Volume 104 Issue 10

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The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 Volume 104, Issue 10

TheFordhamRam.com

April 13, 2022

USG Approves Academic Transparency Proposal

USG Fails to Disclose Prior Sanctions Against Candidates

By EMMA KIM

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

By SEBASTIAN DIAZ FEATURES EDITOR

With United Student Government (USG) elections occuring this week, The Fordham Ram conducted an investigation into USG election processes which uncovered a lack of transparency about candidates who break the organization’s lengthy rules while campaigning, raising questions about why USG does not disclose important information to voters. The investigation discovered that in the 2021 USG election cycle, its Elections Commission placed sanctions on several candidates then-running for office after an internal investigation into misconduct. USG’s standard operating procedure is not to publish or share any information about such investigations’ results. It neither announces which candidates have been sanctioned for breaking its rules, nor does it announce which sanctions it has ordered, leaving voters in the dark as several of the candidates are SEE SANCTIONS, PAGE 3

COURTESY OF FORDHAM USG

Santiago Vidal, FCRH ’24, and Ava Coogan, FCRH ’25, won the executive ticket election for the 2022-23 school year.

Vidal and Coogan Win USG Presidential Election By ISABEL DANZIS NEWS EDITOR

United Student Government (USG) elections began on April 11 and concluded on April 12. Following the close of the election period, the votes concluded that Santiago Vidal, FCRH ’24, and Ava Coogan FCRH ’25, will serve as executive president and executive vice president for the 2022-23 academic year.

As per their platform, Vidal and Coogan hope to improve student recruitment. Much of Fordham’s student body comes from the tri-state area; the pair hopes to expand that reach by addressing the needs of specific minority students on campus. They additionally pledge to rebuild trust between USG and the student body by including the latter in USG’s decisionmaking process and improving

communication between the two entities. Internally, Vidal and Coogan intend to create Student Success policy groups. These groups would feature a group of senators specifically dedicated to helping students with academic and mental health issues. Additionally, within their general goal of improving communication between SEE ELECTION, PAGE 4

Fordham Considers Mandating A Second Booster Shot By GRACE GALBREATH CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM

FGSW members celebrate in the McShane Student Center after their victory in the NLRB vote.

Fordham Graduate Student Work Union Wins Vote

By ISABEL DANZIS NEWS EDITOR

On April 7, Fordham’s Graduate Student Workers (FGSW) voted 229-15 in favor of the creation of a union during a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vote. The union

is created in collaboration with the Communications Workers of America. During a NLRB vote, workers participate in a formal voting process to approve a union or not. If the majority of votes go in favor of the union, the board

will officially recognize the union. By FGSW’s vote going in their favor, the graduate student union will now be recognized by the board as an official and exclusive bargaining unit. The vote was held in the Rose Hill commons in SEE UNION, PAGE 5

Fordham may mandate an additional COVID-19 booster dose for eligible students, staff and faculty beginning September 2022. The shot has not yet been made mandatory, but the weekly Five Things COVID-19 update released to the Fordham community on April 1 mentioned the future possibility of mandating said vaccine for eligible individuals. Keith Eldredge, assistant vice president and dean of Student Services has commented on the issue, stating: “At this time, we are not requiring an additional booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.” Referring to the April 1 email, Eldredge explained that by including informaSEE BOOSTER, PAGE 5

Fordham’s United Student Government (USG) Senate has approved a proposal that would add midterm transparency to the faculty handbook. If approved by the Faculty Senate, faculty would have to notify students of their midterm grades two weeks before the pass/fail deadline. The proposal is sponsored by Vice President of Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH), Jonathan Eng, FCRH ’23. “This proposal was something that I decided to work on as I was running for election of VP of FCRH last year. With the shifting modalities both last year and this year, many students experienced classes where communication on their grades was unclear or non-existent,” said Eng. Eng said that STEM students in particular face this disadvantage because many of their classes are graded on a curve at the end of the semester. When the curve and perspective grade fail to be communicated to students, the lack of transparency can cause increased stress. “In our proposal we further include several student testimonials regarding their experience with grade transparency,” said Eng. “This proposal is meant to enter into a dialogue and discussion with faculty members. Many students want to be able to reach out and request their current grade from a professor but don’t feel confident enough to do so. Some student groups are even more vulnerable to this lack of empowerment,” said Eng. “By opening this dialogue with professors, we aim to share the student voice and to uplift the will and perspective of students that wouldn’t be able to do so themselves.” SEE PROPOSAL, PAGE 4

in this issue

Opinion

Page 10

Culture

Page 14

New Bills Stadium: A Much Needed Win for Upstate New Yorkers

There’s an r/place for Everyone

Sports

Page 20

Baseball Swept Massachusetts, Falls Aganist Columbia


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