Volume 94 Issue 20

Page 1

Opinions PAGE 9

Culture PAGE 16

Sports Insert

Airline fees rise as the holiday season approaches.

The Paradise Theater reopens with new shows, acts.

Winter Preview highlights the upcoming season.

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SERVING THE FORDHAM UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY FOR OVER 90 YEARS

1918-2012

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

VOLUME 94, ISSUE 20

Student Outcry Leads to Canceled Ann Coulter Appearance College Republicans Split on Decision to Rescind Invitation ‘Maroon Square’ Discussion Revived By CONNOR RYAN

By KELLY KULTYS

NEWS EDITOR

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Fordham’s College Republicans announced Thursday, Nov. 8 that they had invited controversial pundit Ann Coulter to speak at Rose Hill after Thanksgiving, but rescinded the invitation the next evening in light of a larger-than-expected negative on-campus response. “Consistent with our strong disagreement with certain comments by Ms. Coulter we have chosen to cancel the event and rescind Ms. Coulter’s invitation to speak at Fordham,” the group said in a statement released Friday. Although the statement was signed by the group’s entire executive board, president Ted Conrad, FCRH ’14, vice president Emily Harman, GSB ’15, treasurer Joe Campagna, GSB ’15, and secretary John Mantia, GSB ’13, two of the four members have since come forward to say that they disagreed with the statement at the time of its publication. They maintain that their names were added to the document without consent. “I did not agree with the rescinded invitation,” Mantia said in an email. “My name was added to that

During Thursday, Nov. 8 and Friday, Nov. 9, Fordham experienced major dissent throughout various areas of the University as it was announced that the College Republicans had invited Ann Coulter to speak on campus. Many students and faculty had heated responses to the invitation, including Rev. Joseph M. McShane S.J., president of the University, who sent out a school-wide email. In his email, McShane emphasized that, though Fordham did not support the College Republicans inviting Coulter to speak, the University strongly supports free speech on campus. “Still, to prohibit Ms. Coulter from speaking at Fordham would be to do greater violence to the academy, and to the Jesuit tradition of fearless and robust engagement,” McShane said in the email. “Preventing Ms. Coulter from speaking would counter one wrong with another.” Many students, after reading this email, believed that this would be a great time to reopen some of the free speech initiatives that were visited in the past and come up with new ideas

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Political commentator Ann Coulter was disinvited to speak at Fordham.

statement without my approval.” Harman said she originally agreed with the sentiment that Coulter should not come to campus, but did not agree with the wording of the statement sent to the University community. “I expected our executive board to sit down and discuss the matter, write the letter together and then

publish an official decision,” Harman said in an email. “That unfortunately was not the case.” Conrad, Harman and Campagna said they agreed, before the group’s statement was sent out, that Coulter’s speaking engagement at Rose Hill should be canceled. Mantia said he disagreed with the decision. SEE COULTER, PAGE 3

of their own. That is how the “Fordham Students for Free Speech” Facebook group was born. The group states, “in light of Father McShane’s recent letter defending free speech as critical to our university identity, student organizers for free speech have new grounds to argue for their demands.” The group’s purpose is to “generate ideas, facilitate communication and organize activities related to lobbying for students to have free speech at Fordham.” “The group popped up due to the Ann Coulter event,” Stephen Erdman, president of United Student Government (USG), FCRH ’13, said. “It is looking at the statement that McShane issued regarding the Ann Coutler event and analyzing how that applies to what groups face when they try to bring speakers or host events.” The founder of the Facebook group “Students for Free Speech,” Jeff Lockhart, FCRH ’13, wanted to create a space where students could unite and openly discuss ideas. “I created the group because I wanted us to be able to organize our discussions and plans about freedom of speech on campus,” Lockhart said. SEE FREE SPEECH, PAGE 3

An Inside Look at CAB’s Spring Weekend Concert Selection Process By JOHN LEE STAFF WRITER

The Spring Weekend Concert survey revealed a surprising number of choices for which students could vote, featuring primarily indie acts and no mainstream musicians. The lack of any prominent acts in the recently released list showed a shift in approach by the administration and the student activity committees, reflecting budgetary concerns, the availability of the artists and the appropriateness of the music. The primary committee who creates the survey and organizes the Spring Weekend concert, CAB (Campus Activities Board), has decided on a more pragmatic approach to creating the survey, which is sent out to all students during the fall semester. This approach was used as a means for students to grasp a realistic indication of what kind of artists the CAB is capable of booking. “This year, the concert co-chairs made the deliberate decision to only have artists that are within the budget on the survey. In past years artists have been used as genre indicators, i.e. Avicii for electronic or Taylor Swift for country, and it seems to have confused the student body on CAB's budget and capability of booking these type of artists. It is not what type of artists CAB wants but rather what the student body wants,” Lara Moseley, FCRH ’13, co-chair of the CAB Concert

Committee, said. “It is CAB’s objective to find an artist that both pleases the student body and the administration.” The budget is the primary factor in deciding which artists are available to play at the Spring Weekend Concert. The relative inexpensiveness of indie artists compared to mainstream ones not only guaran-

tees their booking but also presents the possibility that two acts may be able to perform at the concert. The budget itself remains a closely-guarded secret, known only to the CAB executive committee and University administration. The reason why the budget is kept from the general student body, and even from most of the members of CAB,

is because of its relative instability. “I don’t actually know the budget, that is a very hush-hush thing within the CAB itself because it can fluctuate so much. You can say we have thirty-five grand now but next week we may have forty grand because we have excess cash that wasn’t used, so it’s always a grey area,” Alex SEE CAB, 13 Whitteker, FCRH ’14,PAGE a member of

CAB’s general board, said. Money is not the only reason behind the prevalence of indie musicians in the survey. The success of the indie rock band MGMT who came to Spring Weekend at Rose Hill three years ago was also cited as a factor, according to Gina Meltzer, FCRH ’13, president of CAB. SEE CAB, PAGE 13

Students’ Families, Alumni Gather for Rose Hill’s Annual Family Weekend

PHOTO BY ELIZABETH ZANGHI/ THE RAM

Fordham family and alumni gather in ‘A Lot’ to tailgate before the main event of Family Weekend, the annual football game. Story, page 17. Photo spread, page 14.


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