as the administration navigated unprecedented circumstances. We are incredibly proud of everything that our staff has been able to accomplish, from the six issues we were able to print to the following 16 issues that were completed virtually. The dedication of our staff never wavered, and we are confident that our successors in Volume 103 will continue in the same direction.

Though we were faced with much more than any of us could have imagined, we hope that we honored the legacy that has been set forth by each and every volume of the Ram before us. We are overjoyed to welcome a new staff with the profound confidence that they will be able to traverse uncharted territory as journalists of integrity, passion and curiosity.