The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 Volume 95, Issue 1
FordhamRam.com
January 23, 2013
From Rose Hill Classroom to White House Briefing Room John Brennan, FCRH ’77 and President Obama’s Choice to Head the CIA, Remembered as Quiet Student By CONNOR RYAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
THE TOWN OF MAMARONECK FIRE DEPARTMENT
Residents of Mamaroneck, N.Y. assess the damage left behind by Superstorm Sandy after it made landfall in October.
Students Hope to Rebuild During ‘Sandy Saturdays’ By KATIE MEYER ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
When Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast in late October, there was an almost immediate response from the Fordham University community. One of the most active groups from the start was Campus Ministry, whose “Sandy Saturdays” program is currently making a huge impact on communities that were devastated by the storm. “Sandy Saturdays” are a part of a larger campaign called “Sandy Solidarity,” which is geared toward using Fordham’s collective talents to help people in need. The different phases of the program began during and immediately after the storm. These phases involved checking in with people in the hard-hit areas, gather-
ing for prayer and collecting supplies to donate to those in need. “Sandy Saturdays” are the third and most labor-intensive stage. For the past eight weeks, in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity and Operation Blessing, students have been spending time in Breezy Point and Far Rockaway (both in Queens, N.Y.) from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays. Volunteers work on clearing built-up debris and gutting ruined homes. To date, over 100 students have participated in Sandy Saturdays and many others have been involved in other parts of the relief effort organized by Fordham. The situation at Breezy Point and Far Rockaway is one that is diffucult to prepare for, according to Conor O’Kane, associate director of Campus Ministry and Director of Inter-
faith Ministries. “You don’t really have a sense of the destruction until you see it firsthand,” O’Kane, who has been very involved in the relief effort, said in an interview. The volunteers may have also been ill-prepared for the emotional aspect of the project. They work sideby-side with storm victims, some of whom have literally lost everything. Giving them shelter, O’Kane explains, is actually only part of the job. Equally important is providing them with support in an incredibly difficult time. “It’s an emotional space, and also a very privileged space,” O’Kane said. “A natural disaster can strip people of their dignity, and an important part of what we’re doing is affirming it.” SEE SANDY, PAGE 2
John Brennan, FCRH ’77 and President Obama’s choice as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, rode a bus and two trains each morning from his family’s home in North Bergen, N.J. to Rose Hill’s campus for class. The trip clocked in at just shy of two hours. Despite the long commute, Brennan’s Fordham experience unexpectedly put him on the road toward the CIA and, ultimately, the White House. “In John Brennan, the men and women of the CIA will have the leadership of one of our nation’s most skilled and respected intelligence professionals — not to mention that unique combination of smarts and strength he claims comes from growing up in New Jersey,” President Obama said in his nomination announcement on Jan. 7. While serving as President Obama’s first-term top counterterrorism adviser, Brennan picked up public notoriety for his involvement in high-profile assignments, including briefing the press on the Christmas Underwear Bomber in 2009 and the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden in 2010. National attention aside, Brennan boosted his profile locally when he came to Rose Hill last May to deliver the 167th annual commencement address. During his 18-minute speech,
Brennan dedicated time to explain how Fordham put him on his life’s path, specifically praising John Entelis, a professor of political science and director of the Middle East Studies program, for “sparking an interest and a passion that would serve as a driving force throughout the course of my professional life, and which remains with me to this day.” “A Middle-Eastern specialist, it was Professor Entelis who told my sophomore class one day about an opportunity to study abroad at the American University of Cairo,” Brennan said in his address. “He made me want to experience [the Middle East] for myself — to meet the people, understand their politics and study their culture, their language and their history.” Entelis remembers Brennan as being a quiet but ambitious student in class — a political science major without a clear plan for the future. “He wasn’t a particularly active student in class, but he was serious in the work that he undertook and that, I thought, was to his credit,” Entelis said in an interview. He taught Brennan in two classes. Brennan studied in Egypt during his junior year and then graduated from Fordham in 1977. He went on to get his master’s degree in government from the University of Texas and learned how to speak Arabic fluently. Entelis said that he did not expect Brennan would be interested in the SEE BRENNAN, PAGE 5
McShane Joins Other College Presidents in Signing Gun Safety Letter University, By ELENA MEUSE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
As people everywhere continue to mourn the victims of the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the issue of gun violence has come to the forefront of American politics. The issue surrounding current gun safety laws has left the nation poin this issue
Opinion Page 7 More Guns On Campus Creates Danger
Arts
Page 11
Year in Reviews (Part 1): Best Books & Albums
Sports
Page 20 Women’s Basketball Now 3-0 To Start Conference Play
larized with people on both sides of the debate speaking out publicly in the hopes of influencing lawmakers. Among the advocates for stricter gun control are 300 college and university presidents. Included in that list is Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University, who signed a public letter to lawmakers expressing support for stricter gun control in the United States, and specifically on college campuses. “A national conversation on gun safety is overdue,” McShane said in a statement made Wednesday morning to The Fordham Ram. “At Fordham specifically, if we are to take seriously our commitment to the culture of life, then we cannot ignore the lethal scourge of gun violence on our streets, on our college campuses and even in our elementary school classrooms.” The letter, which is available for anyone to view at collegepresidentsforgunsafety.org, was created in midDecember by Lawrence M. Schall, president of Oglethorpe University, and Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott College. The two began writing it shortly after the tragedy in Connecticut,
Faculty Come to Salary Deal By KELLY KULTYS NEWS EDITOR
JULIAN WONG/THE RAM
Fr. McShane signed a letter calling for stricter federal policy on gun usage.
hoping to stimulate change in current gun control policy. While the letter does not call for an outright ban of firearms, it does advocate for tighter laws and restrictions. The letter stresses four main objectives. First, it expresses opposition to legislation proposed in several states that would allow guns on college campuses and in classrooms. Second, it calls for the closure of the gun show loophole which allows people to buy guns without back-
ground checks at gun shows from unlicensed dealers. Third, it urges lawmakers to reinstate the ban on assault weapons and to ban high capacity ammunition magazines. Finally, it advocates for increased consumer safety standards on guns. The letter was released on Dec. 19 — just five days after 20 children and six adults were shot and killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. SEE MCSHANE, PAGE 4
Fordham’s Faculty Senate and University administrators finally came to an agreement on Nov. 9, 2012 — about seven months later than usual — regarding the faculty’s salaries and contracts for the current 2012-13 academic year. The Faculty Senate announced in its Nov. 9 meeting that “the Senate accept[ed] an offer from the administration of a total for salary increases for 2012-13 that the Senate will allocate as an across the board increase of 3.25 percent of the average for each rank, merit of $800 for half the tenured and tenure-track non-law faculty, and $400 in one-year research funds for those receiving merit.” This agreement came after months of contract negotiations. The Faculty Senate had to take many steps in order to arrive at SEE FACULTY, PAGE 2