By Kristen Santer
I am sure every Rose Hill and Lincoln Center student has now received an email from Gabelli that describes and advertises its Summer Business Intensive. This program, in which students will learn strategy, accounting, finance, marketing and media, is a five-week crash course during the summer for business novices.
This is a great way for students to learn the basics of business without having to take semester long classes. These types of skills are not only helpful for potential careers, but will also be useful in everyday life.
However, many students are upset with the way Gabelli advertised the program to Rose Hill and Lincoln Center students.
The first line of the email reads, “We can help make your liberal arts degree more marketable.” The email continues, “Designed for liberal arts students, this new five-week course teaches skills that apply to all business — in an easy-to understand, accessible way.” Nicholas Giampicolo, FCRH ’17, said, “The latter language also has a notion that FCRH students are less capable of understanding business school topics and issues.”
Although it was well intentioned, the wording of the email is condescending and demeaning. It sounds as though Gabelli is dumbing down their classes for Rose Hill students.
There are already many Rose Hill students who believe that the Fordham administration caters to Gabelli, and it’s not hard to see why. The Gabelli School of Business recently received a new, beautiful building that is one of the highlights and selling points of every school campus tour, while the buildings dedicated to Rose Hill degrees are falling apart (see the second floor girls’ bathroom in FMH).
In addition, Gabelli’s core programming is less intense and more specialized, allowing students to take business classes related to their degree earlier than students at Rose Hill.
The divide created by the administration seems to directly contrast with Jesuit values. Fordham’s Jesuit identity is stated on its website, and begins, “with a deep respect for the individual and his or her potential, a principle the Jesuits call cura personalis.”
Emma DeGrace, FCRH ’17, noted, “While the administration preaches Jesuit ideals, this email essentially stated that they do not actually value liberal arts degrees, but only ones related to business. I thought we were all part of Fordham Rose Hill.”
This email, in addition to these other problems, is simply adding to the culture of resentment and competition between the two schools. Others may begin to think that Gabelli students see themselves as superior, based on their level of “marketable” business skills that will most likely lead to a more monetarily successful career. Rose Hill students may begin to believe others see their degree as worthless and insignificant.
Instead of adding mileage to the growing distance between Gabelli and Rose Hill, Fordham’s administration should help promote a culture of collaboration and equality.
Each school is important and should receive the same amount of support and attention from the administration. I understand that the Gabelli School of Business is becoming more prominent and prestigious, but that does not mean that they should show favoritism.
I’m sorry, but that email just does not seem that insensitive to me. I think that it’s fair to say that many non-business students, who of course are just as smart and capable as the Gabelli students, might generally be concerned with the large amount of jargon in the business world, or some similar concern that business classes are unintuitive, and I’m sure that that is what the email was trying to address in claiming that the program was “easy-to-understand, and accessible.” That said, perhaps a good solution would be to offer to a few summer crash courses in liberal arts subject to the Gabelli business students. I’m sure that there are plenty of business majors at Fordham who would be interested in an intensive summer introduction to a liberal arts discipline.