Fordham University

Fordham's "2020 Diversity Action Plan: Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice" states that it would "Develop robust admissions strategies for the effective recruitment of students of color" and outlines several related actions.

Fordham’s Interdisciplinary Research Forum on Anti-Racism (hosted by the Office of Research) dove into issues such as "Overcoming testing biases" and "Dealing with the repercussions of institutionalized racism."

The university said, "These conversations continued after orientation through the mandatory Civility Core Program for new students, in which students explore a number of DEI concepts and terms and receive an overview of the University’s bias policy and how to report a bias incident. Survey results indicated that 84% of students agreed, or agreed strongly, that the presentation was interactive and engaging."

Fordham's "2020 Diversity Action Plan: Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice" states that it would "Continue to conduct annual workshops for deans, chairs, vice presidents, and search committees through the office of the chief diversity officer to familiarize them with the University’s expectations for hiring practices."

Faculty will add content-appropriate elements discussing racism and diversity into courses.

The chair of the Core Curriculum Committee said, "...the Core Curriculum Committee urges faculty teaching courses that have been approved for the American Pluralism requirement to fully incorporate course materials that meet the Core’s call to ‘afford students the opportunity to develop tolerance, sensitivities and knowledge of the following forms of American diversity: race, ethnicity, class, religion and gender’ … The Committee further recommends that departments that administer parts of the Core encourage their faculty to embrace teaching that incorporates critical engagement and self-reflection on questions of race, racism and anti-racism into their courses," according to the Fordham Ram.

Fordham's "2020 Diversity Action Plan: Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice" states that it would "Use faculty resources to create a library of print, audio, and audiovisual resources on racism, race, and diversity for faculty to use as asynchronous elements with the goal of providing all first-year students with an introductory course that contains a strong introduction to anti-racism and to embed discussion of issues associated with diversity, inclusion, and racism in their existing courses."

The Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University outlines several of its diversity initiatives and changes/additions to its curriculum, which include the following: "Ahead of the Fall semester [2020], we asked faculty to check their syllabi and consider adding to the diversity of authors they teach, and engage in issues of race, gender, class, and other intersecting marginalized experiences throughout the semester in the topics taught and assignments created." In addition, the department "will continue to advocate forwholesale re-evaluation of the Core Curriculum, so that anti-racist pedagogy becomes one of its guiding principles and not relegated to a single requirement."

The university said, "In August 2021, during the annual planning retreat, the University Deans Council— which includes the deans of all of the schools, the Provost, and other academic leadership—participated in a Racial Justice Examen, connecting the work of racial justice to the goals for the coming year."

Fordham's "2020 Diversity Action Plan: Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice" states that it would "Institute annual, mandatory anti-racism training for all faculty, administrators, staff, and students—including the president’s cabinet and the Board of Trustees."

The university offers "Teaching Race Across the Curriculum (TRAC) Grant Funding" which has to aims: "1) To support departmental efforts to thoughtfully and intentionally integrate questions of race into their curricula, both core offerings and within a major or minor" and "2) To support excellence in the teaching of topics related to race in the curriculum." Proposals can be starter grants ($500-$2,500) and full projects ($5,000-$10,000).

The university had a Postdoc Fellow in Critical Race Studies, "With funding from the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Office of the CDO."

Fordham's "2020 Diversity Action Plan: Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice" states that it would "Launch the Joseph Fitzpatrick, S.J., Postdoctoral Fellowship and Cluster Hire Program, a postdoctoral scholars program designed to attract young scholar-teachers whose work takes an interdisciplinary, praxis-oriented approach to examining the structures, policies, and practices that produce racial and gender inequality in American society."

Fordham's "2020 Diversity Action Plan: Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice" states that it would "Offer Teaching Race Across the Curriculum Grants through the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer to assist the faculty’s efforts to develop ways to integrate questions of race, racism, inequality, and justice into their introductory courses as well as in Values Seminar and Interdisciplinary Capstone Core courses."

Fordham's "Spring 2022: Diversity Action Plan Implementation" builds on the University's 2020 Diversity Action Plan, outlines several of its "Anti-Racism" initiatives. and states that "The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer completed a review of twenty-five Teaching Race Across the Curriculum (TRAC) Grant proposals for AY 2022 -2023, ultimately funding eighteen of them, primarily in the School of Arts & Sciences, with grants also awarded to faculty in the Gabelli School of Business, and the Graduate School of Education."

Fordham's "Diversity Fund" is a "current-use fund meant to enable the University to continue providing access and opportunity to low-income, first generation, and minority students and to advance its broad diversity goals by promoting a diverse student body." Visitors to the site can contribute directly to the fund.

The Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University stated that it would "ensure that students and local community members of color are not the subject of racial profiling by public safety officers."

The libraries have a "Gale Ebooks Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Collection," which, "Includes 100+ e-books from hundreds of international researchers. Titles include multidisciplinary DEI research that span across 11 major subject areas, including business, education, computer science, government, and social sciences."

The university offered "Diversity Graduation Celebrations." The university said, "In collaboration with the President’s Office, the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, and Senior Week committees at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, the Office of Multicultural Affairs formalized four identity-based graduation celebrations for Asian, Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ seniors."

The university offers "Anti-Black Racial Violence Resources," which include Ibram X. Kendi's "How to Be an Antiracist" and a book talk called "Dr. Robin DiAngelo discusses ‘White Fragility.'"

On March 1, 2023, Fordham News reported that "Khiara M. Bridges, Ph.D., a leading scholar on critical race theory, reviewed the state of racial bias in American law and society at a Department of African and African American Studies Lecture on Feb. 23." Bridges "presented the history of the academic concept that has been in the news recently and addressed the misinformation circling the topic."

Fordham's "2020 Diversity Action Plan: Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice" states that it would "Supplement the goal of supporting diversity in all University policies with the goal of confronting racism in all we do."

Fordham's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has an "Anti-Black Racial Violence" resource webpage which includes a comprehensive list of books, articles, and multimedia. Book titles include Ibram Kendi's "How to be an Antiracist" and J. Hill Fletcher's "The Sin of White Supremacy: Christianity, racism, & religious diversity in America."

Fordham's "Teaching for Racial Justice Symposium" took place in May of 2021 and was described as follows: "Scholars of antiracist pedagogy concur that educating for racial justice requires fundamental disruption of normative teaching and learning paradigms. Authentic antiracist work is based in conscious, self-reflective choices to decenter whiteness and confront challenge white supremacy."

The Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University released a statement on "Confronting Anti-Blackness and Advancing Anti-Racist and Inclusive Practices" which stated, "Over the course of the summer of 2020, members of the Communication and Media Studies department have watched, participated in, and supported the Black Lives Matter Movement...As scholars who study and teach on a variety of relevant topics...we have heard the concerns expressed by students and alumni that Fordham, and indeed our department, needs to do more to address systemic racism and anti-Black racism in particular...we plan to do our part to hold Fordham accountable for fulfilling the promises of its Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice Action Plan and hope to participate in many of its initiatives, but our work will not end there."