WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A FORDHAM COLLEGE GRAD?

By Paul Gerkin


What does going to college mean in the grand picture of life? When you graduate from high school, you’re very happy to have made a college. Most students then figure that they are all set; that the big race is over- that the biggest point was to get in and that is the end of the race.

The biggest difference between Fordham and most other colleges is that the Jesuits don’t think that way. For them, this is just the beginning. Most freshmen have no idea about this, because the conditioning is so subtle.

What then does is mean to be a Fordham grad? I submit that the person coming out is not the person going in and if you let yourself go, you’ll come out an entirely different person. You’ll have grown in maturity, to be sure. You’ll have become more sophisticated academically and conditioned your mind to be a critical thinker. That is a very important Fordham distinction. A Jesuit education is an extraordinary one- it trains you in intuitive thinking and shapes you as an individual.

If one chooses to participate in Fordham life- and I don’t think that it matters whether one is a border or not, you start to give yourself into something larger than yourself. You see the bigger picture- of Fordham and the world around you. You also start to see where you might fit into it.

By the time that one reaches senior year, you have changed the way that you think. You have started to reach critical mass in terms of the kind of person that you are. The Jesuits are exceptional in that regard. They take the young unfocused student and start to transform their mind and persona from being ego centric to seeing oneself as part of a larger plan.

By graduation time, you have accomplished so much and have grown immensely. If you have followed the Jesuit plan and sunk roots, then you are likely to stay involved and to see Fordham as an integral part of your life.

But here the plan seems to end. It’s like Fordham and the Jesuits have expended huge energy and a large investment to get you into Fordham, educate you, graduate you and then the train goes off the tracks. What do I mean? If the school expends all of this thought, why wouldn’t they want this person connected to Fordham for life?? It seems to make no sense. Some people get it and they will move on to the next step. They will move to the next role- that of committed alumni - in every sense of the word. But many do not.

Fordham seems not to have figured this out. They are so committed to the beginning part of the process, but then stop at graduation. At commencement, you take a step out- to what?? You’re now an alumna or alumni- what does this mean? Fordham- apparently- has given no or little thought to the next part of the script. How can Fordham take what it has spent so much time, energy and expense into doing and turn that person into a committed Fordham person for life? It’s like, we educated them and turned them into Fordham men and women; of course they will stay committed to the school and participate in university life for life including donating to their alma mater.

There’s no direction, no structure, no plan, no budget. There’s not even a Fordham University Alumni Organization. Nothing. Does being an alumni just mean being fair game for donations or does it have a larger meaning? Apparently, but for some this works and others it does not. Being an alumni seems to mean different things to different people. It’s all too random. Fordham complains that not enough alumni participate in school life, that not enough donate money to the school. I submit that it's not the alumni; that somehow they don’t care. I rather think that it is the fault of the system. Fordham has not defined what it perceives the role of an alumni/alumna to be, or what it wants from and for them. As a result, it’s way too random and both are the losers.

Next time- School branding and loyalty, the true alumni/school relationship and planting a tree you’ll never see grow