The Fordham Ram Volume 99 Issue 4

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The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 Volume 99, Issue 4

FordhamRam.com

February 15, 2017

Theology DraftKings Professors Exec Comes Write Trump to Fordham By JAKE SHORE

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

more clubs, and obviously by doing that hand in hand comes distributing information the same way too,” said Haley Hauge, FCRH ’18, vice president of RHA. “I think Fordham has a good interest in speaker events, so

Professors from Fordham’s theology department participated in a letter campaign to President Donald Trump in an effort to emphasize the role of religion in American values. The American Values Religious Voices campaign invites 100 different religious scholars throughout the nation to write a letter for the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. The group of 100 featured four Fordham theology professors. Michael Peppard, who teaches Christian history courses at Fordham and wrote about Trump’s relationship with golf for The Washington Post, wrote his letter to President Trump about the importance of religious liberty. He said it was the conflict between the importance of religion to America and President Trump’s apparent apathy for religion, which prompted Peppard to join the 100 letters campaign.

SEE FOUNDER, PAGE 6

SEE THEOLOGY, PAGE 6

THE FORDHAM RAM ARCHIVES

Joe McDonough, founder of the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, spoke to students in Keating First.

Founder of B+ Speaks to Students, RHA By AISLINN KEELY

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Residence Halls Association (RHA) hosted Joe McDonough, founder of the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, to tell the story of his son’s battle with

pediatric cancer and spread awareness for B+ fundraising events. This was the first time the RHA event was open to all Fordham students, as McDonough had only spoken to members of RHA in past years. “We wanted to reach out to

SJL Program Suspended By AISLINN KEELY

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

The Dorothy Day Center has suspended the Social Justice Leaders program. The center has begun strategic planning for a new direction based in service learning and deeper relationships with community partners, according to Michael McCarthy, SJ, vice president for mission integration and planning. This planning led to the decision to halt the program at the conclusion of this semester. “The hope really is that as the Dorothy Day Center begins to have a much more strategic focus that we can involve many more students in projects of service learning, community engagement and social justice,” said McCarthy. Though the Dorothy Day Center has not officially discontinued the program, it is considered suspended as the center plans for a new direction focused on service learning and community partnerships accessible to more members of the Fordham community, according to McCarthy. At this time in past years, the application process for the following year’s leaders had been active. “We are not in the process of SEE SJL, PAGE 5

OWEN CORRIGAN/THE FORDHAM RAM

The Rival’s Valentine’s Day livestream was available to watch on Facebook and its website.

Students Debut the Rival Live By ERIN SHANAHAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The debut episode of “The Rival Live” at Fordham, a student-run news satire and variety program, aired Tuesday on their official website and Facebook page. According to the managing editor of The Rival at Fordham University, Jess Mannino, FCRH ’17, ‘The Rival Live” program is an extension of The Rival brand

which aims to produce a satirical, late night show in conjunction with several other Fordham students who are interested in working in television and broadcast media. This multi-faceted show consisted of “Weekend-Update” style desk dialogue between two co-hosts Tyler Bailey, FCRH ’18 and Kyle Morton, FCRH ’18. The two discussed Fordham-centric news stories with a comedic bent.

Events discussed included the naked man who was pinned down by police in front of the Fordham Lincoln Center campus last October, student protests in the wake of President Donald Trump’s election, racial divides reported on campus and the closing of The Blend Cafe. Following the news brief, the character of Lynndonna, a mom played by Danielle Gallagher, SEE RIVAL, PAGE 3

By ASHLEY KATUSA STAFF WRITER

The Gabelli School of Business introduced their Gabelli School Speaker Series last Wednesday at Lincoln Center, and featured Mark Nerenberg, Vice President of Game Operations of DraftKings and the founder of Draftstreet, acquired by DraftKings in 2014. DraftKings is the leading daily fantasy sport company, operating in most U.S. states, Canada, the UK, and most recently Germany and Malta. Nerenberg spoke about his experience with a startup company that experienced a significant growth spurt, his involvement with DraftStreet and his insight on what the future of DraftKings holds. “I learned quickly to work with a new business,” said Nerenberg. Mark Conrad, an associate professor of law and ethics at the Gabelli School of Business, interviewed Nerenberg at the event. After Conrad prompted the conversation, the floor was opened for audience questions. Nerenberg was obsessed with fantasy sports growing up. He came up with fantasy sport games for he and his friends, and DraftStreet evolved from there, launching in the summer of 2010. Like many entrepreneurs, Nerenberg faced the issue of funding for his startup. However, Nerenberg said “we had it pretty easy in the beginning,” referring to the time prior to DraftStreet’s exponential growth. Mark and his friends invested $100,000 of their own money, and six months later, raised $300,000 from angel investors, investors who invest in small startups, entrepreneurs, or earlystage products. By the beginning of 2011, DraftStreet had raised $1.7 million. DraftStreet skyrocketed to the third-most popular daily fantasy sport (DFS) site. “We definitely did not see this [DFS] becoming a multibillion dollar industry,” said Nerenberg. When asked about the acquireSEE DRAFTKINGS, PAGE 5

in this issue

Opinion Page 7 Turn Right: A Path to American Citizenship

Culture Page 12 The Controversy surrounding HBO’s Girls Sports Page 18 Women’s Basketball beats st. Joe’s


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