Symposium Reaction

After listening to the first session at the African American symposium, I was interested in learning more about the history of African American studies. The speaker talked about how he was one of the founders of African American studies at Fordham. He went around promoting interest in African American studies to many college students. The speaker also acknowledged that Father George McMahon had a high priority in helping African American students at Fordham, and Father Joseph Fitzpatrick was the “godfather” of Latino students. The speaker mentioned that after successfully teaching African American studies through various departments, a nun told him that he was a “credit to his race.” As the speaker said at the conference, she showed how there are people that are not very exposed to African Americans and then give African Americans high acclaim if they seem to have defied the stereotype.

 The questions and answers at the end of the session, however, really had me intrigued. A Fordham student asked the conference speakers why they thought the black and Latino population at Fordham Lincoln Center decreased over the years. One of the speakers said that it is because of a new preference for out-of-staters that the populations have decreased. Also, if one looks into the demographic trend of Manhattan, black and Latino populations have decreased. This affects Fordham because in the Lincoln Center campus’s early years, many of the students that attended FCLC were local rather than global or out-of-state. One of the speakers alleged, “Fordham betrayed its stated purpose.” It is the Jesuits’ mission to preferentially serve the poor, but it began to change as Fordham became an institution of liberal arts for the masses. I found this all very interesting. It is unfortunate that these changes aid in the decrease of the black population at Fordham. I think it is important that all elite schools lower their tuition and diversify the student body by admitting more students from different classes and parts of their local cities. As schools, such as Fordham, begin to focus more on out-state-suburbanites or global students, they are also unfortunately losing focus on the diverse selection of students that are local in their area.