A Stellar Welcome for Fordham's Newest Landmark

Lincoln Center campus' Robert Moses Plaza overflowed with smiling faces yesterday as nearly 1,000 Fordham Law faculty, administrators, students, and alumni joined dignitaries and well-wishers in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the brand new law school. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor,former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Cardinal Edward Egan were on hand. (Photos by Chris Taggart and Dana Maxson)

Panel to Discuss Bill DeBlasio's First 100 Days as Mayor of New York City

Photo via Agence France-Presse

Thursday, April 10, marked 100 days in office for New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio. How has he done as the top executive of the Big Apple?

via NY Daily News

Fordham political expert, Christina Greer, assistant professor of political science, gave him a grade of “B+” in the New York Daily News “report card” on the mayor's tenure thus far.

His strengths? “Attempting to be inclusive of all New Yorkers,” Greer said. Weaknesses? “Tardiness. I don’t let my students come in late; there’s a fine line between busy and disorganized.”

Greer was also interviewed for an article in Metro New York newspaper, in which political observers noted “the mayor still faces significant hurdles in the days ahead.

“He’s getting his footing,” Greer said. “That’s not easy after a 12-year reign of an individual that had a certain control over people.”

But the discussion on DeBlasio’s performance doesn’t end there. The Fordham community is invited to further analysis at a talk about “Bill de Blasio’s First 100 Days as Mayor of New York City” on Monday, April 14, at the Lincoln Center campus.

Karine Jean-Pierre, former senior campaign advisor and strategist for the Bill Thompson and Letitia James Campaigns; Ben Max, editor-in-chief of Gotham Gazette; Emily Ngo, political reporter at Newsday, and Morgan Pehme, editor-in-chief of City & State, will discuss the mayor’s performance on Monday, April 14, at 4 p.m.

This panel discussion, which will take place in the South Lounge in Lowenstein Center, will be moderated by Christina Greer, and is sponsored by the Deans of Fordham University. The talk is open to the public.

-Gina Vergel

Fordham Faculty Newsclip of the Week

Photo by Bruce Gilbert

As we saw during the Papal transition earlier this year, Fordham faculty are often interviewed in the media. As such, we've decided to share key stories our faculty are quoted in on a weekly basis.

This week's news clip involves a hot Democratic mayoral primary race in New York City. Following the Democratic debate on Sept. 4, Costas Panagopoulos, associate professor of political science and Director of Fordham's Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy, weighed in on how it went in the Wall Street Journal:

"There were no knockout punches. Overall, my impression was the dynamics of the race were not shaken up in any meaningful way ... " Panagopoulos said.

Read the rest of his comments, and the entire article, here.