The New York Times featured an article about Fordham's plans for expansion at its Lincoln Center Campus--a plan that includes "a high-rise quadrangle for 10,600 students would be created on the
Columbus Avenue end of the superblock between 60th and 62nd Streets,
with seven new buildings around a 1.5-acre courtyard." This plan is far from new, though. In fact, the sketches that appeared in the article detailing what Fordham Lincoln Center might look like in the future actually appeared much earlier in The Ram--the University's student run newspaper in 2000. (I'm pretty sure it was 2000, because I think it was related to Fordham in the new Millenium. Anyway... I'm quite sure I've seen this before).
If I remember correctly, the plans also included moving the undergraduate business school to Lincoln Center as well. As much as I hate to say it, this makes a lot of sense. While I enjoyed my time at Rose Hill, if you are going to have a more competitive business program, it really needs to be in Manhatten. That is not to say that you won't have students living at Rose Hill taking classes at the Lincoln Center business school. Having the classes in the city gives the school better access to local businesses for internships, recruiting, and for having professionals contributing in the classroom with speaking engagements.
Even if this wasn't in the Ram before, it doesn't take a lot of effort to realize how valuable Fordham's location on 60th and Columbus is, and how underutilized it is in terms of the numbers of students it serves.
This is ambitious thinking and I hope it comes to fruition. I have two hopes for the plan, though. First, and most important, I hope the expansion is done in such a manner that it maintains all of Fordham's traditions--which include a very personal touch with small class sizes, accessable faculty, and a tight community of students. This also includes maintaining the influence of the Jesuit philosophy. I hope expansion of the student body doesn't dilute the amount of people interested in what this philosophy brings to bear.
Second, I hope that the alumni start opening their pockets when those little envelopes come in the mail when the school is headed in the right direction like this. The percentage of alumni who donate, especially relative to the number of people who got some kind of scholarships or financial aid, is pathetic. There's really no excuse for it. I hate it when people say, "I gave them enough money." Do you water a plant with a gallon of water the first day you get it and then forget about it? These percentage giving rates count bigtime in college rankings and the school, which doesn't run off of its endowment like Harvard or Princeton, really needs the money as it ramps up to become a premier institution. If the giving rates go up, then Fordham can actually see these ambitious plans through. Then, all of the sudden, you got a degree from the premier Catholic college in the country. What's that worth to you? Is it worth $100 a year for the rest of your life? Sounds like a lot? $5000 over the next 50 years doesn't sound like a lot to me, especially if all of the sudden you went to the 25th ranked school in the country (That's where Georgetown is right now... Fordham is 70th.) Anyway... enough of my grandstanding. This move is good for Fordham. I just hope they do it right and that the alumni give the school the support it needs to get there.