But this year, the Ramily was treated to a double dose of pride when law school grad Howie Roseman—general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles—lifted the trophy following the team’s 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on February 9. 

Roseman has arguably been the team’s most important member off the field in the past decade. His uncanny eye for talent and skill at offseason roster building has led to three Super Bowl appearances and two victories for the Eagles in eight seasons.  

During this year’s playoff run, broadcasters seemed to mention his name nearly as much as the players. 

“The guy is the best in the business,” Fox NFL Sunday analyst Howie Long said during the Super Bowl pregame show. “He is the MVP of this team.”

A Fordham Law Degree Kick-Started His Career

Roseman’s story is marked by a nearly mythic level of drive and determination. He never played organized football, but as a kid he dreamed of becoming a general manager in the NFL. After a league executive suggested gaining expertise on salary cap regulations, Roseman enrolled at Fordham Law and gained an edge over applicants whose experience relied on football knowledge alone.

In a 2014 interview with Bleacher Report, Roseman estimated that between his senior year of high school and his third year of law school, he wrote more than 1,000 letters to NFL teams (one letter to each team, several times a year) in hopes of landing a job. After earning his law degree in 2000, Roseman took an unpaid internship with the Eagles and worked his way up to general manager in just 10 years.

“Fordham Law taught me how to think,” Roseman said in 2019, when he returned to Fordham to deliver the keynote address at the annual Fordham Sports Law Symposium. “Getting a law degree and learning how to think deeply and analytically meant I wasn’t just a college kid who wanted a job in the NFL. … Now I had something to sell.”

The Value of Taking Risks

Roseman’s fearless style led to bold moves that proved crucial to the Eagles’ historic success this year. At the beginning of the season, he brought on rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean and inked a one-year deal with journeyman linebacker Zack Baun. Both had huge interceptions in the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory.

“If you don’t take risks,” Roseman said at the 2019 symposium, “you have no chance to be great.”

Most famously, Roseman persuaded star running back Saquon Barkley to leave the New York Giants and come to the Eagles. Barkley went on to set the record for the most combined yards in a single year for the regular season and playoffs.

When a reporter asked about his pride in the team’s accomplishment, Roseman reflected on the persistence and grit that has long been part of his ethos.

“Everyone on this team has stories of determination and persistence, being questioned…and [now] being a world champ.”

A Fordham Super Bowl Legacy

Fordham’s ties to the big game date back to the very first one, when Lombardi led the Green Bay Packers to victory on January 15, 1967, in what later became known as Super Bowl I. He repeated the feat the following year. 

One of Lombardi’s Fordham classmates, Wellington Mara, FCRH ’37, also had a share in two Super Bowl victories, in 1987 and 1991, as longtime co-owner of the New York Giants. Wellington’s son John Mara—a 1979 Fordham Law grad and the Giants’ current president, CEO, and co-owner—also hoisted the Lombardi Trophy twice, in 2008 and 2012. 

“When you do it once, sometimes people think it’s a fluke,” Roseman said after Sunday’s victory.  “When you do it twice, they can’t take it away from you.”

Birthright citizenship, a constitutional right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, is the principle that anyone born on U.S. soil automatically becomes a citizen, regardless of the citizenship of their parents. This protection is rooted in the aftermath of the Civil War in an effort to grant legal and civil rights to Black Americans. 

The executive order directs federal agencies to stop issuing citizenship documents to children born to undocumented parents or to parents in the country on temporary visas. A federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary halt to the order, calling it unconstitutional. The Trump administration has vowed to appeal, raising questions about the future of birthright citizenship in America. 

To answer some of those questions, Fordham Now consulted Jennifer Gordon, an immigration law expert and professor at Fordham Law School. Gordon shared her insights on the likely legal road ahead for the executive order.

Fordham Now: In your opinion, how likely is the Trump administration to successfully end birthright citizenship? 

Jennifer Gordon: It’s unlikely the administration will succeed. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution established birthright citizenship, and Supreme Court cases interpreting the law have upheld the right for over 125 years. The federal judge who heard the case that was brought last week to challenge the Trump action declared the president’s order “blatantly unconstitutional,” saying “I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear.” 

FN: The order argued that children of undocumented immigrants are not “subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. laws” and therefore the 14th Amendment doesn’t apply to them. Does that hold water legally? 

JG: That interpretation of the 14th Amendment was first rejected by the Supreme Court in the Kim Wong Ark case 125 years ago, and every time the argument has been made before the Supreme Court since, it has failed. 

In practical terms, federal, state, and local governments recognize undocumented immigrants as “subject to the jurisdiction” of U.S. laws in all areas, holding them to the obligation to comply with all civil statutes and all criminal ones, illustrating that they do in fact fall within the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship protection. The only people who fall outside the 14th Amendment in this regard are the few individuals who truly are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction, for example, high-ranking diplomats, who cannot even be held accountable for traffic tickets.

FN: Some critics of Trump’s order have said the only way to end birthright citizenship is through a constitutional amendment. Do you agree, and how likely do you think that is?

JG: The Supreme Court has the power to end birthright citizenship by overruling its longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment, although it seems unlikely that it would do so. 

The only other way to change birthright citizenship is through a constitutional amendment. That would require that the proposed amendment pass Congress by a two-thirds vote (not the ordinary simple majority), and then be approved by three-quarters of the states, or 38 out of 50. This cumbersome process rarely ends in the passage of an amendment; no amendment has passed since 1992.

An Essay by Afrika Owes, Fordham Law School Class of 2024

When I returned to jail this past summer, I lost a bet I made with a correction officer in 2011—that I would never set foot in Rikers again. Back then, I also wrote in my journal that I’d become a lawyer. I kept that pledge. As I walked through those familiar halls, this time as an invited speaker, I recalled the number they once gave me: ‍6001100148. That number stripped away who I was. It was a constant reminder that I was just a body, a statistic, a faceless soul among hundreds in a system designed to forget me. But that number couldn’t erase my name, my identity, my aspirations.

I returned to Rikers in July to talk with young women at the Rose M. Singer Center, where I had been incarcerated at 17. In their eyes I saw the same fear, the same sadness, and the same yearning for hope that mine had reflected 13 years earlier. I had been one of them, convinced that a bright future wasn’t something I deserved. But now I stood before them not as ‍6001100148 but as a woman who had fought like hell to reclaim her name and her power.

Less than 10 miles from where I served my six-month sentence, Fordham Law School was integral in that battle. Drawn to the University by the support and leadership of the Black Law Students Association, whose president went so far as helping me with my law school application, I soon found mentors who believed in me and opportunities that led to my success.

At Rikers that day, I told the women the truth: The system wasn’t built to rehabilitate them. It would try to break them. I had been where they were—lost, angry, ashamed, and hungry for love. My life felt like a series of small deaths. Every court date that got pushed back, every visit that never came, every letter that went unanswered. I feared I would never be seen as anything more than that number.

But what I didn’t know then, and what I needed them to understand, was that resilience—the kind that carries you through—isn’t found in the world around you. You build it within yourself, piece by piece. As I studied for the GED and SAT exams in my cell, I wasn’t just chasing a way out; I was keeping hope alive.

Hope was something no one could take from me, and it’s something I urged the women to hold on to as well. Though fragile, their hope was their power. Together with strength and purpose, it could propel them forward.

I shared the darkest parts of my journey: The nights I cried alone in my cell. The moments I thought my life was over. How after my release, the world didn’t suddenly open its arms to me. Bank accounts were closed, job offers rescinded. I was rejected again and again.

But every time someone told me “no,” I told myself “yes.” Every time the world tried to reduce me to my mistakes, I dared to believe that I was more than my past. And with each step forward, I built a new life—a life that no one ever expected me to have.

As I spoke, I watched their faces. Some were stoic, guarded, skeptical. I get it—hope is dangerous when the world has only ever let you down. One young woman, tears in her eyes, stood up and shared that she had passed her GED. She hadn’t thought it was a big deal—until that day. She realized how powerful that achievement truly was. In her, I saw my younger self—the girl who once thought she had nothing left, but now, standing before them as a lawyer, knew that she was unstoppable.

As I departed, I didn’t feel lighter. I felt the weight of the women I met, the lives they still had to live, the battles they would face. But I also felt hope. I made a promise—to myself, to those women, and to every girl who has ever been buried by the weight of the world: That world may feel impossible, but its soil is where you’ll grow.

Even within the coldest of concrete of Rikers Island, a rose will find its way to the light. Hope, like a rose breaking through concrete, defies the odds. It grows where it shouldn’t. And once it blooms, it transforms everything around it—quietly, relentlessly, and without permission.

—Afrika Owes is a 2024 Fordham Law graduate and a first-year law clerk in the tax practice group at Davis Polk & Wardwell.

“People were like, ‘You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. Relax. The internet needs to be free,’” said the 1994 Fordham Law School grad.

But the article changed the trajectory of Citron’s career. Her groundbreaking scholarship and advocacy on issues involving intimate privacy and online abuse are recognized internationally for their vital importance to an evolving understanding of ethics in the digital age. She earned a MacArthur Fellowship (aka “genius grant”) five years ago, and today she’s a distinguished professor of law at the University of Virginia.

“I was accused of wanting to kill free speech,” Citron said. “But I stuck to my guns. This is important.”

In a world where lawmaking lags behind the rapidly accelerating speed of technology, Citron is aiming to close that gap. She focuses on finding legal solutions to a wide array of online abuses, from cyberstalking and harassment to harmful deepfakes—digitally manipulated videos and images that are becoming increasingly indiscernible from reality. Threats like these disproportionately affect women and minorities, she said, making these issues “the civil rights cause of our time.”  

“That’s the worst—the everyday person who’s targeted. They shut down their LinkedIn, Facebook, X accounts; they literally just go offline,” she said. “When you chase a woman offline, she cannot participate [in society].” 

Since 2013, Citron has been vice president of the nonprofit Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. She has published two acclaimed books, including The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age (2022), and spent more than a decade working with law enforcement, legislators, and large tech companies to create reforms that give recourse to people who are targeted online.

Most recently, Citron partnered with U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss to draft a bill that would reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—a law that protects platforms from liability for harmful or false content they host. The proposal includes stricter regulations against digital forgeries, cyber stalking, and intimate privacy violations.

For Citron, the through line across her career is one that was strengthened during her time at Fordham, both as a student and a professor of the law. 

“The work that I do is on behalf of the vulnerable,” she said. “That is so consistent with the Fordham mission.”

A decade ago, Fordham officially became a “changemaker campus.” But the changemaking impulse has been at the heart of a Fordham education for generations. Read more about other Fordham changemakers.

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“A University can be no greater than its faculty,” said Fordham Provost Dennis Jacobs, Ph.D., during opening remarks. “At the time each of you were hired, we selected you because we saw

great potential in you as a teaching scholar … we were confident that over time, you would demonstrate the fulfillment of your potential.”

It was the third annual faculty celebration, a tradition that began in 2022.

Eighteen faculty members were recognized at the ceremony. Each was introduced by their college’s dean: Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center; Lerzan Aksoy, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business; Ji Seon Lee, Ph.D., acting dean of the Graduate School of Education; Debra McPhee, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Social Service; Bennett Capers, associate dean for research at Fordham Law School; Ann Gaylin, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Bob Hume, Ph.D., acting dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. 

The deans also read out a list of the faculty members’ accomplishments, ranging from publications in prestigious academic journals to bringing in millions in grant funding for research to the University. 

President Tania Tetlow delivered closing remarks, congratulating the faculty members and thanking them for their service to Fordham, on behalf of the University and its students.

The honorees promoted to professor were as follows: 

• Christopher Aubin, Ph.D. (Physics and Engineering Physics)
• Lauri Goldkind, Ph.D. (Graduate School of Social Service)
• Thaier Hayajneh, Ph.D. (Computer and Information Science)
• Robert Hernández, Ph.D. (English)
• Ron Lazebnik (School of Law)

The faculty members who earned tenure were: 

• Norrinda Brown (School of Law)
• Natasha Burke, Ph.D. (Psychology)
• Rufus Burnett Jr., Ph.D. (Theology)
• Leah Feuerstahler, Ph.D. (Psychology)
• Elizabeth Gil, Ph.D. (Graduate School of Education)
• Lauren Kopajtic, Ph.D. (Philosophy)
• Elizabeth Matthews, Ph.D. (Graduate School of Social Service)
• Dominik Molitor, Ph.D. (Gabelli School of Business)
• Brandy Monk-Payton, Ph.D. (Communication and Media Studies)
• Rahbel Rahman-Tahir, Ph.D. (Graduate School of Social Service)
• Fadi Skeiker, Ph.D. (Theatre)
• Nicholas Smyth, Ph.D. (Philosophy)
• Laura Specker Sullivan, Ph.D. (Philosophy)

Awardees will travel to countries in Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe for 10 months of teaching and research, immersing themselves in new cultures. The University announced 12 Fulbright winners in early May; the number rose to 14 a few weeks later, and has now risen to 15, because of awards granted to students who had been named Fulbright alternates.

“We are overjoyed that we have a record number of Fulbright awardees this year! It’s a testament to the outstanding work of our students and alumni, and the faculty and staff who support them,” said Lorna Ronald, Ph.D., director of Fordham’s Office of Prestigious Fellowships.

She noted that Fordham’s number of applicants has risen from 25 to 38 over the past two years. “We’re working hard to let all our students know that they can apply,” she said. “There is no GPA cutoff or ‘right’ type of student. Fordham students are interested in service, and many have studied abroad, speak multiple languages, or come from multicultural backgrounds, so they make excellent Fulbright candidates.”

In February, for the sixth time, the U.S. State Department recognized Fordham for being one of the colleges and universities with the highest number of Fulbright awardees.

A Focus on Immigrants and Refugees

Jennifer Espinal, FCRH ’24, who grew up in the Bronx, is headed to Spain’s La Rioja province to work as an English teaching assistant. She hopes to expand her knowledge of Spanish—“I speak very ‘Nuyorican’ Spanish,” she joked—and learn more about the nation’s culture and its large refugee population.

Espinal double majored in history and Latin American and Latino studies, with a political science minor, and wants to become an attorney who serves immigrant families. She comes from one herself—her parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic, and her mother works as a custodian at the Rose Hill campus.

Seeing her daughter graduate on May 18 was an emotional moment. “None of this would be possible without you,” Jennifer told her in Spanish that morning. (Watch Espinal and other first-generation graduates give thanks to their families at commencement.)

Making Early Childhood Education Inclusive

Bailey Kaufman, a doctoral candidate at the Graduate School of Education and adjunct professor at the school, will be traveling to the Slovak Republic to study early childhood math instruction, as well as the cultural biases in educational materials that can hinder learning.

One aspect of her research is the bias in picture books used to teach math and how that makes them less accessible to children from the country’s Romani minority. Romani children are already marginalized, Kaufman said, noting that only a third of them are enrolled in early childhood programs, compared with the republic’s national average of 72%.

Based at the University of Prešov, she’ll work with European organizations seeking to improve early childhood education and build a comparative analysis. A question she hopes to answer, she said, is “how are other countries approaching mathematics in early childhood and training future teachers, and what can we take from that and bring to U.S. institutions of higher education?”

Studying National Identity in Wales

In addition to the 15 Fulbright scholarships, one student was accepted into a different Fulbright program, the highly competitive U.K. Summer Institute for first- and second-year college students. Mackenzie Saenz De Viteri, a CSTEP Summer Scholar and first-year student at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, will spend three weeks at Aberystwyth University in Wales.

She looks forward to learning directly about Wales’ history and identity, as well as how the country attained independence and structured its government, which may hold lessons for Puerto Rico, said De Viteri, an international studies and anthropology double major from Central Islip, New York.

Her interest is “taking examples from other parts of the world who have similar dilemmas and using that to help solve current issues,” said De Viteri, a first-generation college student who has family in Puerto Rico.

In addition to Kaufman and Espinal, 13 other students and alumni received awards from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program:

Caroline Albacete, FCRH ’21, from Pennsylvania, a member of the Honors Program who earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies, with minors in French and history, was awarded an English teaching assistantship to Colombia.

Michael Au-Mullaney, from the Bronx, a doctoral candidate in philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, received a research award for study in Denmark.

Richard (Ricky) DeSantis, from California, a doctoral candidate in philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, received a Fulbright-ifk Junior Fellowship for study in Austria.

Alexandra (Alex) Huey, FCRH ’23, from Florida, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science, with a minor in economics, received a Fulbright-CY Initiative Award to pursue a master’s degree in Paris, France.

Nathan (Nate) Johnson, LAW ’22, who is from New York City and earned a juris doctorate, received a Fulbright/Ulster University Award to pursue an LLM in Northern Ireland.

Kathleen Kye, FCLC ’22, from New Jersey, who earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and Spanish studies, with a minor in psychology, was awarded an English teaching assistantship to Argentina. 

Sophia Maier, FCRH ’23, from New York state, who earned a bachelor’s degree in American studies and will receive a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Education this spring, was awarded an English teaching assistantship to Spain.

Isaac Mullings, FCRH ’24, from the Bronx, a member of the CSTEP program who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, received a research award for study in Ghana.

Anna Nowalk, FCLC ’23, from Virginia, who earned a bachelor’s degree in theology religious studies with minors in philosophy and peace and justice studies, received a research award for study in El Salvador.

Christian Ramirez, FCRH ’23, who is from Minnesota and earned a bachelor’s degree in English and theology religious studies, with a minor in Spanish, was awarded an English teaching assistantship to Colombia.

Margaret (Daisy) Salchli, FCRH ’24, from Chicago, who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, international studies, and Chinese studies, was awarded an English teaching assistantship to Taiwan.

Emilia Tesoriero, FCRH ’24, from Connecticut, who earned a bachelor’s degree in international political economy with a minor in Spanish, was awarded an English teaching assistantship to Spain.

Connie Ticho, LAW ’24, from Pennsylvania, received a research award for study in South Africa.

One alumnus is a Fulbright alternate:

Hanif Amanullah, FCRH ’24, from Texas, who earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies with a minor in environmental studies, was named an alternate for a study and research award to Kenya.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated from an earlier version.

We asked grads to welcome the Class of 2024 with a special gift: their advice and life lessons. And they eagerly answered the call.

Always Persist  

Persist even in the face of iron-clad adversity. We get one chance to do this thing called life, so don’t dream too small, and never give up!

Benedetto Youssef, Fordham College at Lincoln Center, Class of 2012

Balance Your Ambition and Happiness

Don’t ever let your hunger for success ruin your happiness.

Michael Bennis, Gabelli School of Business, Classes of 2017 and 2018

Turn the Page

Take it all in—day by day, week by week, month by month. You will feel weird at first. It’s inevitable. A chapter closing. But your new chapter will bring so many blessings, so many new lessons—and some old lessons and people that you will hold on to. Whether you’re staying in NYC, in your hometown, or venturing out where you know no one, you’ll be great and amazing at everything you do. Congratulations, and here’s to many new memories for you!

Aminata Konateh, Fordham College at Rose Hill, Class of 2023

Embrace Change, But Stay True to Yourself

Don’t be afraid to change direction. Remember why you started this whole journey.

Jayne (Zambito) Lee, Graduate School of Education, Class of 1977

Build Strong Relationships

Cultivate meaningful connections with friends, family, mentors, and colleagues. These relationships will support you through both the good times and the challenges life throws your way.

Lisa Manfredi, Gabelli School of Business, Class of 1991  

Lift Up Those Around You

Hold on tight to one another and lift up those around you, for the best is yet to come. I was lucky enough to find a group of women who were supportive, kindhearted, and passionate. If you had asked us in March 2022 where we would be today, we would have responded, “Together, of course.” But we accepted life-changing opportunities, erupting with excitement for one another: I accepted a job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, another accepted a position with Amazon in Seattle, one with the Los Angeles Lakers in LA, another began her career in luxury real estate in San Diego, one went to Boston to work in marketing, and one stayed in the Big Apple. Although we are still living coast to coast, we make time for each other, whether it is in our group chat, at Homecoming, or on our yearly weekend trip. I am so grateful to Fordham for allowing our paths to cross.

Maggie Flahive, Fordham College at Rose Hill, Class of 2022

Keep Reading, Keep Learning

Always be reading a well-written book—even if it’s just a few pages a day. I’m an attorney, and that habit always sharpens my mind and is enjoyable. In the course of a year, it’s amazing how many books you’ll read!

David G. O’Brien, Fordham College at Rose Hill, Class of 1969; School of Law, Class of 1975

Submissions have been edited for length and clarity. Many thanks to all the alumni who shared their advice and graduation day photos.

After reading her result, Owes, 30, yells out, “I passed! I passed!” before jumping up and then bursting into tears.

Owes wrote in text overlaid in the video, “POV: You’re a formerly incarcerated single mom who passed the bar early on the first try.”

In the accompanying caption, she wrote in part, “Thank you to my angels, my momma, my grandma. Thank you for my son, my brother, my family and my tribe.”

Owes was also featured on The Tamron Hall Show.

“You have an obligation to behave in the interest of that organization,” said Linda Sugin, a professor of nonprofit law at Fordham University. “The problem is, when you’re on both sides of the transaction, then we’re skeptical that you’re going to put the organization’s interests before your own.”

Ms. Sugin said the institute could have reduced its risk by soliciting bids from competing firms to gauge whether the insiders were charging market rates. The institute could have asked its leaders to recuse themselves from the decision to hire their own companies, she said.

“This feels like a blow to the #MeToo movement, and I think this ruling will retraumatize victims, but I’m hoping the victims will see the court’s ruling in a limited way,” Bader said. “Hopefully, this won’t dissuade victims from coming forward,” she said.

“There’s so much the FTC didn’t consider,” Susan Scafidi, director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University School of Law, told me, including how today’s handbag consumers shop, the blurred market segment lines and the impact of new competitors. “The case simply doesn’t make logical sense in many ways.”