Since its founding in 1918, The Fordham Ram has always seen itself as more than just a newspaper about Fordham University. We have never once limited ourselves to only writing about what happens inside the greystone confines of Rose Hill. No, The Ram has long situated itself as a paper for all New Yorkers; one that is responsive to and a part of the community of New York City. After all, the lived realities of Fordham students are deeply intertwined with the sociopolitical realities of NYC. It is a self-evident, irrefutable fact that the safety of the streets that we walk on, the affordability of the housing that we live in and the quality of the transportation that we take are all dependent upon the decisions made by the governing bodies of this city.
It is in light of this profound connection, this deep dependency of the Fordham community on the politics of the city that it calls home, that the editorial board of The Ram has decided it cannot stay silent about the rapidly approaching NYC Mayoral Election. In just about a week, millions of New Yorkers are slated to cast their ballots in a monumental election that will shape this city, and in-turn, this university, for decades to come. It is our hope that these ballots will be for Zohran Mamdani.
For starters, it is The Ram’s belief that every other major candidate has proven themselves incapable of taking on the enormous responsibility and power that comes with being NYC’s mayor. Andrew Cuomo, FCRH ’79, is an accused sexual predator who has not only provided the public with ample evidence about how unreceptive he is to what others want (or perhaps do not want), but has also shown a tendency to enact policies that actively endanger the lives of his constituents. Eric Adams is a corrupt politician who has shown himself to be willing to sell the people of New York City out, including to President Donald Trump, for personal gain. Curtis Sliwa is, well, Curtis Sliwa — the least qualified of all the candidates (he has never held public office) whose policies are antithetical to everything that The Ram stands for (e.g., he opposes Local Law 97’s comprehensive plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions).
However, our endorsement of Mamdani is not grounded in a purely negative logic — it is not solely informed by who he is not. To be sure, while it certainly helps that he is not Adams, Cuomo or Sliwa, The Ram nevertheless believes Mamdani to be an exciting candidate whose platform greatly resonates with not only the needs of Fordham students, but also the Jesuit values that this university extols.
Take, for instance, Mamdani’s plan to establish a new city agency known as The Department of Community Safety (DCS). At its core, this new agency would seek to prevent crime before it happens, specifically facilitating the introduction of a number of proven, public-health approaches to harm reduction into standard NYC governmental and policing practices — e.g., the deployment of community health navigators to “identify mild and moderate psychological distress before it becomes a crisis,” or the development of “supportive housing” units capable of providing the marginalized with the stability needed to keep one away from a life of crime. The Fordham Ram cannot help but feel that this is exactly the type of radical and Jesuit-esque change needed in NYC, as not only would Mamdani’s vision for this new agency effectively increase the safety of students, but it would also do so with particular and profound attention to the human person. In other words, it would not criminalize or demonize breakdowns in mental health, but rather provide humane and effective care that yields longer-lasting results in issues of public safety.
Consider also Mamdani’s comprehensive plan to make buses both free and faster. In brief, his vision for improving NYC’s public bus system is simply ingenious, as it couples successful past initiatives, especially gleaning lessons from a fare-free pilot program once successfully implemented for five MTA bus routes, with morsels of intuitive logic about what else needs to be done to make buses a more reliable means of public transport: e.g., making streets more bus-friendly through the construction and establishment of more dedicated bus lanes and/or busways across the city. More importantly, however, Mamdani’s bus plan provides the chance at creating a New York which is accessible and affordable for every single one of its residents. It gives way to a future in which every single individual, including the numerous Fordham commuter students who rely on public buses, no longer has to worry about the financial or temporal strain of getting to and from where they need to go. In true Jesuit fashion, Mamdani’s proposal works to alleviate even the most mundane of afflictions.
Yet, perhaps most of all, Mamdani’s willingness to take on Trump gives The Ram reason to believe that he is right candidate for job.From Trump’s suggestion that he is going to deploy the National Guard to NYC, to his Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers’ recent crusades against local immigrant populations, to his systemic attacks against the LGBTQ+ community, it is clear that the Trump administration poses a major threat to the sociopolitical and cultural fabrics of the city. Mamdani clearly looks the most capable of insulating NYC from the terrifying, dangerous and even dehumanizing effects of these actions, as he is not only one of the few major mayoral candidates not potentially beholden to Trump (Cuomo is actively collaborating with MAGA and Adams owes Trump for his pardon), but his policy platform actively includes a plan to “Trump-Proof” NYC.
To be sure, this is not to say that The Fordham Ram views Mamdani as a perfect candidate without flaws. Indeed, some of his policies are relatively untested, and some of his views (e.g., his unwillingness to block the construction of casinos in NYC) do not align with those of The Ram.
Yet, it is nevertheless apparent to us that Mamdani is clearly the candidate most likely to lead New York into a brighter, better future. He simply is the candidate with the platform capable of bringing about the most profound humanitarian and structural reform. And, he simply is not a status quo politician who is willing to sell out New Yorkers to the highest bidder or put his needs and wants before the greater good of the city.
Disclaimer: This editorial is the opinion of the editorial board of Volume 107 only — not of the entire staff, nor Fordham University as a whole.
Editorial Note: The Fordham Ram reached out to the campaigns of both Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani in the hopes of having the chance to interview them. Both campaigns provided initial replies to this request, but failed to respond to any follow-up emails. Any frustration engendered by this lack of response played no role in The Ram’s endorsement of Mamdani.
