A group of Fordham University students known as the Collective of Concerned Students of Color and Anti-Racist Allies is leading a rally this evening to bring awareness to a recent spate of hate crimes on the Jesuit school’s campuses. The rally kicks off at 6 p.m. on the Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx. Students will then exit the school’s Bathgate Avenue entrance and gather at Fordham Plaza, on Fordham Road and 3rd Avenue. There, they will talk about an online petition condemning the racism and calling for tolerance and implementation of new anti-racism policies. The petition, posted on change.org, already has more than 1,500 signatures.

Below is the sequence of racist acts that prompted the petition and rally, according to the Fordham group:

• The word “Coon” was written in cement twice in front of the University Church. At least one of them has been there since last year, and one appeared around fall 2010. They remained there until Spring 2011 when it was reported to security and finally removed.

• In October of last year, a white student prepared to go out for Halloween in blackface. Another student confronted the student in blackface.

• On Feb. 7, a black student came to her dorm room door and found the n-word in permanent marker written across her door.

• On March 2nd, in one of the freshman men’s floor, the n-word and an expletive had been scratched into a 20 x 18 sheetrock patch covering a hole in the wall in one of the toilet stalls. It appears as if someone took an x-acto knife or similar instrument and scratched the words into the sheetrock.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.