Two thousand nineteen was always going to be an interim year for The Fordham Ram.

Slated between Volume 100’s centennial celebrations and Volume 102’s election cycle, decade change and futuristic uncertainty, these past 22 issues have served as a link between the Ram’s notable past and its bustling future.

The staff of Volume 101 felt it important to ensure this bridge proved a sturdy one.

The past year at the Ram involved a lot of building. We made many things happen behind the scenes that readers might not have easily gauged just by looking at our pages.

The business team overhauled its structural procedures, streamlining its sales system and auditing advertisers. We ensured ethical business practices were a priority in the hopes of creating a sustainable, profitable and, perhaps one day, wholly independent future for the Ram.

The editorial staff pioneered efforts to adapt alongside an evolving media landscape, as well. We altered the way we utilize our website to edit and publish content more efficiently. We revamped our podcast, Ramcast, and created a monthly video concert series, Ramped Up, highlighting student musicians.

Yet, even with eyes facing eagerly forward, we made sure to keep some looking dutifully back. Through every innovation, we nonetheless aimed to continue the Ram’s long-standing legacy of objective, fair and thorough reporting.

During such an in between space and time as was afforded to Volume 101, it felt important that we ask a great many questions while we had the chance to find some answers.

We dove deep into Fordham’s institutional frameworks and broke clerical abuse at the university.

We investigated Fordham’s unique role in President Donald Trump’s sociopolitical narrative.

We updated students on the hot-button confusion surrounding 2019’s Spring Weekend performer. 

We clarified some of Public Safety’s seemingly ambiguous procedures.

We came to truly understand what it meant to be woven into the fabric of a living, breathing community of individuals as we sought to report with care on the tragic loss of several of its members.

On the whole, all of our jobs here at the Ram consistently reminded us of their remarkable gravity. Our work often proved to us that what we were participating in was bigger than us, that what we did each week deeply mattered.

Volume 101 began to ask questions that journalists to come will have to find the answers to, even as they tackle massive cultural developments unfolding in real-time.

As our current election cycle advances, journalistic integrity may again be threatened by disinformation campaigns and claims of fake news.

Volume 102 must face the impending and inevitable chaos of life, change and evolution, but during this past year, we hoped to have reinforced your confidence in the Ram’s ability to do so. We hope our actions have repeatedly proven our commitment to a greater journalistic purpose and an alignment with a collective democratic mission.

Volume 101 was an interim volume but by no means an insignificant one.

As the outgoing staff closes this year-long chapter of The Fordham Ram’s extraordinary life, we await the next one with much anticipation, hope and confidence.

We will look on fondly as our successors continue to remain curious, demand accountability and, overall, inform to the best of their ability. We believe they are capable of all that and more.