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SERVING THE FORDHAM UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY FOR OVER 90 YEARS
1918-2012
APRIL 11, 2012
VOLUME 94, ISSUE 9
Erdman and Reynolds Prepare to Take USG Reins Students
COURTESY OF ERDMANREYNOLDS.COM
Erdman and Reynolds are slated to take office on April 19 as the new executive president and vice president of USG.
BY KELLY KULTYS ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
After a long season of campaigning, on March 30, Stephen Erdman, FCRH ’13, and Aileen Reynolds, FCRH ’14, were elected to the executive president and vice president positions of United Student Government (USG). “The Friday voting ended, I was on a field trip with my pro-
gram and had limited Internet access, so I had asked Aileen to text me the results,” Erdman said via email. “When I got her message saying we had won, I was, of course, very excited and relieved.” Erdman and Reynolds ran a seemingly successful campaign and received the backing of numerous clubs and supporters despite having to overcome severak
obstacles, including the fact that Erdman is abroad in the Dominican Republic this semester. “It was difficult not being able to speak with clubs and individuals in person,” Erdman said. “Despite my limited Internet access, I tried my best to stay connected to campus with email, Facebook and Skype. I, of course, relied heavily on Aileen’s hard work to make sure that everything was
running smoothly.” Between the two of them, Erdman and Reynolds currently have four and a half years of USG experience. “During my two and a half years on USG, I think I’ve gained an understanding of how the different divisions of Fordham’s administration respond to student initiatives,” Erdman said. “I’ve learned effective ways to approach initiatives and what ways only hinder progress.” Erdman has served as the vice president of FCRH ’13 and president pro tempore of the Senate since first arriving on campus. He has also served on the budget and operations committees. Outside of USG, Erdman has been involved with the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice as the coordinator for the Parks Action of the City of New York. He has also been a Rose Hill Society (RHS) tour guide, Urban Plunge Assistant and a tutor for local middle school students. Reynolds has served as the president of FCRH ’14 for the last two years. During her prior terms, she has been a founding SEE USG, PAGE 2
Launch Campus Garden By TARA CUZZI STAFF WRITER
Fordham Urban Sustainability and Ecosystems (FUSE) and the United Student Government (USG) have been working together to create an agricultural garden and living classroom called St. Rose’s Garden. The garden is being constructed off of Cambreleng Avenue on a 60x24 foot plot of unused land near the Rose Hill parking garage. Many individuals from the Fordham community have played a role in the creation of this project. Jason Aloisio, a Fordham Ph.D. student in biology and the founder of FUSE, serves as the graduate garden coordinator and Elizabeth Anderson, USG vice president of student life, serves as the undergraduate coordinator and liaison to Fordham administration. John SEE GARDEN, PAGE 3
Hughes Hall Construction Set to Open by August 2012 Gabelli Students and Faculty Look Forward To Their New Home in the Remodeled Dorm, Which Is Slated to Open for the Beginning of the Fall Semester By SARAH RAMIREZ EXECUTIVE EDITOR
The new home of the Gabelli School of Business is on track to open in the fall of 2012, two years after the Fordham’s Board of Trustees approved the $30 million renovation of Hughes Hall in February 2010. Although construction work began outside of Hughes in October 2010, construction on the actual structure only began last spring, according to John Spaccarelli, director of facilities and special projects. “We had to do a lot of preparation before we actually started the heavy construction,” Spaccarelli said. “But we’ve been working on it full-blown now for just about a year. We’re probably in the area of about 70 percent complete [as of late March].” Construction is currently on schedule, and the building will be ready to welcome students and faculty come August. “We’re expected to [reach] substantial completion, which means basically everything will be done, and we’ll get our temporary certificate of occupancy that will allow us to move into the building towards the end of June,” Spaccarelli said. “That’s what we’re aiming for.” The new Hughes Hall will give the Gabelli School its first permanent home since the college was established in 1920. “We have over 2,000 students in our school,” Donna Rapaccioli,
Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business, said. “It just seemed really appropriate for us to have one primary space we could call home, a space where we could bring students together, along with faculty and the administrative team, a real academic community.” Rapaccioli said that the opening of Campbell and Salice-Conley Halls was the “perfect opportunity” to move residents and to renovate Hughes from a dormitory to an academic building. The opening of Hughes will alleviate overcrowding in other academic spaces, though GSB will still have administrative offices and a trading room on the fourth floor of Faber Hall. “Our current location in Faber is not sufficient in terms of resources available for faculty, administrators and students,” Tim Lynch, GSB ’13 and USG executive vice president of Gabelli, said. “Our cramped quarters on the third and fourth floors of Faber are not conducive to working on collaborative group projects or supporting an ever-increasing student base.” Along with approval of the project, the Board of Trustees allocated $10 million of funding for the $30-million budget. The remaining $20 million was part of the $25-million donation made by Mario Gabelli, GSB ’65, to what was then the College of Business Administration. “We’re probably going to come in right around our budget,” Spaccarelli said.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM
Inside Hughes Hall, construction workers continue to transform the old dormitory into the new business classrooms.
Construction on Hughes, which was previously a dormitory, has consisted of several phases, starting of the excavation of the building’s basement level. “The reason we had to lower the floor and not raise the roof is because we have to keep the building under a certain height,” Spaccarelli said. “That was one of the biggest challenges, to undermine
the entire building and add to the foundation while the building is still intact.” The next hurdle for construction crews was replacing the original wood infrastructure with steel. “The first thing we did is we [demolished] all the floors and all the bedrooms, and we completely took out everything, only leaving the floors,” Spaccarelli said.
Steel beams were then inserted through the roof and windows to create a grid to hold the building in place before removing the wood flooring in favor of concrete floors. “Once the steel structure was in, we took out the wood structure and that is really what held us in place,” Spaccarelli said.
Culture PAGE 11
Opinions PAGE 7
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SEE HUGHES. PAGE 4