It is easy for important issues to get lost in the wash-rinse-repeat cycle of university life. The overwhelming majority of students remain at Fordham for only four years and then they move on.

There are some issues, however, which are too important to be lost in the shuffle. Free speech at Fordham is one of these too-important issues.

There are many things that make this university great, but Fordham’s stifling speech environment is impeding its greatness. The administration’s policies surrounding student art and performances, campus protests, events, posters, movies, entertainers and performers stunt the intellectual maturity of Fordham as a whole.

These policies sometimes go against Fordham’s Jesuit values of justice. Jesuits, after all, thrive on discussing controversial and unpopular issues; they do not refuse to acknowledge them. In fact, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, himself emphasized the importance of “the Jesuit tradition of fearless and robust engagement” last November in a university-wide email responding to the College Republicans’ decision to invite Ann Coulter to Rose Hill.

Students should not feel suppressed on their own campus; they have seen turning to their elected representatives for support. Last year, United Student Government (USG) made great strides in addressing Fordham’s shortcomings regarding free speech. In March, USG published a forty-five page report containing specific instances in which students felt they had been censored on campus, entitled the “Report on Speech and Expression of Student Organizations at Fordham.” The report was unanimously supported by Rose Hill’s USG with the hope that it would lead to a more open conversation with administrators about free speech issues on campus.

The report urged the administration to adhere to its own declaration consistent with the distinction that a club or organization’s “views do not necessarily represent those of Fordham University.” The university requires every club to include this disclaimer in its constitution. “No student-proposed program or posting should be denied, altered or modified on the pretense of it not aligning with the viewpoints or objectives of the university,” the report read. It also asked administration to be clearer when using Fordham’s Jesuit and Catholic identity as a reason for resisting a potentially controversial event, performance, etc.

“We are concerned that the Jesuit and Catholic mission is often used as a reason to deem the content of student-organized programs or posting materials questionable,” the report read. “We believe that Fordham presents its Jesuit and Catholic tradition as one that embraces regular engagement with and intellectual discourse on controversial topics; yet, the use of our university’s identity to justify the rejection or modification of student-proposed content negates the very basis of this notion.”

USG’s report was an important step in addressing and changing Fordham administration’s policies and attitudes toward free speech and censorship on campus, but it is merely one step. If Fordham truly believes in ensuring justice for its students and confronting the toughest issues, this report should be the foundation upon which USG builds a legacy of changing Fordham’s free speech situation for the better.

When The Fordham Ram endorsed Aileen Reynolds and Brendan Francolini for USG’s executive president and vice president last April, we were optimistic about seeing continued progress regarding free speech at Fordham. We hope that Reynolds and Francolini — as well as the rest of USG — will satisfy our optimism and continue pushing Fordham to address issues of free speech on campus.

Categories: Editorial, Opinion