NYC alma mater of Rudy Giuliani and a sitting congressman who did blackface once again disappoints

To the editor,

In a small Catholic college on a hill in Riverdale, I was taught the Lasallian values of concern for the poor and social justice, of inclusive community, of respect for all people. Armed with this knowledge, I — an activist who was featured in the New York Times for protesting the MET Gala — was declared valedictorian. I hoped that this was a sign that the school was ready to fully embrace its values and their political implications. But on Thursday, July 9, the school once again showed that its values are just for show by proudly posting a photo featuring Donald Trump, a man who stands against everything I was taught, with comments disabled.

I spoke at graduation about the school’s core values. Values like human dignity and concern for the poor. I talked about the role Manhattan University played in desegregating college basketball. How the same school can boast the role of its alum in the New York Stock Exchange and her connection to Trump while claiming to hold these values is beyond me. When I saw the Instagram post, I informed the school that I no longer wanted to be on the cover of the summer magazine so long as the post remained up. I will not advertise them to be something they aren’t, and so long as that post is up, they are not the school I described in my speech. They responded saying that they would remove me from the cover of the magazine, and I have since been blocked by the very same instagram page that declared me valedictorian.

Their choice was very clear: an Instagram post about Donald Trump was more important than everything the school claimed to stand for. I wanted to make sure that others knew the school’s true values, so I posted the screenshots on my story, and the response was immediate.Several students reached out expressing disappointment and even distress about the post in question. A few even told personal stories about other times that the school failed to uphold values that it touts.

My close friend Elliot Babilonia, who was instrumental in the creation of the Just Peace student club, a student activist group, was among the first to reach out, as a former MU student that was forced to transfer to a CUNY after losing his mother very suddenly during the summer of 2025. Despite Manhattan University’s emphasis on their website about their “commitment to education, to generosity of spirit, and the power of education to change lives,” Babilonia said the school didn’t even offer condolences and refused to increase his financial aid.

Another student claimed that this was not the first time the school aggressively tried to silence student voices online. After making an Instagram post criticizing the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the student claims that the school forced them to write an apology letter to another student who claimed that her post was antisemitic. When the student asked about disputing the accusation, they said they were threatened with disciplinary action.

Students deserve to feel as though the school they were advertised is the same school they are attending. Students at Manhattan University feel as though they have been lied to and betrayed. This school taught me that it’s important to raise my voice in the face of wrongdoing and to help give a voice to others who feel unheard. If the school refuses to hear us, perhaps you will.

ELLE FENEIDE

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