It is safe to say that just about every Fordham student has a long and storied history with the Jesuit motto cura personalis (“care for the whole person” in English). After all, the phrase — meant to embody the Jesuits’ foundational goal to care for the spiritual, physical and intellectual needs of their students — has been neatly pasted onto just about every banner, pamphlet and display scattered across the hallowed greystone confines of Rose Hill. Despite this outward commitment to the promotion and actualization of this lofty goal on Fordham’s part, the Executive Board of The Fordham Ram firmly believes that the university is failing to live up to this creed through their striking refusal to provide the student body with access to safe and affordable contraceptives.
Fordham’s current policy when it comes to contraceptive access can be characterized at best as quite restrictive, with the current version of the Student Handbook stating, “[W]hile personal possession of contraceptives, contraceptive devices and/or birth control, in any form, is not prohibited, distribution is prohibited on Fordham University property, using University resources, and at University-sponsored events” in accordance with “Church teachings on reproductive issues.”
In other words, nowhere on Rose Hill’s sprawling 85-acre campus can students receive free and safe access to condoms, oral contraceptives (like “Plan B” or “the Pill”) or other prescription birth control methods.
It should also be noted that student’s off-campus access to contraception is likewise sparse in terms of options. The recent closure of the Fordham Road Walgreens means that there is now no place to purchase Plan B or fill one’s birth control prescription within a reasonable walking distance of any of Rose Hill’s gates. Additionally, many students, especially those in red states who have been affected by post-Dobbs legislation, may not be able to get safe contraceptive access at home. The Trump administration’s recent decision to shut down the government-run website reproductiverights.gov — has limited the student population’s access to information about reproductive health issues like birth control, abortion or even cancer screenings.
To be sure, one can always level the argument that since Fordham is a Catholic university, its administration, health center and students should be beholden, as they currently are, to the Catholic Church’s more conservative and abstinence-focused teachings on sexuality — after all, the choice to come here was an elective decision for most. Yet, this sort of Jesuit idealism is not just archaic in light of contemporary sexual norms, but is also ultimately dangerous for Fordham students. The reality at play here is that college students are going to be sexually active whether one threatens them with the prospect of hell or not. A 2019 American College Health Association survey notes that about half of all college students have had some sort of sexual encounter in the past year. In fact, Fordham is, for better or for worse, possibly contributing to these high levels of sexual activity through their new and revised overnight guest policy that allows for overnight visitors to be of the opposite sex: a policy change that could afford students an increased degree of sexual liberty.
Considering these realities then (i.e., that Fordham students will be sexually active whether one likes it or not, and that these very same students may lack substantive access to off-campus sources of safe contraception), it is in Fordham’s best interest to adopt a more progressive stance that proactively looks out for the reproductive health and safety of their students by providing them with contraceptive access.
In fact, it would not be completely unheard of for a Jesuit school to provide those under its care with such access, as many Catholic institutions — including President Tania Tetlow’s former college (Loyola University of New Orleans) — do indeed offer its employees some form of access and/or coverage for contraception under their insurance policies. However, should Fordham’s administration continue to adhere to an archaic policy that denies students access to safe and affordable contraception, they, in effect, are setting their population of sexually active students up for serious and dangerous physiological consequences. Consequences that come in the form of Fordham students being at an increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted illnesses because of their lack of access to condoms. Or, more significantly, consequences that may manifest themselves in the form of unplanned pregnancies that could lead students to seek out potentially unsafe abortions.
These disastrous consequences have certainly not been lost on the greater Fordham populace, with the Fordham University Young Democratic Socialists of America Club (YDSA) notably expressing their opposition to these consequences of the university’s restrictive policy. Last semester, the YDSA held an off-campus event where they distributed Plan B to students and publicized their petition demanding change to the current restrictive iteration of Fordham’s contraceptive policy. When asked about the underlying motivations for holding this controversial event for a previous article in the Ram, Matthew Smith, FCRH ’27, co-chair and founder of the YDSA stated, “We need much more comprehensive sexual education on safe sex practices, like using condoms, birth control, Plan B, how and when to use it, what is a safe dosage — all of these things should be readily available to students, especially when they’re coming into college.”
Considering this, it is more than fair to say that if Fordham is really in the business of cura personalis (i.e., caring for the whole person), then they must abandon their anti-contraception policies to adequately meet the reproductive health needs of their student populace.
Jonah Ring, FRCH’26, is a theology major from Norfolk, Virginia
