Dodransbicen-what? Fordham Celebrates 175 Years!

2017 marks the 175th year of Fordham University's existence; in other words, Fordham celebrates its Dodransbicentennial! Everyone is in on the celebrations with the university providing students and staff with a year of special events, programs, and exhibits that highlight Fordham's history and influence as the Jesuit University of New York.

Even the Empire State Building showed its colors for Fordham last night in honor of the 175th anniversary!

Here's to another 175 years, Fordham! So that would be a... Semiseptcentennial? Have fun trying to say that in speeches! 

Views: The Empire State Building

View of the ESB from the Flatiron Building.

There is no better symbol to represent New York City than one of the tallest buildings making up the skyline itself: the Empire State Building. People come from all over to both see the Empire State Building from below and climb it to see the view of Manhattan from 102 stories. When you're a Fordham student, there's no shortage on amount of times you'll get to see the Empire State Building, but it heeds the same amazing feeling each time - and from each place!

View of the ESB from MSG - unreal.

The Flatiron District, located surrounding 23rd Street, is home to Shake Shack, Argo Tea, and the Flatiron Building itself.  But, it also provides a stellar view of the Empire State Building.  Eating your Shake Shack while gazing up at one of the most famous buildings in the world is an experience that never gets old.

One of New York's other major selling points is Madison Square Garden, home to so many performances over the years by Billy Joel, Radiohead, Justin Bieber... pretty much anyone you can name! Going to a concert or a Ranger game at Madison Square Garden is somewhat of a right of passage for living in New York, and the view that hits you as soon as you exit a Madison Square Garden event is unparalleled.

There are so many other great places to see the Empire State Building, whether up close or far away, but my personal favorite view will always be from right here in O'Hare Hall on the Rose Hill Campus.  I always have to take a moment when I walk by the 5th Floor Lounge to appreciate how lucky I am to go to Fordham, so close to so much opportunity.

NYC view from O'Hare Hall at Fordham Rose Hill.

Fordham FlipSide

Blog by Brendan Batcheller

Fordham Flipside!

Many students arrive at Fordham and immediately want to get involved on campus. Being in New York City, there are endless opportunities to explore and have fun outside of Fordham’s gates as well. The goal of FlipSide is to provide fun opportunities for students to get off campus and experience different events around New York City. 

FlipSide is a programming group that developed to fill a need on campus; many students wanted to attend “classic” New York events such as going to the top of the Empire State Building or going to a Broadway show, but found that these often cost a little too much for a typical college student budget. In order to provide students with opportunities to attend these events, FlipSide needed to form a mission as to how attending these events could benefit students. What we developed was for FlipSide to provide alcohol-alternative programming. 

A typical view from the top of the Empire State Building.

As the current treasurer for FlipSide, my goal is to coordinate with our executive board to plan and organize trips for Friday nights that go into NYC. These events serve as alternatives to attending a party while also making it affordable and easy to plan around going into the city. Some of our upcoming trips for the Spring semester include Knicks and Yankees games, Broadway shows including the Lion King, Aladdin, and Wicked, and our touristy trips including Top of the Rock, the Empire State Building, and a Circle Line river cruise of famous NYC landmarks.  

This past Friday, we brought thirty students to the Empire State Building!