see ELECTRONIC IDS page 4 see SUNDSTROM

He cited incompatible ideas with the current USG administration as the reason for his resignation on Sept. 30

SUNDSTROM from page 1

According to Joe VanGostein, USG president and Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center ’22, vice presidents can be invited to these meetings, but it is not a constitutional requirement.

“We decided that this year it would just be president and advisor as allowed by the constitution,” VanGostein said.

According to the USG constitution, the president has the power to preside over all executive board meetings and act as an adviser to university committees and councils, while the vice president can assist with these duties “if need be.”

In the event of a vacant executive board position, the USG constitution states the position will be fulfilled by the president pro-tempore, or majority leader, of the senate. The senate must then elect a new president pro-tempore.

Dorothy Wenzel, senior director for the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) and adviser to USG, said she will be supporting the student leaders with their recruitment process to fill the vacant position, though she cannot give any specifics at this time. According to Wenzel, the board is reviewing USG’s constitution and will be meeting next week to decide how to move forward.

VanGostein said he looks forward to continuing to serve the student body with a new vice president.

“The role of USG VP is a very demanding and complex one. Robert decided that role was no longer for him,” he said. “I wish him more success in his future endeavors.”

The resignation of Sundstrom as vice president went into effect on Oct. 1. When he announced his resignation the day before, he said he was nervous about the announcement but that many USG members were supportive of him.

“I didn’t want to leave, but I felt like I needed to,” he said. “A lot of people indicated they were sad to see me go but expressed that they understood my reasons.”

Sundstrom said that after the meeting he wished VanGostein luck; VanGostein expressed his gratitude toward Sundstrom for their work together.

Though disappointed with how things ended with USG — a club he has been involved in since his sophomore year at Fordham — Sundstrom said he is excited to continue doing work for students and student experience through his event directing job at OSI.

“I always support every student to make a decision based on what is going to be best for them, so I support Robert in his decision,” Wenzel said.

Wenzel thanked Sundstrom for his commitment to his vice presidential work — especially during the 2020-21 academic year when Loreen Ruiz, FCLC ’21 and former USG president, was fully remote. Sundstrom had to embrace more responsibilities, such as leading hybrid meetings.

Sundstrom will not be involved in the administrative process of USG’s special election, but he said he will “definitely vote.”

“The role of USG VP is a very demanding and complex one. Robert decided that role was no longer for him. ”

Joe VanGostein, USG president and Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center ’22

ESME BLEECKER-ADAMS/THE OBSERVER Robert Sundstrom has stepped down from his position as vice president of USG, but will continue to work toward the student experience on campus at OSI.

SOL Hosts Mucho Gusto, First In-Person Mixer of Year

More than 100 students attended, ushering in a year of renewed student enthusiasm to get involved on campus

By LETICIA GUIMARĀES Contributing Writer

After a long period of hosting exclusively virtual events, the Student Organization of Latinx (SOL) hosted its first in-person event of the year, Mucho Gusto.

The student mixer offered a variety of opportunities to meet new people and eat Venezuelan food catered by Arepas Grill. Mucho Gusto was open to all undergraduate students, giving everyone a chance to eat and dance while getting to know one another.

Mucho Gusto featured a DJ, a dance floor and a photobooth. SOL has not been able to host in-person events since before the pandemic, and readjusting to planning live events with COVID-19 restrictions was not an easy task.

“It was really hard keeping up with all the vaccination rules and making sure that everyone hired was fully vaccinated,” Odalys Tepi, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’22 and secretary of SOL, said. “It is definitely the right thing to do to make sure every student and staff is as safe as possible.”

Another important goal that the SOL team focused on was using Mucho Gusto as a tool to encourage sophomores to connect in a way that they were unable to last year.

Carmen Salazar, the outreach program coordinator for SOL and FCLC ’22, emphasized the importance of making up for the lack of connection to the community that students felt last year.

“Because of COVID-19, our outcome wasn’t as strong as we wanted it to be, but this year we are working on providing everyone with the cultural aspect of the college experience, especially when it comes to making sophomore and freshmen create bonds,” she said.

SOL expected between 40 and 60 people to attend the mixer, but the turnout was over 100 students.

At the event, it was noticeable that people were having fun. Attendees commented on how wellplanned the event was.

Mary Olivette Bookman, FCLC ’24, said it was the biggest in-person event she had seen in her Fordham experience.

“My favorite part is seeing everybody come together after so long and watching people from different backgrounds just chilling out over some good food and music,” she said. “The energy was so good, so much happiness was involved.”

SOL hopes to plan more in-person events like Mucho Gusto and create a safe space to build relationships and foster Latinx heritage, culture and traditions for both Latinx and non-Latinx students. Their next goal is to collaborate with other campus clubs and organizations to host more culturally inclusive events.

LETICIA GUIMARĀES/THE OBSERVER SOL hosted its first in-person event of the year called "Mucho Gusto" which featured music, a photobooth, and Venezuelan food.

Come to the Traditional Latin Mass

Sung Mass every Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Church of Saint Agnes 143 East 43rd Street (bet. Lexington and Third aves., near Grand Central)

ALICE MORENO/THE OBSERVER Electronic IDs have been a challenge to use for some students and Fordham IT is working to improve the system.

Students Prefer to Opt Out of Electronic IDs

Students using virtual IDs experience complications and switch to physical IDs

ELECTRONIC IDS from page 1

“It’s a whole process of having to go through Fordham’s app and then go through Duo Push, which is another app (for multi factor authentication), just to scan it,” Schulz-Rodriguez said. The electronic ID “wouldn’t go nearly as fast, and I just started to notice people who had physical IDs were just like, one and done, and it was pretty easy.”

Schulz-Rodriguez said that she now uses her physical ID and believes it is much simpler.

Howe acknowledged that many students have opted to use a physical ID after experiencing difficulty with electronic IDs. But, he has assured students that the inefficiency with the electronic ID was only present for the first few days and has been quickly solved.

Similarly, Deming Yaun, university dining contract liaison, said most of the issues with electronic IDs in regard to meal plans were the result of students failing to correctly finish the sign-up process for an ID.

“I was on some calls at the university, and it indicated that when a person signs up for an electronic ID, it looks like they’re finished — but there’s one last step: They have to hit confirm or submit,” Yaun said. “People were not doing that or didn’t realize that they had to do it.”

Yaun said that this issue never interfered with students’ abilities to enter their dormitories or acquire a meal from the university’s dining services.

“Nothing affects anybody’s ability to get the meal in the first few days. There’s a lot of meal plan confusion and sometimes people’s information just hasn’t been entered correctly, but we always in the first several days accommodate people through the confusion and make sure that they have meals,” Yaun said. “Especially on weekends when offices might be closed and they don’t have an opportunity to take care of whatever confusion there might be.”

Fordham IT continues to improve the electronic ID based on feedback from users, according to Howe. He encouraged students to speak to IT Customer Care if any issues arise with their electronic IDs.

Despite all the assurances and developments, many Fordham students are opting in for the physical ID choice instead.

Sperber Prize Presented to 2 Recipients for the First Time

Kerri Greenidge and Lesley M.M. Blume will be honored at a virtual ceremony in November

By LAURA OLDFATHER Contributing Writer

The department of communication and media studies (CMS) awarded the Sperber Prize to its 2021 recipients Kerri Greenidge, a historian and professor at Tufts University, and Lesley M.M. Blume, a journalist, historian and author. Normally, Fordham presents the prize to only one recipient annually. This year, Greenidge and Blume split the $1,000 prize.

“We just thought why pull our hair out to try to decide between them when we could just award both of them and use the spotlight of the Sperber Prize to bring them more well-deserved attention,” Beth Knobel, associate professor of CMS and director of the Sperber Prize committee, said.

The prize was introduced in 1999 and is given in honor of Ann M. Sperber, author of “Murrow: His Life and Times,” published by Fordham University Press. The award is presented to authors of memoirs and biographies about media professionals.

Knobel has been part of the jury that decided the winner for multiple years. She became the director during the deliberations for the 2021-22 academic year after the previous director left. The jury begins by evaluating 20 to 30 submissions each year in the spring and announces the winner in early fall.

There have only been two Sperber Prize recipients who were women, so Greenidge and Blume are the third and fourth women in the prize’s 20-year history. In addition, Greenidge is the first woman of color to win.

“During the judging, we noticed that few women or writers of color had won the Sperber Prize in the past, and also that very few books about female journalists had been recognized,” Knobel said. “While we judge books based on their overall contribution, I personally found it very gratifying to see two women win the Sperber Prize this year, including the first woman of color.”

Blume said she feels flattered to be in the company of Greenidge, as well as the notable past recipients.

“It feels great,” Blume said. “I mean, not that there have really been two women who have received it. But it feels great to be the third and the fourth.”

Blume’s book “Fallout: The Hiroshima Coverup and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World” is an autobiography of reporter John Hersey, a journalist who exposed information about the Hiroshima bombings. She said the idea was conceived in 2015 when Donald Trump began to delegitimize news organizations and members of the press.

“It's a pleasure to have the Sperber Prize as a mechanism for bringing these amazing writers to campus. ”

Beth Knobel, Director of the Sperber Prize Committee

“I was so angry and disgusted by it that I knew that I wanted my next nonfiction book to be something to drive home, the importance of our free press, and the extreme importance of investigative reporting in upholding the common good,” Blume said. “So it was really a rallying cry on behalf of journalists in a moment of extreme peril that only accelerated,

COURTESY OF KENDALL CONRAD Lesley M.M. Blume is one of the two winners of this year’s Sperber prize with her book about John Hersey.

or evolved rather, completely during the Trump era.”

Greenidge’s book, “Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter,” is a biography of the civil rights hero William Monroe Trotter, who started a newspaper in Boston and educated many people on civil and racial injustice in the early 1900s.

The Observer reached out to Greenidge for an interview, but received no response.

Usually, there is an in-person ceremony to celebrate the authors, which is attended by alumni, students, friends, and families of the authors. The ceremony presents the authors with the prize and gives an opportunity for the Fordham community to listen to the authors speak about their work.

“It's a pleasure to have the Sperber Prize as a mechanism for bringing these amazing writers to campus,” Knobel said.

This year the ceremony will be held virtually, with hopes to return to an in-person event next year. The ceremony will be held on Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. and will be open to the public.

Lincoln Center Case Numbers Drop, Following NYC Trend

As COVID-19 cases on campus decrease, Public Safety and Health Services attempt to keep students safe

By EESHITA WADE Contributing Writer

After reaching a peak of 57 COVID-19 cases at the Lincoln Center campus in September, case numbers have started to decline in New York City and at both Fordham campuses. As of Oct. 5, there were 17 positive cases at Lincoln Center.

Marco Valera, vice president of administration, announced in an email on Oct. 1 that there have been no confirmed cases of classroom transmission yet this semester. resume normal activities with the exception that they wear a mask outdoors as well prior to receiving test results.

According to Valera, 81% of Fordham’s on-campus cases are among students, and none of the employee infections were transmitted on campus.

When a student tests positive, Fordham follows the Johns Hopkins model of contact tracing to identify students who have been exposed to COVID-19 in classrooms. This model relies first on placing the infected person in quarantine, learning whom they have been in contact with, and then contacting other exposed people.

The Johns Hopkins method also instructs those who have been exposed or are at risk to monitor their health and self-isolate for two weeks. Unlike this method, Fordham only tells unvaccinated individuals to isolate, while the vaccinated and asymptomatic are recommended to continue to attend class.

John Carroll, associate vice president of Public Safety, said Public Safety holds a short meeting with the infected individual to learn where the individual has been in the days preceding testing positive as well as whom they have been in close contact with.

“Through contact tracing, we are able to identify close contacts and instruct them on the next steps,” Maureen Keown, director of UHS, said. “For those who are not fully vaccinated, contact tracing will discuss quarantine options.”

Keown said UHS strongly recommends that fully vaccinated individuals get tested three to five days after exposure. Fordham does not require exposed individuals to get tested.

Fordham’s contact tracing team is in communication with the New York City Department of Health, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a consulting epidemiologist, and public health experts.

According to Keown, when a student living on campus tests positive, they are placed in isolation for 10 days. At Lincoln Center, students quarantine in McMahon Hall, though students can elect to go home to complete their quarantine. While students are in isolation, UHS nurses check in daily.

Deans are notified of COVID-19 cases on campus, who then follow up with faculty members to offer advice from an academic perspective.

Laura Auricchio, dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, recommended that unless advised otherwise by Public Safety, professors should continue to meet in person and be flexible with quarantining students.

“Through contact tracing, we are able to identify close contacts and instruct them on the next steps. ”

Maureen Keown Director of UHS

ALYSSA DAUGHDRILL/THE OBSERVER Students who are exposed to someone with COVID-19 are recommended to get tested three to five days later and can attend class if they are vaccinated.