Democratize Fordham!
Assistant Dean McGlade and Mark J. Less
Despite claiming to support the students' right to self expression, Fordham University consistently ranks at the bottom of universities in free speech. Most recently Fordham ranked an abysmal 234/251 universities in free speech. This is absolutely unacceptable from a school which paints itself as a place where students can be active members of the community. How are students supposed to become involved if they are prohibited from reserving university space, putting up posters, tabling, recruiting students, and holding meetings/discussion on campus without being apart of an approved club? Moreover to even become an approved club, the process is unnecessarily long with no communication from the administration. We are tired of the systemic suppression of student voices. Democratize Fordham Now!
Sponsored by
To:
Assistant Dean McGlade and Mark J. Less
From:
[Your Name]
We are writing to you as members of the fordham community. Fordham YDSA is a student organization that is one of the only outlets for Fordham students, who do not align themselves along bipartisan lines, to be politically active on campus.
Fordham YDSA was founded last year and the process for this student organization to be recognized started the same year. Currently, this process has come to a screeching halt, as administration refuses to communicate with Fordham YDSA during attempts to receive recognition. Multiple attempts have been made to establish communication with zero response from the administration
We find it unacceptable that the administration has repeatedly failed to communicate with students, which is the bare minimum for a school which prides itself in student involvement. YDSA has been attempting to follow the guidelines set forth by the university in order to receive recognition, however the administration has been continuously refusing to negotiate for over a year. In addition during discussions with other approved and unapproved clubs it has come to our attention that this is a systemic issue that must be resolved. This represents a complete disregard for the importance of free speech on college campuses, and only shows the validity of Fordham's abysmal ranking of 234/251 schools in free speech (thefire.org).
We demand that Fordham come to the table with YDSA to negotiate regarding its policies that prevent students from becoming active members of their communities, in accordance with Jesuit values.
In addition we demand that Fordham
-Allow students meet on campus and reserve rooms without requiring the student organization to be an official club.
-Admin should be expected to respond to emails from unrecognized and recognized student organizations within five business days of receiving the email.
-Allow unrecognized student organizations to post media on postable locations on campus, given that the media is inspected and approved by the administration.
-Streamline the process for club recognition