“Your generation has to decide whether organized human society is going to persist or not,” said Chomsky, long an outspoken critic of capitalism and U.S. foreign policy. “We have to decide right now whether this process of self-destruction and species destruction is going to continue—and if it does, it’ll reach tipping points that are irreversible—or whether we’re going to make the efforts that are possible, feasible, within our grasp, to ensure not only human survival, but better lives for everyone.”

The webinar was hosted by Fordham’s new political union student club, alongside its counterparts from Columbia University, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago. In an hour-long discussion, student representatives from each school, including Billy Harrison, the Fordham club’s co-founder and president, asked Chomsky about his opinion on crucial issues hurting the U.S. and the world at large. 

The American Working Class and Anti-Vaxxers 

In today’s economy, many Americans lack steady, regular jobs and live a “precarious existence,” Chomsky said. To make matters worse, over the past four decades, much of the world’s wealth has transferred from working people to concentrated private capital, he said. It has become more difficult for labor unions to successfully mobilize and strike, thanks to updates in labor laws and administration. But he said he sees a positive shift in labor union perception with Joe Biden in the Oval Office.

“He’s the first president in a long time to say something positive about unions. Actually, Dwight Eisenhower was probably the last president to do that,” said Chomsky, who has witnessed 17 American presidencies during his lifetime. “My own feeling is that unless the labor movement is reconstituted, redeveloped, as it happened in the 1930s, we’re not going to have much progress on other fronts. Labor has been on the forefront of positive changes for the general population ever since the earlier stages of the Industrial Revolution.” 

In talking about the pandemic, Chomsky criticized rich countries for monopolizing vaccines instead of sharing them with poorer countries. He also stressed that anti-vaxxers need to be won over with argument and discussion, rather than force.  

“We want to encourage people to think for themselves, deliberate with others, come up with reasonable solutions to their problems and concerns,” said Chomsky, a chair and laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona. “You don’t want to browbeat people into accepting your views … You want people to accept them because they see the logic and the evidence for them.”

A More ‘Frightening’ Problem Than the Pandemic

Chomsky said there are far more serious issues than the pandemic that will plague humankind past his lifetime, especially climate change. 

“If we look at public attitudes on this, it’s frightening,” he said, citing a recent poll from the Pew Research Center where only 14% of Republicans cited climate change as a big problem in the U.S. “Illegal immigration and the federal deficit are [their]most urgent problems. Global warming, which is going to destroy the prospects for human life on Earth, is not a serious problem.” 

Chomsky said we need to stop subsidizing fossil fuels and reduce their usage in yearly increments—roughly 5 to 6%—until they can be completely replaced with greener alternatives, including nationwide electrical grids and redesigned homes.

“I live in Arizona, where the sun is shining all the time. When I moved in, I put up solar panels. Basically, I get free electricity. I don’t have to feel guilty about running the air conditioner when it’s 110 degrees outside, and I also don’t have to pay thousand-dollar electric bills like my neighbors do,” Chomsky said. “It can be done on a massive scale.”

A “doubly dangerous” threat to society—“doubly” because no one discusses it, said Chomsky—is the increasing threat of nuclear war. 

“Anyone who’s looked over the record over the last 75 years knows it’s a near miracle that we’ve survived this far, and it’s getting much worse,” said Chomsky, who was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. 

Chomsky also reflected on the degree to which colleges and universities should regulate free speech, especially when dealing with racism. He emphasized that regulation of speech is the worst way to deal with these issues. Instead, students should be encouraged to bring their peers together to assess their ideas and educate themselves on divisive issues. 

“College should be a place where students are willing to face challenging, questioning ideas,” said Chomsky, who recently authored a new book, Chomsky for Activists (Routledge, 2021). “Not run away from them, not finding safe spaces where they don’t hear them.” 

The full recording of the event is below:

Collegiate EMS organizations with an EMS Ready Campus designation have shown excellence in emergency management and disaster preparedness. The honors are classified as either bronze, silver, or gold.

At last year’s conference, FUEMS reached the bronze tier for the first time and, in another “first,” won 2018 Collegiate EMS Organization of the Year. This year, after completing a series of additional tasks—expanding cardiopulmonary resuscitation training on campus, strengthening relationships with off-campus organizations like St. Barnabas Hospital, and completing more training courses—FUEMS was upgraded to silver.

“After winning the bronze tier last year, we wanted to go a step further and achieve silver,” said Logan Clair, FCRH ’19, the chief of medical staff at FUEMS. “It felt very rewarding and exciting when we got called up on stage.”

The student-led organization at Rose Hill has treated students, faculty members, and staff since 1977. For more than 40 years, Fordham’s EMS team has responded to situations that run the gamut: seizures, heart attacks, allergic reactions, asthma attacks, bone fractures, and more. FUEMS was even among the emergency crews that showed up at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Today, the organization has approximately 170 members, of which nearly 30 are actively involved, said Clair. It’s been home to many student volunteers over the years—and many stories.

Alexis Verwoert, FCRH ’19, director of FUEMS, said sometimes it’s difficult to not wear her heart on her sleeve. She recalled responding to a patient who was experiencing a psychiatric emergency.

“People match emotions. I wanted, in that moment, to be as upset and as sad as that person was,” Verwoert said. “But the second I lose my cool, that person will also lose their cool. I had to remain calm and remember that I’m here to provide care and make sure that this person is going to be OK, eventually.”

At the end of the day, Clair said, FUEMS is all about care and community at Fordham.

“Helping our community and providing the best quality of care that we can for students [and staff]that may be going through a medical crisis, being there for them, and providing comfort for them is really rewarding,” Clair said.

A year later, Biggins co-founded the Special Olympics Club at Fordham to help create welcoming and supportive environments for adults and children with disabilities.

“The goal of our organization is to raise awareness of Special Olympics and the special needs community, and to find ways to bring Fordham students and Special Olympic athletes [in New York]together,” said Biggins, who currently serves as the club’s president. “Our third goal is to form a beautiful community on campus that embraces inclusion, acceptance, and welcomes all people.”

On April 8, more than 30 Fordham students and Special Olympics Club members joined Camp Acorn, an Allendale-based nonprofit serving individuals with special needs, on a day trip to the Bronx Zoo. Each club member helped the campers to navigate the different exhibitions at the zoo.

“It was really amazing,” said Fordham College at Rose Hill sophomore Jeannine Ederer, vice president and coordinator of the Special Olympics Club. “They told us that they had never gone through as much of the zoo as they did with us, so that was a big accomplishment on both ends.”

Ederer said Fordham students were able to bond with individuals from the special needs community through the event.

“You don’t always have the opportunity to connect with people with disabilities on a personal level and understand what they’re capable of,” she said. “Being paired one-on-one with the campers for an entire day allowed us to learn so many things about them.”

Raising awareness

To promote its mission, the club hosted several events on campus during their Spirit Week, which ran from February 26 through March 3. That week the club held its Second Annual Red Out Fashion Show, which gave Fordham students and Special Olympians an opportunity to hit the catwalk together.

According to Gabelli School sophomore Morgan Menzzasalma, the club’s treasurer, Special Olympics athletes are often left out of many traditional extracurricular activities that are offered at schools. The club’s fashion show was an opportunity to have an event focused solely on them, she said.

“It was great to see the smiles on the children’s faces during the show,” said Menzzasalma, a track and field athlete at Fordham. “At first they started out timid, but by the end of the show, we couldn’t get them off the stage!”

The fashion show featured a live performance from American Idol contestant Brielle Von Hugel, and several raffle donations. The items included customized Fordham keepsakes from Tiffany’s, which were provided by the Office of the President; an autographed baseball from the Boston Red Sox’s Xander Bogaerts; an autographed hockey puck from the New York Rangers’ J.T. Miller; and VIP tickets for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and LIVE with Kelly. According to Biggins, the fashion show raised over $2,000 in support of Special Olympics New York City.

Advocating for change

Since the club launched in 2015, its members have worked to create events and initiatives that shed light on the challenges that individuals with disabilities face, many of which go beyond physical and intellectual limitations, they said.

Biggins said hearing the word “retard,” in particular, has harmful effects on the self-esteem of individuals in the special needs community. Through their “Why We Pledge” campaign, which coincided with the National Spread the Word to End the Word Pledge Day, the Special Olympics Club sought to inspire students to eliminate the R-word from their own vocabulary, and to encourage their peers to do the same.

“Social awareness is everyone’s responsibility, even if it just a small act of kindness each day,” said men’s soccer team player Christopher Bazzini, a Gabelli School junior who has been working with the special needs community for more than four years. “You don’t have to start a massive movement to help others; it could be something as simple as pledging to stop using the R-word.”

Club members said they hope students across the University would not only join them in raising awareness, but also in taking action.

“Students can often get caught up in their daily school activities, but this club has allowed me to keep others who are less fortunate than me in mind,” said Menzzasalma. “From this experience, I have gained great friends and have learned that, even as a college student, I can make a significant impact in bringing joy to another [person’s] life.”

The newly renovated 140 West 62nd Street, once home to Fordham Law School, has been transformed into a state-of-the-art facility with a three-story library, a student lounge and café, health and counseling centers, career services offices, and abundant space for classrooms and student activities.

The new space serves as the Lincoln Center home of Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business, offering students spacious lecture halls, an innovation lab, and a trading room with rows of Bloomberg financial data terminals.

Designed for energy efficiency and equipped with the latest technology, the building provides plenty of space for students to collaborate—from group study rooms in the library to large event halls and space for student clubs.

Story continues below the slideshow.

Here’s what students are saying about the new 140.

Paul Novak, Freshman, Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Justin Westbrook-Lowery, Freshman, Fordham College at Lincoln Center

“I love coming here, having tea with friends after classes, having a conversation, and getting a little snack,” said Westbrook-Lowery from his seat in the lounge, where students can refuel with a beverage and a bite to eat from Argo Tea. “And I love that we’re so close to the library. I don’t have to leave the building and go to another space.”

Westbrook-Lowery commutes from his home in the Bronx. He chose Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus because he loves being in the heart of the city. “This brings me close to all the different opportunities I’m looking for—in politics, history, everything,” he said.

Sitting with Westbrook-Lowery, Novak said he loves how communal the space is. “It’s so nice to have one space where we can all come together. I came from a small town in Massachusetts, so the change from a suburb to a city was one I really wanted to go through. When I first visited Manhattan with my family, I thought, I could never live here, ever. It’s just too busy. But the second I moved [to campus], I thought, I finally found a place where I feel happy.”

Masha Bychkova, Junior, Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Majors: Classical Languages and Classical Civilizations (Minor in Visual Arts)
Recruitment Chair and Winterfest Committee Chair, Campus Activities Board (CAB)

“CAB has its own offices here,” said Bychkova, sitting outside on the plaza as she waited for her Winterfest meeting to begin. “We have a space we can use, everything’s very organized. It’s really nice to have a distinct space for student affairs—separate from academic areas.” A member of the first class to live in McKeon Hall—the residence hall that opened atop Fordham’s new Law School building on 62nd Street in 2014, Bychkova says the renovation of 140 “completes the whole campus.”

Adiyah Baig, Senior, Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Major: Computer Science
Saad Baig, Sophomore, Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Major: Computer Science

Heading out of the library with her brother, Adiyah said she likes the big windows and the views. “When you’re studying, at one point you start to feel like you’re caged in, and you’re stuffed with all this information. You don’t want the place you’re studying in to also be stuffy. When you have a place like this, you can look outside, you can see the pretty greenery, other people walking around. You think, let me take a break and go for a walk or something. It’s nice.”

Saad appreciates having the room to spread out. “I like having my personal space,” he said. As a science major, he’s also anticipating using the new group study rooms for projects with his lab partners.

Anthony Norris, Junior, Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center
Major: Global Business with a concentration in Global Finance

With five out of his six classes held at 140, Norris spends a lot of his time in the new space. “This place is a second home to me. Being in such a new place makes it very easy to learn,” he said. A member of the Gabelli School’s first Lincoln Center class, Norris founded the Investment Group, a student club that’s now about 200 members strong.

“I’ve had a quite a few Investment Group meetings in here, so I get to take advantage of the conference rooms,” he said. He also looks forward to using the Bloomberg terminals, which he’s familiar with from his summer internship at Morgan Stanley. “There’s a lot of things to take advantage of here. There’s every resource available to you.”

Namrata Marjit, Senior, Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Major: Natural Sciences
Hend Saad, Senior, Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Major: Natural Sciences

“The new space is really beautiful,” says Marjit, who worked at the old Quinn Library and plans to work at the new one this year with Saad. “It allows the students to feel more welcome. It’s very homey.” She loves how spacious the lounge area is. “I can always find a seat.” And she likes the outdoor garden located just outside.

As a commuter student, Marjit appreciates having a spot where she can get her studying done. “Sometimes working at home is not possible,” she said. “You need a place with a lot of resources.”

An aspiring physician in Fordham’s Pre-Health Program, Marjit was always one to hang out in the library, and looks forward to continuing to “catch up with friends” in the new space.

Saad, who is also in the Pre-Health Program and plans to go to dental school, came to the library to scan a page from one of her textbooks. “I’m gonna be here 24-7. I study here, I’m going to work here,” she said with a laugh. “All my gaps between classes, I’ll be here.” Saad, who was born in Egypt and grew up in Queens, said the new library space has a vibrancy that she loves.

Photos by Dianna Ekins, Bud Glick, and Logan West

Ten years later, he’s the group’s biggest fan.

“You know how different groups and different organizations tend to draw similar souls? This group, it’s amazing how the players change, but the team doesn’t. They’re always a pretty energetic group, a lot of fun; very lighthearted, passionate, caring kids,” he said.

Canton, who is director of intercampus transportation for the University, said he dabbled in music growing up but never stuck with it. As an undergraduate, he didn’t join any student clubs, so now he prods undergraduates to discover all the opportunities at their disposal.
“I was only two years removed from graduating here in 2002, and yet I had no idea the Ramblers existed. That’s a problem, and I didn’t want other students to make that same mistake,” he said.

Canton’s story is not uncommon. Every one of the 80 student clubs at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus and 44 at the Lincoln Center campus—be they academic, social, or service-oriented—has a faculty or administrative adviser. Often the person is a faculty member whose expertise mirrors the club. But sometimes, as with Canton’s case, the connection is not so obvious.

What all have in common is a willingness to freely give valuable time.

Kathleen Malara, executive director of University Health Services, for instance, is also adviser to the F.U.E.M.S., which runs two ambulances on the Rose Hill campus. When Malara started at Fordham 12 years ago, she advocated for the group to be brought under her supervision, which it was three years later. She and assistant director Deborah Mosko take turns every two weeks being on call 24 hours a day, to assist F.U.E.M.S with providing continuity of care and followup for students transported.

Students receive E.M.S. training elsewhere, but Malara helps address bureaucratic issues that arise within the University, like a request for an elevator key in a residence hall.
“In many ways I’m their sounding board. They’re an incredible group of students,” she said. “They’re doing this without stipends, while they carry a whole load of academic responsibilities.”

Three years ago, Barry Rosenfeld, Ph.D., professor of psychology, helped revive the Psychology Society when the department chair asked for volunteers.

“I was running the clinical program, so I spent a lot of time talking to new graduate students,” he said. “That gap between the undergraduate students, and what they’re leaving with, and the Ph.D. students, and what they’re entering with, is growing. So I wanted to help our undergraduates prepare for getting themselves into graduate schools.”

Research is a major component of the Psychology Society; it holds a research fair in September where faculty members solicit student volunteers to help in their research.

“That had always happened, but in kind of a haphazard way; a student would have a professor in class and they’d say ‘Hey, do you need any volunteers on your research,’” he said. “[Now] students [can]find out what’s really in their area of interest, instead of who’s the faculty member they feel the most comfortable about knocking on their door.”

At the Lincoln Center campus, Vincent DeCola, S.J., assistant dean for first-year students, serves as adviser for both Desi C.H.A.I., which promotes South Asian culture, and the Rainbow Alliance, which advocates for the gay and lesbian community. Like Canton, Father DeCola came to be involved with the groups because he knew students who were already members. Much of his job, he says, is overseeing budget requests, “but I also try to attend some Rainbow meetings and events,” he said.

“I also try to stop by the major Desi C.H.A.I. events, which usually include cultural dances and music and ethnic dishes, all of which I enjoy.”

When it comes to pairing up clubs with professors, the previous examples illustrate how it normally happens, said Jennifer Lackie, assistant director of student organizations and programming at Rose Hill. The Office of Student Leadership & Community Development maintains a list of faculty members who are interested in community activities. Being a club adviser is one of those.

“Sometimes we make pairings from there, or I [might]know a faculty member who’s interested in taking on more clubs and I can pair people as needed. But for the most part, our students are very excited about finding their own club adviser. They really go above and beyond to find someone who meets their needs,” she said.

“[Advisers] can challenge students to think about new ways to approach their organization. I hope they can have conversations with their students about events that their club is hosting, and how those events fit in with the mission of both their organization and the University as a whole,” she said.

Rosenfeld, who is on leave this semester but will resume advising when he returns, said the Fordham faculty is especially generous with its time.

“I hear a lot of my colleagues at other universities gripe that when something is needed, nobody’s hand goes up. When the chair here says I need help with X, Y, or Z, you’ll get, like, five people putting their hands up,” he said.

Malara concurs, citing her charges as inspirations.

“I have this picture that was taken at our annual spring dinner. This year was our 35th anniversary. I had tears in my eyes because I looked at this picture of students who came back—who was a doctor and who was a lawyer, and who was an educator, and who was a priest. This is just what these students become,” she said.

“They’ve enriched my life, to be honest.”