Class of 2021 Report

Carlos Rico – 

While a difficult and challenging year, steps have been taken by myself and many of my amazing peers on USG. I began the year working with Ops and Finance and Budgets to see how Club Constitutions could be tweaked or re-worked to utilize their funds towards more inclusive programming (esp regarding under-represented groups and students on campus). This has taken form recently with reaching out to OSI and seeing what local organizations can be better utilized for clubs (and the university in general) for programming, to not only support the local community but establish a relationship between Fordham and our neighborhood.

I am beginning a new initiative where I interview members of USG and the student body as to how the pandemic has affected their learning, their ability to program, and their livelihood while at school (or at home!) Stay Tuned! Excelsior! 

Nick Abbazzio-

This semester has been one of the most unprecedented, dare I say, in all of Fordham’s history. We have seen many hardships in this time. But these troubles gave the opportunity for our peers to rise to the occasion and complete heroic acts of kindness. During this time, unfortunately, I could not return to campus in a physical sense, but my determination to create a better university never left. With general work to transform the campus during the time of covid, I also took this time to tackle some larger tasks that have been on my list since freshman year. In the beginning of the semester, I aimed to improve the post office on campus. It is very difficult to service 10,000 individuals’ mail needs in today’s modern time of online shopping. Then, when an international pandemic is also added as a hurdle it becomes exponentially harder. My goal is to work with the office to find a more efficient procedure for package delivery. The process has been slow, but we are working towards a solution that would better the post office and the students who rely on it. 

Furthermore, through remote means, I have been able to work with my fellow peers on campus to attempt to continue my effort to reduce food waste. Though a collection program was not possible due to the pandemic, we were still able to set up a small program of volunteer work for local food banks. This idea came late, but I trust it is a program that could grow into something larger in the future. 

Even though I was not personally on campus, I was still able to field concerns from the student body and continue my work as a conduit between students and the change they want and need to see done on campus. I look to the future for a better and healthier Fordham. 

Carsyn Fischer-

This semester I led the DAC subcommittee on Accessibility and worked with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). We collaborated on an ongoing initiative to increase awareness of their services on campus through informational posters that will be distributed around campus. Also, I carried out peer and aspirant research on other Jesuit universities’ disability services to assess and compare the services Fordham offers.

Trayer Musselman – 

My name is Trayer Musselman and I am a USG Senator for the Class of 2021. This is my first time serving as a member of USG and overall, it has been a great experience. This year has not been easy for a lot of people in the Fordham community, but I am proud to have been able to act as a resource for my fellow students. This semester I have been involved with USG’s Communications committee. AS a member, I have been working to help create an alumni relations subcommittee within Comms. We hope to have USG alumni come back and host panels for current USG members. My goal for this coming semester is to join more subcommittees. 

Katie Keane – 

This past semester, I joined the GSB Dean’s Council Diversity Subcommittee. We worked on a proposal to implement DiversityEdu at Fordham. DiversityEdu is an online diversity learning and management tool that provides institutions with tailored courses to build a more inclusive culture. My team and I met with Dean Villani and Dean Parr and proposed implementing this course into the curriculum of income students and requiring faculty and staff to complete it as part of their training. The course closely aligns with both the university’s and the Gabelli School of Business’ mission statements. Both Deans were excited about our initiative and eager to help move the proposal forward. Dean Villani will be discussing the proposal with other deans. I am looking forward to meeting with the Diversity Subcommittee and Dean Villani again later this month to hear more feedback and determine the next steps we will need to take. 

Additionally, I am also in the early stages of putting together a “Major Fair” for underclassmen students. This virtual event would be similar to a career fair; however, instead of learning about different career paths, underclassmen will have the chance to talk with upper-level students about the many majors offered at the Gabelli School of Business. Hopefully, this will relieve some of the stress underclassmen may have about choosing their major and give them the chance to connect with older students.