“Happy St Patrick’s Day from Fordham University, which is Irish to its core,” said Tania Tetlow in a recorded message during the 2025 NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17.
“We were founded in 1841 by beloved Dagger John, Archbishop John Hughes, who knew that he needed to serve the hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants streaming into New York. He knew that they needed not just food and shelter and jobs. They needed education. They needed investment in the talent that they brought with them, even as they came with the clothes on their back. And so he created a college that started with about eight faculty and six students and grew it into this incredible university that we are today.
We are so proud to continue the joyfulness of our Irish heritage on WFUV’s Irish show every Sunday. We are proud to revel in the academic intellectual heritage of Ireland. We created the first Irish studies program in the United States, and continue to educate our students in the glory of that tradition. And we are particularly proud today to march down Fifth Avenue with a thousand Fordham alumni strong as part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.”
