Reidenberg Tangles with Scalia!

Every year, School of Law Professor Joel Reidenberg assigns students in his Information Privacy Law class to compile a dossier of personal information, using available online resources, on an individual. Usually, that individual is Joel Reidenberg.

Not this year.

In response to recent remarks on the subject of privacy and the law made by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia at the Institute of American and Talmudic Law conference, Reidenberg assigned his students to compile a dossier on the Justice. Reidenberg described what types of information they were able to find at Fordham's recent privacy conference -- prompting a story in the online tabloid Above The Law. That, in turn, spurred an angry retort by Scalia, followed by a rebuttal by Reidenberg and another story, this time in the ABA Journal.

What will happen next? Stay tuned!

—Syd Steinhardt

The Galero of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.

In 1245, at the First Council of Lyon, when Pope Innocent IV decided to distinguish the cardinals in procession from those of lower rank, the wide-brimmed galero—or red cardinal’s hat—became a symbol of elevation to the College of Cardinals. Hence the popular term to “receive the red hat” is used to indicate that someone is being elevated to the rank of cardinal.

At consistories it was the custom to hang the galero over the seat of the voting cardinal and at his death it was hung over his tomb. Legend even has it that when the hat finally disintegrates and falls, the cardinal is released from purgatory and ascends to heaven. It became the custom that those cardinals who were archbishops and buried in their home cathedral had their galero hung from the ceiling over their tombs. Hence at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, we still see those of four previous cardinal archbishops hanging from the ceiling in the sanctuary.

Though Vatican II suppressed the wearing of the galero so that “the people could better identify with their pastoral leaders,” cardinals still display it on their coat of arms and some still have it hung in their home church after their death. Hence at Fordham University the custom continues today with the galero of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., hanging from the ceiling in front of the stained glass window of the North American martyrs. Hopefully, however, Cardinal Dulles won’t have to wait for his hat to disintegrate or fall from the ceiling to enter into his heavenly reward.

—Nicholas D. Lombardi, S.J., Ph.D.

Loyola Chair Lectures on the Church and Academic Freedom

The 2009 Spring Loyola Chair lectures at Lincoln Center can be viewed on the University's Special Clips and Lectures page. The two lectures are: From Euphoria to Confusion, The Catholic Church in America since 1960, by Gerald Fogarty, S.J. (right); and Catholicism and Academic Freedom: Authorities in Conflict?, by Stephen Fields, S.J.

Study Abroad Student Photo Contest Winners

Fordham's Office of International and Study Abroad Programs held a photo contest this semester and the results were stunning.

Placing in the top three were:

• Michael Noel, a junior at the College of Business Administration, got the top spot for his photo, "Mind the Gaper." Noel studied at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand last fall and captured the winning photo while climbing through the Aoraki mountain range.

• Fordham College at Lincoln Center junior Alexandra Palomino snapped "Due Biciclette" while taking a "glimpse down a street on a quiet afternoon in Ravenna, Italy." Palomino studied abroad in Florence, Italy, this past fall.
  

• Fordham College at Rose Hill junior Stephanie Caruso won third place for "Catch of the Day." Caruso studied in Cape Coast, Ghana, and the photo of fisherman bringing in Red Snapper was taken in the waters surrounding Ganvie Village in Benin.

Joseph Rienti, assistant director and international programs coordinator for International and Study Abroad Programs, said the contest was open to all study abroad alumni from the Fall 2007 through Fall 2008 semesters. The three winners were selected out of a total of 36 entries at two study abroad fairs held in early April. Students, faculty, and staff voted at the fairs. Sodexho Food Services and the University Book store donated prizes for the winners.

—Gina Vergel

Ignatian Retreat

The Ignatian Retreat, sponsored by the Office of University Mission and Ministry, is a four-day experience of prayer and reflection based on The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. The spiritual exercises are geared to help you to encounter the Living God and to discern how God is inviting you to live out your faith in the concrete details and choices presented to you every day. We are convinced that the Ignatian tradition can be of great service to you in your personal and professional lives and can help shape the culture of the University.

“Seek God in all things and we shall find God by our sides.”
—St. Peter Claver, S.J.

Tuesday, 26 through Friday, 29 May 2009
Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center Ossining, N.Y.

Deadline for deposits is May 8, 2009. For more information, please contact Joan Cavanagh at (212) 636-6268.

FAQ

What happens during the retreat?
Each morning, a member of the Campus Ministry team presents a theme of the spiritual exercises and makes suggestions for your prayer. The rest of the day is spent mostly in silence, allowing you to be alone with God in prayer and recollection. A member of the Campus Ministry staff meets with you individually every day in order to tailor the retreat to your particular needs and faith history. Retreatants gather for Eucharist and meet again each evening for common prayer, discussion and to enjoy the surrounding 56 acres overlooking the Hudson River.

Who may go on the Ignatian Retreat?
The Ignatian Retreat is open to members of the Fordham faculty and administration, professional staff and graduate students. No previous experience is presumed, only a generous heart and a desire to deepen one’s relationship with God.

Meals
A continental breakfast is served each morning. Lunch includes homemade soups, salads, entrée, cold cuts, breads and desserts. Dinner includes hot entrée, vegetables, bread, salad bar and dessert. (Fresh fruit and soft drinks are available in the dining room throughout the day.)

Accommodations
There are 43 single bedrooms, each furnished with a twin bed, sink, desk and chair, reading chair, closet and fan. Restrooms and shower facilities are in each hallway. Linens are provided.

Who is on the retreat team?
Members of the Campus Ministry staff along with the Office of Mission and Ministry comprise the retreat team.

Commuter option
We understand that an overnight trip may not be possible for everyone; therefore, we have chosen Mariandale because of its convenient location for those who work at any of the Fordham campuses. If you would like to participate, but feel that you are not able to spend the night, why not consider joining us as a commuter?

The retreat begins at 2 p.m. on Tuesday and ends with lunch on Friday. Thanks to the support of benefactors, the fee is $170 for the full overnight experience and $80 for commuters.

Matters of Conscience

International Studies Conference

This week Fordham hosts the Second Annual International Studies Conference, sponsored by the International Studies Program, on Wednesday and Thursday, April 22 and 23, 2009: “Issues and Careers: What Does the Future Hold?” in Lowenstein Center, at the University’s Lincoln Center campus.

Registration
Contact Tom De Luca (put “IS Conference” in the subject field), and include the names of attendees and the sessions they’ll be attending: eg., “Session I & II.”

Session I | Wednesday, April 22
(All rooms are in Lowenstein Center)

2:30 p.m. | Room 816
Human Rights Crises in the World Today: The Challenges Ahead
Savita Pawnday, Coordinator, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Nicolas Burniat, Crimes Against Humanity Program Fellow, Human Rights First

3:35 p.m. | Room 816
Global Warming and Energy: What the International Community Must Do
Paolo Galizzi, Director, Sustainable Development Legal Initiative, Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, Fordham Law School
Colin Cathcart, Co-Director of Environmental Studies, Fordham University

4:40 p.m. | Room 816
Nuclear Arms: The Continuing Threat & the Prospects for Disarmament
Rhianna Tyson, Senior Officer, Global Security Institute
Tom De Luca, Director of International Studies, Fordham University

Session II | Thursday, April 23

11:30 a.m. | Room 524
The Global Economic Crisis: Causes, Consequences, and What Needs to Be Done
David Gold, former United Nations economist, Professor of International Affairs, New School University
Falguni Sen, Professor of Management, Fordham Graduate School of Business Administration

12:35 p.m. | Room 524
Careers in International Studies (Lunch Provided)
Matt Clemons, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University
David Gold, Professor of International Affairs, New School University

1:15 p.m. | Room 524
Human and Labor Rights, Business Responsibility, and the Global Economic Crisis
Annabel Short, Head of Program, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Falguni Sen, Professor of Management, Fordham Graduate School of Business Administration

A Mania for Killing Geese and Chickens

Monday, 20 April 2009

Medieval Studies Lecture: "A Mania for Killing Geese and Chickens:" The Life of the Cardinal Ippolito of Este

Speaker: Enrica Guerra, Medieval Fellow and University of Ferrara

1 p.m. | Faculty Lounge, McGinley Center, Rose Hill campus

Contact: Medieval Studies: medievals@fordham.edu

Fordham Faculty Member Bill Baker Writes on Media

William F. Baker, Ph.D., the Claudio Aquaviva Chair and Journalist in Residence in Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, writes Perspectives on Media for WNET-13 at BLOGthirteen.

In today’s Media Briefing he says, “Just when you thought the saga of ousted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich couldn't get any stranger, it has. Blagojevich wants to star on the NBC reality show I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!”

Leitner Center to Kiwis: Domestic Violence is "Not OK"

Fordham Law School’s Leitner Center for International Law and Justice released a report on April 14 that concluded that levels of domestic violence against women in New Zealand have remained high in spite of the nation’s commitment under international law to prevent and punish such acts. The report estimates that one in three women is a victim of domestic violence in the island nation.

The research was compiled by a Fordham Law delegation: Professors Jeanmarie Fenrich, Paolo Galizzi and Chi Mgbako; Jorge Contesse, the 2007-08 Crowley Fellow in International Human Rights; eight second-year law students and an assistant. The group went to several towns in New Zealand to meet with lawyers, judges, legislators, members of government and ordinary citizens, among others.

Contesse appeared on TV New Zealand on April 14 to present the report’s findings. Read more about the report on the Leitner Center’s website
“and see Contesse’s interview here, where he says “universal human rights do not only apply to third-world countries.”

-JS

Scholar Discusses the Identities of Homosexual Male Dominican Transnationals in New York City

What does it mean to be a Dominican man living in New York City? Does being homosexual contradict that identity? A scholar who spoke on March 27 at Fordham is trying to find out.

Carlos DeCena, Ph.D., will publish his findings in a forthcoming book, Tacit Subjects: Dominican Transnational Identities and Male Homosexuality in New York City.

DeCena is the Career Enhancement Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and an assistant professor at Rutgers University. He visited Fordham’s Latin American and Latino Studies Institute to read from his book and solicit feedback.

DeCena began researching Dominican transnationals and male homosexuality in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood for his dissertation at New York University, which he finished in 2004.

His ethnographic research suggests that a close analysis of how immigrant men juggle their erotic attachments, sense of ethnic belonging, and race and class positions in New York have much to teach about inequality and power in Dominican transnational communities.

“What I found was that these subjects were dealing with downward class mobility after migration,” DeCena said. “For these men to come to New York City and face racial subordination was a remarkable thing. It’s not something they experienced in the Dominican Republic.”

One man, DeCena said, expressed antagonism toward the Dominican males of Washington Heights, comparing them to the folks who live in shantytowns in the Dominican Republic.

“[He] described them as ‘filthy people who think themselves central to the world and are non-sociable,’” DeCena said. “It’s as if my informants had a need to distinguish themselves from ‘those’ Dominicans.”

Most of the subjects he interviewed had sexual relationships with men of color.

“They were either Hispanic or African American,” DeCena said. “So there’s this entanglement with this thing that you hate, but love at the same time.”

Norma Fuentes-Mayorga, Ph.D, assistant professor of sociology, said DeCena’s research clearly showed upwardly mobile working-class men struggling with the fact that they are living in this neighborhood of lower working-class men.

“According to the 2007 census updates, 35 percent of the Dominicans coming to the United States are middle to upper class,” Fuentes said.

Monica Rivera Mindt, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, said she understood DeCena’s subjects because she is the daughter of a Dominican father and Colombian mother who grew up in an area of California that was largely Mexican.

“Identity was a struggle,” she said.

—Gina Vergel

Junot Diaz at Rose Hill

The Brief, Wondrous Appearance of Junot Diaz

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz will read from his work and sign books on Wednesday, April 15 at 5 p.m. in the Keating First lecture hall, Keating Hall, on the Rose Hill campus.

Diaz, who won the 2008 Pulitzer for his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Riverhead Hardcover, 2007), is also the author of the short story collection Drown (Faber and Faber Ltd., 1996).

For more information please contact Daniel T. Contreras at
dcontreras@fordham.edu

We Get E-Mail

We sometimes get odd e-mail here in the News and Media Relations Bureau. Today's noteworthy UCE is for Agricultural Weather Analysis:

We’ve added significant functionality to [PRODUCT NAME REDACTED]. It now includes:

• Crop yield mapping, including historical and forecast maps
• Expert commentary on agriculture and weather risks
• USDA crop condition and progress charts
• Observed and forecast weather maps

Benefits
This critical agriculture information is easy to find and updated with analysis throughout the day. Best of all, it’s free. [EMPHASIS ORIGINAL]

Free!

Did you know the Federal Trade Commission has a SPAM page?

Fordham Faculty Rock The House

The third annual Dr. N’s Rhythm Review, featuring a faculty band dubbed the River Rats, was held at the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University on Saturday, April 4. Among those faculty that took to the stage were Mark Naison, professor of African and African American studies (rapping as the Notorious Ph.D); Mark Chapman, associate professor of African and African American studies (vocals); Brennan O’Donnell, dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill (bass guitar); Paul Cimbala, professor of history (guitar and vocals); Asif Siddiqi, assistant professor of history (guitar); Christopher Chalamet, assistant professor of theology (keyboards); and John Hollwitz, professor of management systems at GBA (harmonica).

The fundraising concert for the Bronx African American History Project drew quite a crowd, and featured Fordham’s own Satin Dolls on vocals. In fact, former Satin Doll Linda Spinelli (FCRH 2008), returned to sing a killer version of "Piece of My Heart". Spinelli was a music major at Fordham and served as musical director for the Satin Dolls for two years. See her version here on Youtube.

-JS

Resurrecting the GOP

Fordham University's Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy presents:

“Resurrecting the GOP: Bringing Back the Party of Lincoln in the Era of Obama”

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 | 6 p.m.
McNally Amphitheatre, Lincoln Center campus,

With Richard A. Galen, columnist and Republican strategist and former press-secretary to Vice President Dan Quayle and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Galen has frequently appeared as a guest on MSNBC as well as NBC, ABC, FOX, and CNN, including CNN’s Larry King Live.

The events is free and open to the public. RSVP to:
Deborah Moore

Fordham Professor Among Top 10 Twitterers

Paul Levinson, Ph.D., professor of communication and media studies at Fordham, was named among the top 10 college Twitterers worth following by the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription only).

The Chronicle says "Twitter is quickly becoming a global faculty lounge," calling its communications "soup made by short-order cooks."

Levinson was the seventh most frequent Twitterer. He has 822 followers and almost 1,500 posts to date. You can follow him at: http://twitter.com/paullev

The Chronicle says, "Mr. Levinson not only studies social media, he lives the digital lifestyle he studies."

We'll be tweeting about this at http://twitter.com/fordhamnotes

Fordham Law Clinics Get Chronicle Nod

The law clinics at Fordham's School of Law got a nod from the Chronicle of Higher Education this past week:

The Securities Arbitration Clinic, at Fordham's law school, recently won $23,000 in compensatory damages and $44,000 in punitive damages for an elderly couple who had been defrauded out of $25,000. Their broker had "basically stolen" their money by making phony investments with it, says Paul B. Radvany, a clinical associate professor who directs the clinic. Ten students juggle about a dozen cases there now.

From "Amid Downturn, Law Students Give Aggrieved Investors a Day in Court" (subscription required)

Fordham Holds Eighth Annual Computing & Information Science Day

Fordham University's Eighth Annual Computing and Information Science day has included a flurry of open houses and activity at both the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses.

The day began at Rose Hill with a Robotics and Computer Vision lab open house hosted by Dr. Damian Lyons and his students, who gave demonstrations on the robots (see picture) they are preparing for use in the 17th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, which takes place in June at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. Later, Dr. Shinsuke Shimojo discussed how the length of gaze affects human preferences at an interdisciplinary faculty seminar in Bioinformatics hosted by the Department of Computer & Information Science and Fordham College at Rose Hill.

In the afternoon, an alumni presentation and career forum took place at Lincoln Center, where the festivities continue as participants will celebrate the Department's "quarter century of excellence in computing and information science education and research" at a dinner and reception tonight.

-Gina Vergel

He's Notorious

Spring, something, is bustin' out all over. Mark Naison has a big shout out at BOOGIEDOWNER ("Yes, the Bronx IS burning... Burning hot with cultural events, amazing architecture, tight knit residential communities, and acres and acres of wide open green space," they say).

Fordham Community to Relay for Life

Members of the Fordham University community will do their part in the fight against cancer this Saturday, April 4.

Relay for Life, a fundraising event from which all proceeds go to the American
Cancer Society, will take place at the Robert Moses Plaza on Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. There is still time to start a team, join a team or donate to the cause by visiting:
www.relayforlife.org/fordhammanhattan

Faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to participate as well as
all students, said Fordham College at Lincoln Center junior Peter Muller.

“We will also be celebrating cancer survivors and their caregivers, so if any
faculty, staff, or students are survivors or caregivers they should contact me,
Peter Muller, at pemuller@fordham.edu or Kathryn Swilling at
swilling@fordham.edu,” he said.

Relay for Life at Fordham takes place from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. There will be entertainment provided by student teams all day as well as performances by student bands.

-Gina Vergel