Fordham Black Student Alliance (ASILI) released their second volume of demands to the university on Monday, Aug. 31. This list of demands follows a first volume that was posted on June 22 and an update that was released on June 29 in response to Fordham’s Anti-Racism action plan. 

“ASILI Demands Vol. II is comprised of previous demands that Fordham has not clearly addressed and new demands brought up by members of the student body,” read the caption on their Instagram post. “Thank you to everyone who continues to support us.” 

This volume’s list includes 16 demands, including the acknowledgement of Fordham’s connections with the New York Police Department, the hiring more Black professors, specifically more Black queer and Black female professors, and appointing more Black and queer people to administrative positions. 

The caption also asked their followers to email Fordham’s board of trustees about their demands via the link in their Instagram bio.

Other demands include prioritizing counseling and psychological services by ensuring that there are staff trained to handle the needs of marginalized students who seek out services when feeling unsafe on campus.  The list also demands that students who are protesting off campus should not face punishment from the university. 

ASILI also again brought up that other universities like New York University (NYU) cut ties with Aramark, the campus’s main dining company, and that Fordham should follow suit. 

New demands brought up by the student body include promoting the Chief Diversity Officer position to Senior Vice President status, having Black student representation on all student related adjudication committees, acknowledging Fordham’s gates and reframing the university’s security policy. 

Some of the new demands focused on Residential Life staff, such as recruiting more Black and brown Resident Assistants (RA) and Residential Directors (RD), specifically from the Bronx. The list also demanded that RDs not be able to pick RAs who were residents in their own hall, RAs must participate in a mandatory anti-racist bias training and RAs must participate in a mandatory seminar about the Bronx and its history. 

The list asked Fordham to recognize advocates for a Palestinian perspective on campus and apologize to Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP), to remove or restructure Fordham’s demonstration policy to allow students to protest and organize reactively, and to make a commitment to combatting Anti-Blackness at Fordham through course requirements. 

For more information about the demands, please visit ASILI’s Instagram page or email link.