Unlike Mayor, McShane to March in Parade

Fordham alumni pictured during last year’s parade. (Connor Ryan)

Unlike Mayor Bill de Blasio and many members of the City Council, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, will be marching in New York City’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on Monday, his office confirmed.

Nearly 250 Fordham “alumni and friends” are expected to march with McShane during the parade, according to the school’s alumni office. Nearly 500 marchers represented Fordham last year — despite the snow and chilling temperatures.

De Blasio has said he will skip the parade in protest of the organizer’s anti-LGBT policies. McShane’s office did not provide any additional comment.

Ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg, who always marched in the parade, indirectly jabbed de Blasio for his decision to boycott the celebration.

“I think by boycotting, it doesn’t get it done,” Bloomberg told Katie Couric last week. “If anything, it hardens the views. It makes it harder for anybody to change if you force them into a corner. That’s just not the way I would do it.”

Marching in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade is a longstanding Fordham tradition.