Submitted by Bob D'Agostino, Aug 24, 2007 01:57

In the mid 70s when Howard Cosell declared The Bronx is Burning and books like Report From Engine Company 82 detailed the catastrophe of The Bronx. neighborhoods, alumni and friends of Fordham were applying great pressure to move the University to a new site in Shrub Oak NY. The land had been purchased and some plans had been drawn.

Alums feared for their kids attending the Bronx campus. Crime was seeping into the greenery of Rose Hill as the surrounding nabes deteriorated. The city had some plans for renewal, but all would depend on keeping Fordham on Rose Hill. In a memorable address at a yearly convocation Father Flynn, the Persident of the University pledged Fordham' loyalty to the Bronx and NYC. He jokingly said that the University was not about to call The Seven Santini Brothers to move to Shrub Oak. The Bronx is where Fordham began and where it would stay.

That loyalty is never mentioned by the oponents of the plan for Licoln Center. They forget what happened to the Bainbridge Avenue section of the Bronx when NYU deserted it for the lights of Manhattan. There are some who feel Fordham has not fulfilled its contract with NYC re Lincoln Center. I can't answer that, but ask the residents of the CentralBronx if Fordham kept Faith with them.

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