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THE OBSERVER
February 2, 2022
News
3
The ‘Inside Outsider,’ McShane’s Farewell as President
McShane discusses the ‘saddest moment’ of his presidency and his deep love for the Fordham community MCSHANE from page 1
Efforts as a Visionary When McShane came to Fordham as the university president in 2003, the FLC campus was in its earliest phase, and one of his goals was to help expand the campus. “It’s my belief and my hope that everyone at Lincoln Center, every student at Lincoln Center, has to feel that he or she has access to everything that Rose Hill has,” McShane said in an interview with The Observer in 2003. At that time, the FLC campus mirrored its footprint from the 1960s — seven acres filled by the Law School, the Leon Lowenstein Center, Quinn Library and McMahon Hall with its 822 beds. Built for 3,500 students, it was serving 8,000 by the turn of the century. McShane and the board of trustees developed a “master plan” to address the facility needs at Lincoln Center as well as anticipate the future. The blueprint intended to double the size of the campus through expanding the Quinn Library, reconstructing the Law School building, adding a new student center, dormitory and additional parking — seven new buildings in total. Fordham faced criticism and legal action from neighbors, but the plan was approved by the city and finalized in 2014. In a press conference with The Observer on Nov. 11, 2021, McShane outlined further plans to add more elevators to the Leon Lowenstein building, as well as expand its footprint to make room for the growing enrollment sizes, arguing that “we still don’t have enough” space on campus. Under McShane, enrollment rates increased, and the university expanded beyond New York. Fordham’s London Centre campus opened in 2008, and the Class of 2025 is the largest and most diverse class in Fordham’s history. Vote of “No Confidence” and Student Relations The past 19 years, however, haven’t been all positive. In September 2016, a move by the university to overturn a previously agreed-upon contract without the approval of the Salary and Benefits committee caused an infamous tear in the president’s relationship with faculty and staff. The Faculty Senate stated that the administration violated university statutes, and on April 7, 2017, the senate approved a motion stating the imposed health care plan “would result in significantly increased costs
for faculty and staff and would threaten their health, well-being, and incomes.” After a series of failed negotiations between the administration and the faculty, 431 out of 488 faculty members voted for “no confidence” in McShane. “That is the saddest moment of my presidency,” McShane said, reflecting on the first, and only, time the university’s Faculty Senate ever voted no confidence in a president. A year after the vote took place, Andrew H. Clark, a faculty senate officer during the “no confidence” vote and current professor at Fordham, said not much has changed in the conduct of negotiations between the Faculty Senate and the president and Board of Trustees. The issue of shared governance — the principle that both the faculty and the administration have separate areas of responsibilities — was at the root of the “no confidence” vote, and it continues to present itself in faculty-president relations today, according to Faculty Senate President John Drummond.
“ That is the
saddest moment of my presidency.”
Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., President of Fordham University
Members who advocate for shared governance believe that faculty should have “a substantial voice, even if it’s not decisive in terms of making the final decisions,” Drummond said. Even though he was disappointed by the vote, McShane made it clear in the aftermath that “it didn’t diminish the high regard and affection that I have for the faculty.” “There’s also a genuine friendship that many people have with Father McShane,” Drummond said. “He is quite a storyteller and has a great sense of humor, and I think that he cares deeply about the university, its faculty and its students.” McShane created traditions to get to know the students and faculty at Fordham, such as helping first-year families at Rose Hill on move-in day and shaking every student’s hand at the President’s Ball. Thomas Reuter, Fordham College at Rose Hill ’22 and president of United Student Government (USG) at Rose Hill, said he devel-
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Speaking with students and their families during move-in day was something McShane often did to get to know his Fordham community better.
oped a friendship with McShane through his positions on USG. When he would see McShane around on campus, McShane would stop to have a conversation with him. “I think his interactions are kind of dual purpose,” Reuter said. “One is very welcoming and compassionate, and the other is extraordinarily motivating or inspiring.” Not all students experience the same engagement with the president. Students at the Lincoln Center campus expressed having fewer interactions with McShane. “I think he’s a lot less accessible to you if you’re at the Lincoln Center campus,” Zann BallsunSimms, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’16, said. Ballsun-Simms, who was a social justice leader with Fordham’s Dorothy Day Center and president of the Black Student Alliance, also noted that she felt McShane tended to surround himself with students in more traditional leadership roles, such as USG. In response to his perceived elusiveness on campus, McShane acknowledged: “At Lincoln Center, at Rose Hill: I can do better at both.” Racial Injustice The year 2020 brought attention to systemic racism and the ongoing fight for the Black Lives Matter movement. Fordham’s history with racism on campus dates back long before 2020, with a particular rise in racist incidents during the 2015-16 academic year.
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McShane speaking at a memorial Mass on Sept. 11, 2021.
During the fall 2015 semester, three “bias incidents” were reported, including a racist slur carved on a Black student’s door at Rose Hill and a swastika carved into a bathroom dryer at Lincoln Center. In light of these incidents, six students were invited to speak at the Faculty Senate meeting in November 2015 to address the institutionalized racism at Fordham. After the swastika was found in a bathroom at FLC, McShane addressed the incident in a university-wide email denouncing the white supremacist reference and noted that “We will continue to repudiate such actions whenever they occur, and rise above them.”
“ In subsequent years,
it’s been clear that what I said and what my fellow students said meant nothing.”
Zann Ballsun-Simms, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’16
Among the students who spoke was Ballsun-Simms. “I’m tired of not feeling safe in my own home, because Fordham is my home,” she said. Present at the meeting were McShane and Stephen Freedman, university provost at the time. Ballsun-Simms recalled being close to tears while giving her testimony. After the students spoke, McShane offered a statement at the meeting: “There is no place for prejudice at Fordham, period.” Ballsun-Simms said following the meeting there was some response from the university, but it was “not as strong as it could have been.” In 2016, McShane released a diversity action plan that created a new senior administrative position, the chief diversity officer, which was filled by Rafael Zapata in 2017; placed priority on diversifying administrative positions and faculty members; and incorporated diversity and inclusion programs into student orientation. Ballsun-Simms felt that McShane’s action plan and statement was a softer approach than the situation necessitated. She wished McShane took more concrete actions, such as condemning the incidents publicly as hate crimes and expelling the students who were involved. According to Bob Howe, assistant vice president for communications and special adviser to the president, the president doesn’t
usually interfere with a student or faculty disciplinary process. He said these circumstances are governed by federal and state laws and that it would be unethical for a president to involve oneself. “In subsequent years, it’s been clear that what I said and what my fellow students said meant nothing,” Ballsun-Simms said, referring to the continued reports of students on campus who have experienced discrimination by members of the Fordham community. In light of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, McShane renewed the 2016 action plan, expanding it to include instituting mandatory anti-racism training for faculty, administrators, staff and students, as well as establishing Juneteenth as a university holiday. McShane also released a statement praying for the families mourning the losses of their children and loved ones and for the ones who had died. His statement received pushback from students who demanded more than “thoughts and prayers.” Several student petitions were created over the past two years since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 demanding the university follow through with cutting ties with the food vendor Aramark, whose income comes from private prisons, and severing Public Safety’s ties with the NYPD. At the Nov. 11 press conference, in response to these issues still being unaddressed by the university, McShane asked for more information on the issues and stated “together we can seek certain information.” He noted that other departments receive these petitions and sometimes he is debriefed during his meetings, but the vice presidents are the ones who deal more closely with the policies affecting students. McShane is choosing to have little involvement with the search for his successor and gave little information about whom he would like to see in the position next. The university made the historic announcement on Jan. 21 that the next president will not be a Jesuit, breaking Fordham’s tradition since its founding in 1841. Even though McShane didn’t provide any personal characteristics he would like to see in the next president, he did stress the importance of the next president being willing to listen. “The next person can make a new beginning based on my mistakes,” he said. The full version of this article is published on The Observer’s website.
