FORDHAM STUDENTS RALLY FOR CHANGE AGAINST
BY ALIYA SCHNEIDER
F.U. Do Better, a group of
students speaking out about
sexual violence at Fordham
University — and the institution’s
response to such incidents
— rallied together for
the fi rst time on Saturday.
About 30 students — most,
but not all, young women —
gathered at Fordham Plaza at
1 p.m. before marching to the
university’s Southern Boulevard
entrance. The group visibly
grew over the next hour, at
one point doubling, according
to organizers.
“What do we want?” “Accountability!”
“Who do we
want it from?” “Admin!” they
shouted together, along with
chants about believing survivors
and protecting students.
Throughout the march, organizers
gathered signatures
they plan to present to university
administrators with a list
of demands, largely about the
university’s Title IX process.
Title IX is a federal law that
prohibits discrimination on
the basis of sex — such as sexual
assault — at educational
institutions that receive federal
funding. Group organizers
said they are “disturbed by
and frustrated with the consistent
protection of perpetrators
of sexual violence at Fordham
University.”
Hannah Quinn, Maddie
Newall and Ellen Sweeney,
three Fordham University juniors,
started F.U. Do Better
less than a week before the
rally, on Sunday, Nov. 28, after
reading a Bronx Times article
about Julianna Czernyk,
22, a recent Fordham graduate.
Czernyk is suing 22-yearold
Michael Bongiovanni, another
former Fordham student
now attending New York Law
School, alleging he raped her
in 2020. According to the civil
complaint, fi led in Bronx Supreme
Court, the university’s
response to her reported assault
was severely inadequate.
The F.U. Do Better founders
had also recently learned
about a federal lawsuit against
the university fi led over the
summer by Francis Austin, a
former Fordham student who
attended the university’s Naval
Reserve Offi cers Training.
In the lawsuit, Austin, who
is gay, claims Fordham administrators
and faculty members
mocked and scorned him,
called him a liar because he
had previously complied with
Ellen Sweeney (red jacket), motions toward Fordham’s fenced-in campus as she leads other students in Saturday’s march with Maddie Newall (front)
and Hannah Quinn (right). Photos Aliya Schneider
the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell policy, threatened him
with hard labor in military
prison, made him pay back his
scholarships and forged a psychological
report about him
after he spoke up about being
raped by his sophomore-year
roommate in February 2011.
According to the complaint,
Austin’s alleged perpetrator,
Patrick Sweeney — the
son of an esteemed Fordham
alumni who is a U.S. Military
attorney and writer of the
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy —
is serving in the U.S. Marine
Corps without facing consequences
for what the 171-page
complaint describes as a brutal
assault.
The university misrepresented
an investigation of the
incident and relied on fake
documents in a byzantine
scheme against Austin, the
suit claims.
“Fordham University has
robust and fair Title IX and
sexual misconduct policies
and procedures developed in
compliance with relevant state
and federal laws,” university
spokesman Bob Howe told the
Bronx Times. “Because the
processes are confi dential,
the University cannot disclose
the rationale for its fi ndings
in any given case. As an institution,
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 8 EC. 10-16, 2021 BTR
Fordham must be directed
by the law.”
While the two aforementioned
cases inspired the formation
of F.U. Do Better, organizer
Sweeney — no relation
to Patrick Sweeney — emphasized
on Saturday that the
rally wasn’t about one specifi c
case, as the organizers believe
rape culture is ubiquitous on
campus.
In fewer than fi ve days, the
group’s Instagram page received
more than 400 followers.
As the group’s followers
continue to grow, students
look to Fordham administration
with ideas for change.
The fi rst of the group’s demands
are for students to have
multiple options for the initial
point of contact with the Title
IX offi ce, saying public safety
is male-dominated and the
current and former Title IX coordinators
are men.
“Survivors of sexual violence
by men are hesitant to
be surrounded by men, alone
with men, or in conversation
with men about their experience
of assault,” according to
the demands. “We also recognize
that men are not the
only perpetrators of sexual assault.
Therefore, we demand
that there be multiple options
for the fi rst point of contact
within the Title IX offi ce so
that survivors can choose the
point of contact with whom
they feel safest.”
The organizers are also
asking for the Title IX offi ce
to expand to have Title IX offi -
cers, crisis advocates and support
groups focused on the reporting
and healing processes
for survivors — independent
from the university administration.
Fordham University
would not provide details of
the makeup of the Title IX offi
ce.
The demands also request
students have unlimited
access to trained crisis
advocates that specialize in
healing for sexual assault sur-
Pedestrians stopped in their tracks to show support for the students on
Saturday, Dec. 4.