This academic year was a year of promises. The Republicans promised to bring sanity back to the White House while the Democrats promised a fixed economy, even though it didn’t need fixing because it was “getting to 95 percent” and was “totally on track”. Closer to home, registration finally unveiled “Degree Track,” the snazziest technology update since Internet in Furst, which, to be fair, was never promised to anyone.

President Joel promised to investigate YU abuses, while The Forward swore to sift through Gottesman’s basement archives for an off-color comment possibly made by the Rav when the recorder was turned off on a Sunday shiur back in 1964. Also, Rabbi Reiss vowed to turn on or turn off the pornography filter—I can no longer remember which one.

While President Obama promised investigations into the Libyan bombing, President Joel promised to build a mikvah on campus, Rabbi Brander promised Gilad Shalit, College Edge promised to get kids into college, and The Commentator promised to make news at the first State of the University address.

Some pledges were kept: drop dates were moved, the poli-sci journal was published, scaffolding was taken down, and Jewish studies finally crawled out of the cave and introduced (insignificant) changes to its requirements. Some promises were abandoned: student elected officials reneged on their promises, AIPAC vowed to chuck Chuck Hagel, solemn officials promised gun reform, and the CJF vowed—but was unable to deliver—world peace and unity (maybe next year).

This year everyone promised change and, well, maybe some things did change. The curriculum changed, the Knesset changed, and, after the latest Cardozo event, so did President Joel’s hair color.

Other changes were less conspicuous. Backdoor leadership changes accompanied by fluffy front door press releases kept hitting our mailboxes faster than IT could shut them down for temporary outages. The women got a Yom Ha’atzmaut Chagigah, RIETS got a chassid, and The Associate became the Sy Syms Bissness Review (sic).

So many promises, so much change. Did anything good result?

To answer that question we’ll need to take a thoughtful look back on this past academic year. So pull up a chair, and get ready for YU’s first year in review.

Speaking of chairs, in…

September

…before the tushies of YU students hit their seats in September, Clint Eastwood was

already speaking to empty chairs at Tampa’s Republican National Convention. The previous evening, YU’s own Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik conferred a hurried yet “apolitical” blessing on the Republican hopefuls, who hoped to change their image from a party of rich WASPs to the party of rich, white Jews. After concluding, Soloveichik rushed back to his hotel room to catch the latest Simpsons episode, which, he insisted, was created “by You, our Creator; not by mortal man”.

Soloveichik wasn’t the only one watching lots of Television in September. Three weeks of class before a three-week break meant few assignments and thus plenty of time to catch up on all the shows missed while, er, on break.

President Joel gave the first “State of the University Address” at which he unveiled the iPhone 5, noting that it is “wifi ennobled and Bluetooth enabled.” He also praised the amazing strides taken in this new shalem device: noise-censoring functions, rounder corners, flashier screens and more touchy-feely modes to fit all manner of interested donor.

A week later, the Democrats filed into Charlotte to celebrate President Obama’s vast accomplishment over his last four years, noting that he had killed, eradicated, eliminated, removed, and otherwise disposed of Osama bin Laden. Also they killed Osama bin Laden, did we mention that? The failures of his administration were of course inherited from George Bush, caused by Republicans, or both.

Back on campus, RIETS swiftly ordered photographers into the beis to record students before they scattered after break, never to show up again.

Across 185^th, the new curriculum broke ground with new departments in “Contemporary World Choreographers” and “Distance Over Time”; with course offerings in “Homeopathy,” “Creating the Steak” and “Idea of Smelf: Old Spice and New Worlds.” The liberal-arts course-offerings were immediately criticized in The Commentator for not teaching essential vocational skills such as house painting, carpentry, and auto mechanics.

Speaking of vocational colleges, in…

October

….Centre College hosts the first and only VP debate.  Deep in heartland Kentucky, Vice President “Malarkey” squared off with P90X spokesperson Paul Ryan on “47 percent” of hot button issues. They are fortunately interrupted by a Russian Punk band before the hardworking Janesville native could succumb to the VP’s infectious smirk. The band was later released after newscasters around the globe pleaded with the authorities to never have to say their name on air again.

Other televised videos hit campus that October. YU News, later named Scheiner News, makes a splash by reading off studs you just deleted while displaying grainy pictures of campus buildings. Scheiner News competes with YU Reads, a video series of YU students reading off the list of course offerings and cracking corny jokes.

After much hype, Gilad Shalit was honored to present Rabbi Kenneth Brander to talk with the student body about his vast array accomplishments across the Jewish world. Shalit later apologized for Rabbi Brander’s shyness and thanked the student body for their “amazing show of support and appreciation towards Rabbi Brander and all his important undertakings,” despite not winning this year’s Nobel Prize, which went to the European Union.

While Rabbi Brander relished in the limelight, three YU employees—or MTA freshman (we aren’t sure which one)—wrote a scathing critique of President Joel’s “ridonculous” salary, the caf’s unbalanced diet, incest, the tuition crisis, and, worst of all, shiur assistants. After drawing attention to the most pressing problems facing the university since its inception in 1928, President Joel responds by not responding to “that malarkey.” The Commentator responds by writing its first nice article since 1997.

However, the largest event of that month—indeed the entire semester—was certainly Sandy.

As she barreled down the East Coast, IT (predictably) shut down servers, but not quick enough to stop Dean Eichler from sending out his now infamous stud “IT’S A GREAT TIME TO CATCH UP ON ALL OF YOUR OUTSTANDING READINGS AND WORK – AS WELL AS YOUR SLEEP [smiley face]!  TRY TO USE THE FREE TIME WISELY!! (sic).” A day later, the women of Stern College arrived uptown just as Roshei Yeshiva began collecting two of every animal.

Fortunately, the only damage to campus was blowouts in Belfer and Furst Halls caused by a volatile mix of rain, high winds, and gays. IT soon restored the internet but forgot to plug in a cable marked “Rubin,” causing anxious FTOCs to call FEMA. FEMA responded months later by setting up temporary routers and chastising students for “going on certain websites I don’t even want to know about…”

President Joel interrupted FEMA at the town hall meeting, where he promised to set up a committee to investigate halachik problems in the BMP beis after a student realizes that the CJF worked above the ark and, “everyone knows all they do is help goyim.”

Another student asked about a new task force called Jewish Observation of Key Elements (JOKE), organized to investigate whether Torah U’Madda could be integrated within the college without causing widespread depression, insomnia, social anxiety disorders, loss of libido, or other common side effects within the student body. “The task force will convene at least twice a century,” President Joel assured the concerned student.

Speaking of assurances, in…

November

…President Barack Obama, now back in office despite retired Jews in Florida, promised concerned citizens that the U.S. would not drive off the fiscal cliff. Obama later admitted he has “no idea” what a fiscal cliff was, why it was dangerous, and what he could do about it. Aids in the White House say Obama was relying on the Mayan calendar to end the world before Congress did. To prove there are institutions worse than Congress, the NHL announced the lockout would continue.

Thankfully, Gangnam Style hit YouTube, distracting the world through “sexy ladies,” imaginary rodeos, and catchy Korean dance moves. Obama fled to Burma—an obviously important ally, Congress disbanded for some holiday, and everyone forgot about the looming storm.

The Observer published its first “mini-skirt observer” which “looks pretty good and feels pretty good” according to a student. Meanwhile, Kol Hamevaser wrote an article with 1,200 footnotes, and TEIQU invited a slightly-to-the-left YU Musmakh.

Speaking of leftists, the United Nations approves Palestine as a non-member state meaning, well, absolutely nothing. The YU student body responded by convening a rally at Times Square, confusing Scandinavian tourists. Palestinians responded by showering Israel with rockets. “We really thought they were fireworks,” said a spokesperson for the al-Qassam Jihadist Brigades. “We are totally sorry about the confusion.” As an apology, the Jihadists sent over more rockets.

On the other side of the Middle East, Iran launched what looked to the intelligence community like an intercontinental ballistic missile but was actually “for peaceful, civilian purposes.” Not to be outdone, North Korea soon launched its own rocket for “agrarian purposes.”

Back on campus, YC junior Michael Strassenberger joined the Yiddish Club for his 347th slice of Pizza since September. “Eich Liben Pizza,” he said after the event.

Meanwhile, General David Betray-us falls in love with his biographer. Hoping to start a new chapter in his life, the disgraced CIA director is hired as the head of a Florida Jewish high school. Another journalistic scandal hits home in…

December

…when President Joel promised the student body that he would investigate The Forward for covering up “journalistic abuses” leading up to an article that showed him to be making more than any other Jewish leader in the world. Students were reassured that, although the investigation would be lead by a YU-hired team, the results would “speak for themselves.”

Across the Atlantic, another president wished he could silence the opposition. Mohammed Morsi granted himself unlimited powers to “protect” his people from the unjust justice system, the undemocratic legislative system and the unfair press.

Speaking of the press, The Commentator covered student elections, which prompted outrage from students who hoped the newspaper would “just write heavy metal band reviews.”

In a slight misunderstanding, YUConnects hosted its twice-annual “Night for Men” prompting outrage from Roshei Yeshiva who called the event “the next tolerance club” and promised a lockout.

Later that month, the annual Chanukah concert featuring America’s Got Talent star Edon filled Lamport Auditorium. That evening, sixteen SCW students were arrested for soliciting a minor. They now work in a Florida Jewish day school.

As the 5,125-year cycle of the YU Events Calendar came to a close, YU administrators prepare for the impending global catastrophe by sending CJF volunteers to Mayan villages to build libraries and fishponds. While there, students learned that, just like YU’s Events Calendar, the Mayan Calendar was deeply flawed.

As New Yorkers gather in Times Square to say farewell to 2012, a crowd of 200 YU students made a big circle, whip out guitars, and broke into a slow shirah, further confusing Scandinavian tourists. However, YU’s finals only ended a week into…

January

…when half the student body showed up on Ben Yehuda and the other half traveled to Uzbeki-beki-stan-stan with the CJF.

After binging on “Downton Abbey,” “The Walking Dead” and reruns of “Arrested Development,” students returned to YU ready to take on 9 straight weeks of classes—or not—since the lockout ended and NHL resumed. Women at Stern were unfortunately unable to watch anything, as the English department banned electricity in favor of quill pens and papyrus.

Meanwhile, the weather—more erratic than wifi in Rubin—measured 62 in New York, 25 in Phoenix, and hotter-than-the-face-of-the-sun in Australia, obviously demonstrating Global Warming to be a liberal hoax.

Speaking of liberals, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party jumped in the polls and landed 19 seats in the Knesset, one of which went to future YU honorary doctorate recipient and ESPN addict Dov Lipman—proving that years spent as a counselor at Jewish sleep-away camps might actually get you somewhere in life. Not wanting to appear irrelevant, hawkish Jews campaigned to defame and discredit Chuck Hagel, ironically proving Hagel right when he said that the Israel lobby wielded a bit too much power.

On MLK day, President Obama is inaugurated—without error—for a second term. The festivities included lip-syncing by Beyoncé, smiling by Joe Biden, and a shoutout to Morgan Freeman. President Obama was the first president to say the word “gay” in his inauguration speech, which triggered a hailstorm over Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Speaking of storms, The Beacon failed to infuriate the student body for over six months. One student asked the editor how he “could begin to explain this.” The editor’s response: “just get over it already.” In relevant newspaper news, The Observer published an article about a skirt-wearing feminist, who, we are told, “looks good and feels good” despite being wildly estranged from Torah.

In an effort to bring students back to Torah, RIETS hired a few Chabbad chassidim who began a night seder on the famous seforim “Find Love!” “Be Happy!”  and “Marriage Now!” before Dean Berger threatened to resign. In response, a RIETS official said “you can’t go wrong by moving Right.”

Speaking of Seforim, in…

February

…the annual Seforim sale attracted a swarm of students looking to be happy, find love and get married now. Despite calls from The Observer to ban The Magic Touch, the Seforim sale went on without a hitch.

Other schemes encountered problems. The CJF planed a covert operation to black out the New Orleans Superdome during the Superbowl in time for Beyonce’s Halftime show, hoping for more views of its “inspiring presentations” of “Torah and sports” with Charlie Harrari and Rabbi Brander. Unfortunately, miscommunication about timing spun the plan out of control.

Speaking of out of control, curmudgeony newspapermen sporting monocles and shouting at students to “get off my lawn” interrupted the proceedings of YU’s annual Model UN (YUNMUN). In response, high school students were forced to record the inappropriate behavior in YUNMUN’s daily newspaper The Gazebo. In solidarity with the high school students, UN’s Secretary Ban Ki-moon sent a strongly worded letter to the editors of The Commentator urging them to “think of the children.”

In other United Nations news, North Korean’s “South Park” lookalike Kim Jong-un and Iranian human rights activist Muhammad Ahmadinejad stop their nuclear weapons program after reading a strongly worded letter sent by members of the Security Council.

Back on campus, RIETS Dean Benedict XVI announced his resignation to a crowd of devoted followers on the 185^th street plaza. He cited the ailing health of internet filters as his reason for stepping down to pursue scholarship.  Meanwhile, another RIETS Dean unfortunately forgot about filters.

YC junior Michael Strassenberger joins the Toastmaster’s Club for his 733rd slice of Pizza since September. “Pizza is delicious, nutritious—and I am cheap,” he remarked in an eloquent speech during the event.

In Washington, major Republican lawmakers and officials backed a legal brief supporting same-sex marriage, causing a massive snowstorm that inundated New York City with nine inches of snow. Other lawmakers came to YU in…

March

…when Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, former President of Bolivia, visited the Latin American Business Club. Despite questionable human rights practices, his pro-Israel stance got him past the censorship committee, which does or doesn’t still exist, depending on the event.

In Israel, Kotel officials arrested a prepubescent boy for “praying loudly and sounding like a girl.” A day later, Kotel police throw out President Obama for wearing his paper Kippa slightly off-center. Unable to mend ties between the Ultra-Orthodox and the rest of world Jewry, Obama instead reconciled Israel and Turkey after a romantic night out on the Mediterranean turned ugly two years ago.

After a $75 billion search, scientists in Geneva’s CERN laboratory finally found Waldo. In celebration, the entire European Union was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics.

Leading up to the Sarachek Basketball Tournament, RIETS unveiled RosenSwag, a new line of casual wear “for the homo religiosis.” Button down shirts with tag lines for men read “I’m a gavra” while the women’s line of baseball seminary shirts read “Seriously, I’m not a cheftza.” Not to be outdone, the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot puts out its own line of T-shirt reading “Friends Don’t Let Friends Wear T-Shirts About Prenups.”

Days later, staff of The Commentator was told that high school students, dressed in “colorful shirts,” “cheering loudly,” and “having fun,” were inundating YU’s uptown gym for the Sarachek tournament. An investigation and subsequent article caused one student to demand the article’s rescission at a town hall meeting. In defending The Commentator, President Joel noted how much he enjoyed the newspaper’s heavy metal band reviews.

In other YU news, Psy’s Gangnam shiur reached 1 billion views on YU Torah, College Edge took pictures with underprivileged students, RIETS elected its 8th pontiff (Dean Innocent the VI), YCDS built a boat, and YU sold Brookdale residence hall to fund additional rebbeim for IBC. Downtown, a high-up CJF official banned employees from hearing about the Rav’s views on women’s Torah leadership, noting that his “dangerous views” might “inspire women to take a more active role in Orthodox life—chas veshalom.”

Speaking of active Orthodox Jews, in…

April

…YUPAC made its annual trip to Washington, which, surprisingly, actually resulted in Hamas undercover militant Chuck Hagel travelling to Israel three weeks later handing out cash to everyone he met. After giving his last $100 of his original $10 Billion, to a Chabbad Kollel, Hagel returned to the U.S. to shnorr at the White House for said Kollel.

Speaking of Israel, students at this year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations were disappointed that this year’s ceremony did not feature a real-time translation of the evening’s Hebrew speech. A student said, “I felt so lost this year without the really helpful translations. Last year I totally understood the whole speech.”

Undeterred, students enjoyed the rest of the day’s festivities, which included windsurfing in Tenzer gardens, putt-putt on Segways, and a couple’s photo booth sponsored by YUConnects.

In an email sent at the end of the day, President Joel thanked the organizers for the “outstanding success of this year’s celebrations” and also apologized for “all those awkward moments where you were forced to say hello to people that dumped you.” The President promised “greater gender separation next year to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future.”

Meanwhile, Kol Hamevaser published an outrageously popular article “Shut Down the YC Art Department.” Unbeknownst to the author, however, the department had been shut down years before due to budget problems.

Speaking of budget problems, YU facilities finally harvested the marijuana planted on the 185^th plaza following orders from the President to “fill budget gaps any way possible.” The marijuana is later used to help fuel YU’s literary journal.

Sy Syms hosted its annual dinner, giving out awards to every student in attendance in an effort to boost its students’ resumes. In a similar effort to boost student employability, the Career Center ran a program on “how to shake hands.”

Speaking of resumes, the student election cycle began, with Student Life canvassing campus in search of students to run for many open spots. After being promised pizza at meetings, YC junior Michael Strassenberger is convinced to run for YSU President. Elections are held in…

May

…when a field of new candidates cropped up after elections are postponed. The YC Supreme Court is outraged, the Chief Justice telling The Commentator, “wait we had a Supreme Court?” In other newspaper news, a Commentator investigation ousted Herschel Keter (YU ‘48) for squatting in Muss Hall for twenty years.

After a successful first season, MTV launched the second season of “Da Heights.” The reality show profiles the lives of five Roshei Yeshiva as they navigate “the bass and the beis” of “the last real neighborhood of Manhattan.” MYP students continue to follow the show religiously and appreciate that it “airs at 10 pm, right after night seder.” “Da Heights” vied with Rabbi Carmy’s “Philosopher Cop” for Nielson ratings in the highly competitive “18-24 year old Yeshiva students” category.

As courses wound down, the senior class headed out to its annual black-tie dinner-on-a-boat, this year featuring glow-in-the-dark dodge-ball. “In retrospect, it was a bad combination,” said the senior class president, in reaction to the loss of 23 glow sticks, 11 dodge-balls, and 3 undergraduates to the Hudson River. President Joel promised an investigation.

Meanwhile, Stern College student government hopefuls produced grainy YouTube videos of themselves hugging security guards, dancing down Lexington, and promising to “totally improve everything.” For the first time, YC students beg IT to shut down the internet.

In other news, YC hired dictator Kim Jong-un to proctor final exams and former President Jimmy Carter was invited to graduation to receive the coveted “scandal of the year” award. Students vowed to protest.

As the year concluded, we return to our original inquiry. This year was full of promises and full of change. Did anything good result? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. Let’s just hope that next year promises fewer embarrassments, scarcer scandals, richer donors, stronger filters, happier students, and, of course, more free pizza.

Just a reminder, this was a joke.

“We’ve really had enough,” said a member of the faculty council, a university-wide governance board. Like all those interviewed for this article, this professor wished to remain anonymous. “We kept our side of the bargain—to roll out the new curriculum, to continue researching, and to continue teaching,“ he said.  “Now it’s time the administration kept its side of the bargain.”

A source within the faculty conveyed the general sentiment among the majority of faculty members: “We are demoralized and we feel uncared for by the President and the Board of Trustees.” Other faculty members interviewed for this article echoed this feeling saying, “morale at this university is at an all-time low.” Another part-time faculty member said she and other lecturers in her department “feel under-valued and exploited.”

Faculty members insist that it was not simply morale at stake. They claim the capacity of professors to continue pouring in energy into teaching and research has been seriously compromised. In a letter to the President and Board of Trustees, the faculty also claimed that YU has accrued a damaged reputation and therefore become “less and less competitive with its peer institutions.”

It’s Not a Freeze, It’s a Cut

In February of 2009, President Richard Joel announced drastic cuts across the university to help reduce the university’s annual budget by $30 million. He announced the laying-off of 60 employees, along with drastic cuts to non-personnel expenses. He announced a hiring and pay freeze for university faculty. Finally, the president announced a reduction in the matching contribution that the university would make to faculty pensions, cutting the maximum from seven percent to two percent.

“Faculty benefits—in this case, in the form of reduction in our retirement funds—are always the first things to be jettisoned,” a veteran faculty member told The Commentator in an interview. “It doesn’t sound like a pay cut, but the rise of inflation and a reduction in pension-matching means most of us are earning 10 percent less than we did four years ago.”

Adjusted to the rate of inflation, the total loss of income for YU faculty due to the freeze amounts to at least 8.4 percent over four years. Workplaces automatically adjust for the rate of inflation by slowly increasing salaries year-by-year. According to recent findings by NBC News, the average median pay raise in 2012 was 2.8 percent. During the height of the recession, the national median hovered around two percent.

According to the American Association of University Professors, the average raise across American universities last year was 1.8 percent, or the approximate rate of inflation. At private universities, the raise amounted to 2.3 percent, or just above inflation; full-time professors earned raises of 3 percent. At Yeshiva University, the raise was zero percent.

Despite its neutral sounding name, a freeze does not adjust to the rate of inflation and thus essentially means a reduction in pay every year. While virtually every university in the country implemented pay freezes during the height of the recession, a large majority have lifted their freezes. Yeshiva University, however, continues to “balance the budget on the backs of faculty,” said more than a few full-time professors.

President Joel’s salary, however, did not freeze. According to 990 tax forms available online, the President earned $732,143 in base compensation in 2009 (this number does not include “other compensation,” “deferred compensation,” and “nontaxable benefits”). In 2010, he earned $848,176, and in 2011, he earned $879,821. According to The Journal of Higher Education, he was among the top twenty highest earning university officials in the nation.

The income disparity between top administrators and faculty is not limited to the office of the President. In 2011, Daniel Forman, Vice President for Development, earned over $800,000 in salary and benefits. Provost Lowengrub earned over $450,00 and Chancellor Lamm earned over $500,000 in total compensation. The highest paid employee of Yeshiva University was Allen Spiegel, Dean of Einstein. He earned over $1.2 million dollars in 2011.

Capping Retirement Benefits

Before 2009, the university would match faculty contributions up to a maximum of seven percent. After the recession, President Joel announced a sweeping reduction in the university’s maximum contribution, capping the matching funds at just two percent.

A self-study report conducted by faculty for the Middle States Commission emphasized that the five percent cut in compensation “must be considered in combination with the effective loss of 8.4% in the value of faculty salaries due to inflation over the past 4 years.” In essence, “faculty compensation has now fallen approximately 13.4% in comparison with what it was four years ago.”

As with all accredited American universities, Yeshiva University matches contributions to pension funds for professors. Unlike schools in the tri-state area, however, YU’s contributions to faculty retirement plans are “ludicrously behind other universities,” as one tenured professor declared.

At New York University, five percent of a faculty member’s salary is automatically set-aside for retirement, while the university matches voluntary contributions, up to five percent.  At Columbia University, tenured faculty are matched anywhere from 5 to 12.5 percent maximum with other benefits. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, will match faculty members up to 20 percent.

For YU faculty nearing retirement, YU’s reduction in pension-matching has cost them tens of thousands of dollars in lost retirement funds. Money that could have been saved and then doubled by YU in preparation for retirement instead went unmatched for four years. Some estimate their effective losses between 2009 and 2011 amount to a 13 percent reduction in pay every year.

A statistically significant survey of faculty members in 2012 revealed that as a result of the recession and retirement cuts, faculty have delayed retirement by an average of 1.5 years. For some academics, however, that number is in fact much higher. Indeed, a number of professors continue to teach because they simply can’t afford to retire. According to one remark by a professor, the cuts are “making it more and more likely that I’ll still be doddering down the hallways of Yeshiva University when I’m 90.”

“That’s a big problem,” said an associate professor involved in researching faculty retirement. “Faculty who we would frankly want to see retire are instead sticking around because they can’t afford not to.”

The Cost of Cuts

For untenured, tenure-track, and even tenured professors making ends meet in New York City, the cuts are both painful and disheartening. An anonymous survey sent out to Yeshiva College faculty by The Commentator revealed the full extent of the cuts on the lifestyles of faculty members. “Some days, I feel it’s irresponsible of me to keep pursuing this work even though I love it,” said one professor. “I have two children and though I have never been wealthy, I have never before lived as paycheck-to-paycheck as I now do, which can be incredibly demoralizing.”

Of the faculty members who completed the online survey, the overwhelming majority felt the stress of the lost income. Most mentioned curtailing travel plans, either for leisure or for scholarly conferences. Some mentioned the difficulty of affording the “skyrocketing cost” of living in the city. A few were concerned about meeting basic expenses.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Yeshiva University associate professors earn an average of $107,000, assistant professors earn $89,000, while instructors make around $63,000. A YU report to the Middle States commission, however, reported, “especially high salaries above $130,000 are disproportionately reflected in the average salary and perhaps give a misleading initial impression of faculty compensation.” Significantly higher salaries in the psychology and law school further skew the results. Lastly, Yeshiva University faculty, unlike those at Columbia or NYU, do not receive subsidized housing worth thousands of dollars a year.

“Students should know that there are faculty standing before them who are deeply worried about how to make ends meet for their families,” read one comment. Another professor divulged, “After groceries, paying rent, electric, internet service provider, and phone, I am left with about $100 for clothing, dry cleaning, haircuts, and leisure activities for the month. That’s not much when you live in NYC.”

While older faculty deliberate on later retirement, a number of younger faculty members are considering—and some have even begun—secondary jobs. “I have been forced to take a part time second job,” admitted one faculty member.  A noticeable minority of respondents mentioned taking on freelance writing to make ends meet.

Lifestyle changes have forced some faculty members to compromise on their academic pursuits. “My scholarship has definitely suffered because I cannot afford more childcare,” said a faculty member. “I put much less energy into my teaching and try to focus more on my research and my publications,” said one responder to The Commentator’s survey. “More publications mean I will have a better chance [of] finding a job in a different university.”

Indeed, severe salary cuts have caused a vocal minority at Yeshiva to consider seeking employment elsewhere. Ten percent of faculty surveyed would consider quitting their posts if the May 20^th meeting with the President and the Board of Trustees does not result in a significant raise. According to sources within the faculty, a number of professors have already left since the cuts began, seeking higher salaries and more secure appointments elsewhere.

“If we want to keep the university competitive we need to keep salaries competitive,” said one long-time faculty member. “We want to keep attracting the best educators and researchers, and you can’t do that when salaries and job security are on the line.”

“Many junior faculty are looking for other jobs,” a university insider revealed in the survey. “If the University continues in this vein, it will lose all its young talent.” Responding to the survey, one faculty member said, “I am simply not going to be able to ‘afford’ working for YC a lot longer.” “I love my work, and I love being at YU,” said an employee of YU, “However, if an appropriate position comes up elsewhere, it would be irresponsible for me not to consider it.”

Despite Cuts, An Unwavering Commitment to Students

One recurring theme in the survey was the unwavering commitment of YC’s professors to their students: “I feel strongly that students should not suffer”; “students will always be my priority”; “It is morally out of the question to do anything that will harm students.” In the faculty survey, no faculty member even considered withholding letters of recommendations if the administration did not responds with pay raises. Only two professors considered withholding grades.

The firm promise to ensure student success has placed many faculty members in a bind. Boycotting graduation, withholding letters of recommendation, abstaining from organizing extra-curricular activities, and withholding grades are a common protest tactic used by exasperated university employees. At YC, however, the faculty body has overwhelmingly sided against anything that would hurt students.  When asked in face-to-face interviews if they would boycott graduation, most answered in the negative. When asked if they would withhold grades, many recoiled.

The majority of faculty members have instead chosen a more direct route to the President and the Board of Trustees. In a May 2012 letter signed by over twenty key professors of YU’s Faculty Council—including YC’s Carl Feit, Gabriel Cwilich, Paula Geyh, Joanne Jacobson, and William Stenhouse—faculty protested the “breach of trust” between the faculty and upper-level administration. The cuts, the letter claimed, would “extend far beyond faculty morale.” It pointed to “rapidly deteriorating” academic departments and programs, “dwindling” course offerings, “rising” faculty-to-student ratios, and a greater reliance on adjunct faculty. The reductions, they insisted, would “take another generation” to recover. The Board of Trustees did not respond to the faculty letter.

On Monday, 23 heads of departments and important professors at both Yeshiva College and Stern College for Women shunned an evening reception at the home of President Richard Joel in complaint of the salary freezes. To avoid a potentially uncomfortable situation, the Office of the President cancelled the event only hours before it was scheduled to take place.

What Would it Take?

According to sources within the administration, talk of a one percent pay raise has been circulating amongst the Board of Trustees and trickled down to the ears of faculty members. “1% would be insulting,” insisted a long-serving full professor in reaction to the rumors. “After years of taking a 10% cut in salary, 1% wouldn’t even equal the rate of inflation.” Indeed, a one percent “raise” would actually mean a .7 percent cut per year.

According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to stay solvent above the rate of inflation, YU would have to raise salaries by at least 1.8 percent. However, to solve the salary impasse, stay competitive, and reestablish trust, YU faculty demanded an average of 3 to 4.4 percent raise, an increase in the cap for the voluntary matching retirement funds from 2 percent to 4 percent, and a long-term, transparent compensation plan.

If the May 20^th meeting of the President and Board of Trustees does not result in pay increases, some tenured members of the faculty have pledged to publically air grievances in area newspapers. “Making our grievances public to the general public is a last resort,” said one member of the faculty, “but because we have seen no progress in more private communication, we feel we do not have much of a choice.”

Though election season brought in next year’s student leaders, this year’s counsel’s are going out with a bang. This past Shabbat, SOY-JSC and TAC teamed up to organize the year’s largest shabbaton bringing 80 men to the Bedford hotel and more taggers-on at Shabbat programming. Speaker Rabbi Ozer Glickman was unable to attend due to the unfortunate passing of his sister (B”DH), and all learning—lead by Nechama Price—was dedicated to her memory. The student governments added Lag Ba’omer programming to their agenda this year, bringing students to Tenzer Garden in a festive mood with pizza, fries, and ice cream. Other impressive year-end events have included a Yankees game attended by 100 students and an exclusive premiere of the highly anticipated movie remake of Yehuda Avner’s political memoir, The Prime Ministers.

Senior Dinner: We’re On a Boat

On Tuesday, May 7, the senior class celebrated its imminent graduation with a ride on a New York City yacht past the famous skyline and our city’s lovely Lady Liberty. More than 200 students enjoyed the Mendy’s catered event with sartorial flare, sporting formal attire and WASP-y attitudes to boot. After a magician barely contained the crowd’s growing anxiety from, the ship returned to dock and another class of YU graduates took their final school-bus ride back to their respective campuses. Congratulations to Senior Class Presidents David “Diesel” Muller and Atara Burian on a job well done, and to Vice President Brian Goodman on his election as next year’s Senior Class President as well!

YCDS Awards Ceremony Recognizes Winners, Graduates

On Wednesday night, May 8, a group about 50 strong congregated at the Schottenstein Theater for the 48^th annual awards ceremony and reception. Notable among this year’s winners were Tani Isaac (Best Actor, 12 Angry Men) and Doni Mandell (Best Actor, Mister Roberts), both graduating seniors whose outstanding performances the society will certainly miss. Moshe Wigder and Benjamin Weinreich also took home metal, receiving Best Supporting Actor for their roles in 12 Angry Men and Mister Roberts, respectively, while Chief of Set Netanel Shafier received the coveted Krug Award recognizing an “excellent and definitive contribution” to the society on the technical side of the theater. Director Lin Snider wished well to several graduating members, while several others were inducted into the national dramatics society, Alpha Psi Omega.

YU Journal of Fine Arts Goes to Print

According to inside sources, the YU Journal of Fine Arts—also known as Something Rich and Strange or, more colloquially, as the Litmag—has gone to press and will soon be available to the student body and faculty for their reading pleasure. The JFA is an undergraduate journal of creative writing and visual art edited by students and composed entirely of student contributions. The Journal is published annually with the support of the Yeshiva and Stern College Dean’s Offices. Look out for copies of this year’s journal at local YU newsstands in the coming weeks!

Commentator Staff Turning Over, Gavriel Brown Named Editor-in-Chief

As the academic year comes to a close, the 77^th year of The Commentator comes to an end as well. With the new year will come some continuing staff, some internal shuffling, and some as always, new writers, editors, graphic designers, web designers, business managers and other assorted positions. The Commentator is glad to announce that Gavriel Brown will be leading this newspaper as Editor-in-Chief in the coming year. Gavriel began as a writer, moved up to become Features Editor and then News Editor, and has written many long, diverse, and important articles in The Commentator and other student publications. Mr. Brown was also recently awarded first prize in the 2013 Eli Wiesel Prize for Ethics Essay contest. Enthusiastic students looking to get involved with The Commie should contact Gavriel or any member of the staff for more information about getting involved in the best extra-curricular on campus.

For Bible, the previous guidelines dictated that each student fulfill four Bible requirements – one Introduction to Bible class, two “text-based” courses (Nevi’im Acharonim/ Ketubim), and one other Bible course, often “theme-based.” The updated guidelines also require each student to complete four Bible courses; however, instead of two “text-based” courses, students are only required to take one. For the last two courses, students can now take a “theme-based” Bible course, a Jewish philosophy course, or another “text-based” course.

For Jewish History, the previous guidelines required each student to fulfill two Jewish History surveys from different time periods. Though students must still fulfill two Jewish History courses under the new system, only one of those courses must be a survey while the second can be completed with any Jewish History course, survey or not.

According to Rabbi Akiva Koenigsberg, Associate Registrar, the changes were implemented due to student complaints that the old requirements were too restrictive. “Students wanted to be able to take other courses in these departments, and were unable to under the old system. The new one is much less restrictive.”

Three years and three SAAC presidents later, the system is still offline.

Plagued by “security concerns” and a slow-to-act bureaucracy, the plan has fallen by the wayside and out of the discerning eye of the student body. Josh Zimmerman (YC ’12) former President of SAAC, told The Commentator: “I think the ball’s been dropped… I’m not really sure where it’s headed now.”

According to Mr. Zimmerman, the faculty was always on board with the project. A faculty committee consisting of professors Gillian Steinberg, Ariel Malka, Shalom Holz and Paula Geyh ensured that guidelines were in place to allay faculty concerns. Citing worries over professor reputation and tenure tracking, the committee demanded that the site remain inaccessible to members of the administration. The committee also required that access be available to professors in viewing their own pages, ensuring a level of professionalism.

By June 2011, SAAC and the faculty committee were prepared to launch the site. However, the project remains unfinished.

Many involved point to the university’s ITS department as the source of the project’s stalling. According to Weinberg’s article, the evaluations would have been available for current students using their Banner User ID and password to gain entry to the site. However, this would give SAAC—a student organization—access to the larger, secured YU network.

According to Yoni Teitz (YC ’12), former Webmaster for the proposed site, these security concerns proved to be too much for ITS and the project was stalled indefinitely. “It could have been online and ready in 5 minutes if ITS would have given us the go-ahead,” said Mr. Teitz. “They were very unhelpful.”

Mr. Zimmerman noted that ITS was hard at work in updating the entire Banner network when SAAC approached ITS with the proposal. However, Mr. Zimmerman also said that “ITS never really took SAAC seriously. I don’t think they ever understood that we represent the entire student body.”

Dr. John Savage, current Director of Academic Technology spoke to The Commentator on behalf of ITS. Although Dr. Savage was not part of ITS when SAAC first proposed the project, Dr. Savage said that he sees no reason why the project would have been delayed initially. “I can’t imagine ITS would have any objection to it. Many universities have similar programs.”

In addressing the specific issues relating to Banner raised by SAAC members, Dr. Savage told The Commentator, “Access to Banner is really under the registrar’s jurisdiction… Moving forward, though, ITS would be more than happy to help any way we can.”

Mr. Zimmerman also pointed to problems within SAAC itself. One unnamed student that the SAAC board had tasked with designing the website proved uncooperative and unreliable. “It got to the point where I had to use my friend’s phone to call him, because he wouldn’t answer my calls.”

While the written SAAC evaluations were not given out at the end of this semester, the current SAAC board has high hopes that the project will be implemented shortly. Daniel Atwood (YC ’14), current VP of SAAC told The Commentator about the future of the project. “SAAC will continue to work on setting up the course evaluation site next year. We need to be sure that the site is only accessible to current YU students, so it will need to be integrated into some sort of log in system.”

The winners of the elections were first released by The Commentator and then distributed in a ystud as well by Canvassing Committee Chairman Tzvi Solomon. Most noteworthy were the presidential victors: Menachem Goldstein for YSU, Adam Zimilover for YCSA, Jesse Nathanson for SSSBSC, and Isaac Attia for SOY. Also remarkable were the two write-in candidates, Alan Avitan and David Bodner, who took the positions of YSU Treasurer and Senior Class Secretary, respectively.

Mr. Solomon was satisfied with the election process, particularly in light of the decision his committee made in the past weeks. “Postponing the elections awakened several passionate students to declare their candidacy and ultimately enter into student council races, he said. “The Canvassing Committee is thankful for the outpouring support that we received from the student body, student councils, and the Office of Student Life.”

Wilf Campus Director of Student Life Hezzy Jesin was similarly pleased, saying “The student leaders and the Canvassing Committee quickly recognized an issue that would have had a serious impact on the student body” and that “because of the way they handled the situation, even those that stood to lose the most from extending the deadline (the candidates who were running unopposed) not only took no issue with the decision, but even publicly supported it. This was an example of great student leadership.”

Incoming SOY-JSC President Isaac Attia echoed that feeling too. “It’s a real honor and privilege to represent the student body,” he said. “It’s a much more gratifying and heartwarming win because I had to fight for it. Knowing that it wasn’t just handed to me but and that I earned it and that I have the support of the student body, makes it that much more enjoyable and gratifying.”

SYMS President Jesse Nathanson expressed his feelings about being reelected this year, which may be a first for his position. “I truly feel honored to be able to be involved with Student Government for another year. I think it takes a lot of time to get adjusted into the President position so I think it is positive that I know what to expect and hope to hit the ground running and waste no time transitioning into the job.”

The new class of student leaders will make for an interesting year. While Mr. Nathanson and Mr. Zimilover bring extensive experience to their school-wide boards and Mr. Goodman to his class representation, no other victors have experience in student government and some with little club leadership as well. But the outgoing student leaders do not seem worried.

“I do not think “experience” is the most important factor on the student boards because of the turnover that happens on the campus most years,” SOY-JSC President Gabi Weinberg noted. I do hope that this year’s boards can have ample meeting time with the elected leaders to pass the baton effectively. I think learning from the past year’s mistakes is the best thing that we can give to the coming boards and I think we are both equipped and ready to share that advice.”

Hoffman sounded a different note, suggesting that the experienced leaders would make up for any issues in other positions. “The lack of experience is somewhat of a disadvantage,” he said, “but I think Jesse and Adam, two very strong, involved student leaders, will be able to make up for the experience that the other presidents lack. Having a president in his second term will be especially beneficial, and Jesse will enable the councils to more easily continue where we left off.”

Adam Zimilover, outgoing VP and incoming President of YCSA who current president Adam Neuman claims is “constantly looking for ways to improve the Yeshiva College experience,” had the most positive outlook on the matter. “I’m very excited to have the opportunity to work with other members of student council to improve upon what we did this year and to implement new ideas to better student life on campus,” he said. “Most members of the student government are new to the councils and I’m looking forward to hearing the fresh perspective that they will bring to the table.”

One classic justification for going to college—which I assume is quite prevalent at Yeshiva University—is the citing of employment opportunities that such an experience will likely result in. Many higher-paying jobs, for example, require a college degree in order to indicate a baseline level of competence.[1] Thus, the financial loss incurred by tuition fees is offset by the potential for future profits, and can easily be viewed as a worthwhile and necessary investment. It’s worth noting, however, that sociological patterns are far from static in the technological age. Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, and Steve Jobs have proven that a creative idea, and prodigious coding or entrepreneurship abilities, can be more lucrative—albeit riskier—than pursuing a standard “professional” career. Furthermore, as the MOOCs phenomenon becomes more widespread, internet degrees might begin to gain the same value as more traditional degrees. After all, if a job candidate can pass a test, and display the necessary proficiency, why should it matter how he or she came upon such knowledge or abilities?

The answer to such a question, I believe, is predicated on whether a traditional college education offers any advantages that an online education might not be able to match. And while enumerating such advantages may be tough for the average person, it has been a relatively simple task for those most intimately connected to the collegiate experience. One such person, literature Professor Andrew Delbanco of Columbia University, was the guest lecturer at the Schottenstein program’s Wednesday luncheon series on January 30, 2012. At the luncheon, he mentioned how he has been teaching the same course—which features the same novels— for years, yet his experience varies with each new semester; how despite the fact that he is the expert, he consistently manages to gain new and profound insights from his students. The potential for knowledge, he might argue, increases exponentially when interpersonal exchanges are an ingredient in the educational recipe. These interpersonal exchanges, which appear to lie at the core of education, are absent in online education ventures, preventing them from truly competing with a traditional college education.

Some might argue, however, that a humanities course is different from a traditional math or science course, in that it is subjective and open to endless dialectic. A course like calculus, on the other hand, would appear to be objective, with class discussions deemed less crucial to the educational experience. Nonetheless, I believe that the advantages of group education apply in the “objective” fields as well, manifesting in the form of group studying. Group studying is, simply put, a more effective means of studying than any attempted individual endeavor. There have been numerous studies that have determined this to be the case.[2] And naturally, it is a common practice on university campuses, where students can easily gather in order to study and learn together. Such experiences cannot, however, be easily matched in cyberspace.

The discussion of interpersonal learning experiences related to coursework, however, only offers a portion of what makes a college education so critical in preparing students for entry into the world at large. Perhaps the most crucial aspects of a college education are the experiences that lie outside the purview of classroom related experiences; Sedarim, events, clubs, newspapers, journals, student governments, service-learning missions, and general community-building, are all experiences that teach us how to work with others, how to understand others, how to respect others, and ultimately, how to understand and respect ourselves. In the truest sense, college is a time that enables us to discover our place in the world, a time when we can build up the moral and emotional tools necessary for real success, regardless of the path we might take.

Without programs like Toastmasters and Active Minds, we might feel alone with our individual quirks and anxieties. Without programs like the Medical Ethics Society and the Business Ethics Club, it would be all too easy to lose a grip on our values in the chaos of the outside world. Without weeknight Shiurim and special lectures, we could become too narrowly focused on the minutia of our regular Torah and secular studies, focusing on the tree, while missing out on the forest. And without programs like the CJF, Music Vs., and College Edge, we might make the mistake of focusing too heavily inwards, while neglecting those around us who are in need.

And thus, there is one thing that seems abundantly clear to me: without supplementary events, the college education is simply incomplete.

While amidst the bitterness Rabbi Broyde feels motivated to laud YU for the academic freedom it exemplifies, his rationale should remain secondary to a more important lesson. That lesson is to acknowledge that academic freedom by itself in no way safeguards against making poor decisions. Carter has an embarrassing track record regarding international conflict, and therefore his selection clashes with the prestige allegedly invested in the IAPA. Though any university group can function in its own name, it is easy to doubt whether these students were fully functional in their decision to bestow such an honor upon Carter.

Rather than working with regimes in conflict as an evenhanded advocate for peace, Carter is better characterized by his manipulation of any regime that he perceived would most likely put an end to a conflict. The sooner one party dominates (preferably Carter’s favorite), the sooner a conflict is ended. For example, Carter initially sought to placate the shah in Iran, assisting his regime’s hold over the country while it attempted to subdue a growing revolution. When the shah eventually fell, Carter shifted American support to Saddam Hussein’s aggressive Iraqi regime in the hopes of a swift, violent eradication of the new Iranian government. Carter thus became a catalyst of international conflict and turmoil.

“If I had done such a thing,” writes the late journalist Christopher Hitchens in one of his tirades on Carter’s foreign policy, “I would take very good care to be modest when discussions of Middle Eastern crises came up [...]. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that every administration since has had to deal with the chaotic legacy of Carter’s mind-boggling cowardice and incompetence.”[2]

Carter’s shortsighted and violent schemes extend beyond the Middle East, though. He played a critical role in undermining Russian forces in Afghanistan in this proxy battle during the Cold War. When the Russians finally withdrew, the Afghan rebels were left in a power vacuum.  Violently putting an end to a conflict, however, is a far cry from advocating for peace. Instead of advocating for peace, he abandoned the Afghans to rival regimes with fancy military equipment paid for by the U.S.

Additionally, Carter’s role in the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt fails to illustrate his ability to advocate for peace. This peace treaty (which is now unraveling before our very eyes) was inspired by Anwar Sadat’s shrewd observation that Israel was willing to make huge sacrifices simply for recognition by its neighbors. Menachem Begin and the Israeli public accepted the initiative with gratitude, even though the price for peace was Israel reducing its territory to less than half of what it had become after the Six Day War. Carter was simply a witness to this exchange. He was a fortuitous figurehead who provided the pomp and circumstance that traditionally surrounds international peace treaties. He was not a peace advocate.

Carter’s unimpressive track record as an international peace advocate can be amply illustrated without alluding to his bigoted and incriminating remarks about Israel. Still, because of these remarks, Carter has earned his infamous reputation among Israel supporters. His attempt to compare Israel to apartheid South Africa is not only categorically wrong, but was described by non-other than Richard Goldstone, a harsh critic of Israel, as “unfair and inaccurate slander,” and that such hate-mongering only serves to “retard rather than advance peace negotiations.” This obstacle to peace, exacerbated by Carter, is even more difficult to overcome in light of Carter’s inexplicable advocacy for Hamas, a terrorist organization that openly seeks Israel’s destruction.

The reputation for peacemaking that Carter has made for himself, which is gloriously documented on his website, are what his supporters might appeal to in defending his eligibility for the IAPA.  Even so, an honest defender bears three limitations in mind.  Firstly, Carter’s failures in office, when he had more responsibility, should offset his later initiatives.  That Carter lost his reelection in a landslide is testament to the severity of his incendiary approach to Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan.  Secondly, such well-meaning programs, like peace, economic, educational, and other public service initiatives are practically a banality for former presidents.  In Carter’s case, it is very easy to be idealistic when you have ideological philanthropists and a reputation to rebuild.  Lastly, his one sided approach with international conflict is being perpetuated today.  Carter’s stalwart support for Hamas and irresponsible trivialization of Iran’s nuclear ambitions link his failures as president with his incompetence as a former president.

Given Carter’s egregious involvement with the Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, and given his history of manipulation and incitement, it is easy to understand why there was an uproar of objections against the decision to honor him. What is more difficult to understand is why the Cardozo students chose to honor him with this particular award. The award these students chose simply does not befit the man. At the very least, there are other candidates who are arguably more deserving of the IAPA. A couple of explanations come to mind.

One explanation is about the nature of annual awards. An award which is expected to be given out on a timely basis can be more self-indulging for those who bestow the award than those who accept it. It is more of a promotional stunt than a serious recognition of someone’s accomplishments. This might also explain why there was a surprising absence of protestors at the actual award ceremony. Critics of Carter might have realized that there was no prestige to be had from this award and that there was, perhaps, something more productive they could be doing with their Wednesday afternoon. Yet, even assuming the award committee really had the best intentions, Carter’s latest failure was his inability to decline the IAPA from a group of ill-informed students.

Editors Note: This article is a modified version of an article that was originally published by CAMERA (The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America). The author was the same in both cases, and he gave The Commentator explicit permission to publish this version.

This trend presents a dangerous setup in which a larger and larger share of the electorate either does not vote or does so while completely misinformed about the issues at stake. The result is decreasing accountability on the part of our elected officials, especially when it comes to preserving the economic interests of the younger generation. For example, politicians might pause before continuing to saddle future American workers with historic levels of debt if those who will bear that burden would speak out. Students might not be so happy to hear that the generous entitlement programs their grandparents now enjoy may not exist in their current form when their own retirement comes. While college students feel passionately about social issues such as gay marriage, abortion, and gun control, these issues admittedly do not have the sweeping and profound impact on the everyday lives of most Americans. The fact that most students have seldom been exposed to the hassles of a byzantine tax structure does not help the cause.

Here at YU, I feel that awareness of foreign policy issues, especially those pertaining to Israel, is relatively high. Yet, for all of those not planning on moving to Israel, America’s fiscal and economic outlook is arguably just as critical for us to keep well-informed of. With 54% of recent college graduates either jobless or underemployed, the state of our economic recovery should be of paramount concern to all undergraduates planning on entering the workforce in the coming years. The single largest factor that can spur or impede economic growth is government policy. To be completely ignorant of the major fiscal issues of the day, from Obamacare to tax policy to sequestration and budget cuts, is simply imprudent. Even if politics on the whole seems dirty or just flat-out dull, each of us has a duty to both ourselves and our fellow citizens to at least acquire a minimal working knowledge of the field.

This is not to say that every student here at YU need become a political junkie who subscribes to multiple newspapers and watches C-SPAN religiously. More accurately, I am arguing for more political cognizance on the part of America’s youngest voters, those who will soon be joining the productive sector of the economy if they have not already done so. The laws our government passes, and those it chooses not to, have real-life ramifications for all Americans across all age-groups, even if for some these consequences will only manifest themselves at a later date. As students, we must realize that we too can and should make our voices heard from among the din of American political discourse. We will soon be inheriting a country already facing substantial fiscal and socioeconomic challenges. It behooves us to start paying attention to the policies that carry so much import now and in the years ahead.

The story of RIETS begins not in the boisterous streets of the Lower East Side but in the pastoral Lithuanian town of Slutzk. Moshe Meir Matlin, born in the far-flung town, but a promising student, came to the Kovno, the capital city, to study with the undisputed master of Talmud in Eastern Europe, Rabbi Yitzchok Elchanan Spektor.

Rabbi Spektor hadn’t always been the Chief Rabbi of Kovno. Like Rabbi Matlin, his roots lay in extreme poverty in a tiny town at the edge of the Lithuanian empire. According to Rabbi Spektor’s biographer Ephraim Shimoff, his father was his first teacher. At eight, he was recognized as a prodigy. At ten, he was orphaned. At thirteen, he married. A few years later, he lost his 300-ruble dowry to the bankruptcy of his debtor. Destitute, Rabbi Spektor moved to a nearby town to serve as a rabbi. His pay: five Polish guldon a month, barely enough to pay for food.

Undeterred, Rabbi Spektor continued to seek out mentors. His erudition earned him respect in every town he visited: Tiktin, Karlin, Nishvez, Novohrodok. He slowly began to rise in the ranks. After thirty years of study and community leadership, he earned the coveted position in Kovno.

Once in office, the challenges facing Rabbi Spektor became national. According to Geulah Bat Yehuda in Encyclopedia Judaica, he helped manage the Volozhin Yeshiva and appointed rabbis to serve on commissions previously limited to lay-leaders. He saved the Mir Yeshiva from internal politics that threatened to tear the place apart. He temporarily permitted Lithuanian Jews to eat peas and beans over Passover after a drought and famine loomed on the horizon. In solidarity with poor Jews, he took a stand against price-gougers by prohibiting the use of a specific species of Etrog. His community celebrated his progressive halachik decisions regarding Agunot. Rabbi Spektor was undoubtedly a rabbi of the people.

By the last quarter of the 19^th century, Rabbi Spektor attempted to tackle pressing international issues through social activism. Together with Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, he lobbied the Russian government to protect Jewish citizens after deadly riots broke out in 1881. He was the only rabbi invited to a conference in St. Petersburg to discuss the deteriorating problems facing Russia’s Jewish community. Later, he urged Jewish communities around the world to rally against Russian policies that were squeezing the Jewish communities of the precious few financial and religious resources available.

Towards the end of his career, Rabbi Spektor joined the early efforts of the Hovevei Zion movement. He held parlor meetings in his home and unabashedly endorsed the fledgling movement and the obligation to settle the land.

Such an active lifestyle surely wore down the frail rabbi. The few surviving pictures of Rabbi Spektor show a man exhausted by the tensions of leading Russian Jewry. Unlike other photographs of rabbinic figures of the age, he wears a simple—if not disheveled—coat. His white bearded and frazzled hair show a unassuming man disinterested in appearances. “His life was characterized by personal sanctity, reverence, and humility,” writes Gilbert Klaperman in The Story of Yeshiva University.

Rabbi Spektor’s global vision of Jewish solidarity attracted students from towns and villages across Lithuania. His broadminded halakhik decision-making and camaraderie with Jews of all stripes—not to mention his ocean of Talmudic knowledge—inspired his students to build communities in the nascent locations of  Palestine and the United States. Rabbi Meir Matlin was one of those students.

After receiving ordination, Rabbi Matlin was recruited to New York City, where, in 1891, the Chief Rabbi of New York quickly enlisted him as a dayyan and supervisor of all schochtim in New York City. Rabbi Matlin relished in his demanding schedule, touring the city’s few Jewish enclaves to quietly inspect slaughterhouses, butchers, restaurants, and grocers. According to Moshe Sherman in Orthodox Judaism in America, Matlin was an introverted scholar who, unlike his teacher, never presided over weddings, divorces, or funerals. However, he did share two important commonalities with his teacher: a belief in the importance of both the advanced study of Talmud and secular subjects.

Rabbi Matlin enrolled his son Akiva in Yeshivat Etz Chaim, a secondary school for proficiency in Chumash with Rashi and Gemara with Shulchan Aruch. Students at the Lower East Side cheder, founded in 1886, stood with one foot in the new world and one in the old. They were mostly new immigrants or first generation American, but they had a knack for the city and its potpourri of poor immigrants. Unburdened by their baggage of leaving Eastern Europe, many sought a general education that would actualize their potential in America. Etz Chaim was, in essence, the first American answer to the Torah U’Madda question.

The peddlers and rabbis, butchers and newspapermen who sent their children to the Yeshiva wanted—needed—their children to have a dual education. Without English and math skills their children would be lost in the urban tangle of tenements. Without knowledge of basic biology and history, their children would end up as their parents—tailors and shoemakers, not the doctors and lawyers of their dreams.

After a few years of study, Akiva Matlin grew too old for the yeshiva. His cerebral father, however, was eager to further his son’s religious studies. In 1896, Rabbi Matlin assembled a few graduates of Etz Chaim and began to teach Talmud in his unassuming apartment at 172 Clinton Street in the heart of the Lower East Side.

“The news of this advanced class spread, and soon the group grew to about twelve students,” records Sherman, “Rabbi Matlin could not accommodate them in his home any longer and began to seek larger quarters.” The father of a student convinced Matlin and the nearby Mariampol Synagogue to house the new Yeshiva. Later, the school moved to a synagogue established by butchers located, not surprisingly, above a butcher shop. The yeshiva could certainly claim humble roots.

The yeshiva attracted both American students seeking smicha and new immigrants—some with advanced rabbinical training—who were seeking the familiar environment of the house of study to begin their adjustment to American culture.

Like Yeshivat Etz Chaim, the Lithuanian students of Rabbi Spektor who founded the nascent yeshiva firmly believed in Torah Lishma (Torah for its own sake). In addition, according to William Hemreich, author of The World of the Yeshiva, “secular studies became two of the most basic features of the yeshiva.” The new seminary would train rabbis who could “relate to the American environment and the particular demands it made on new citizens.”

Barely a year of study passed before news of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor’s death reached the shores of Manhattan. For Orthodox Jews, in whose homes his picture “hung on the walls of almost every Jewish home in Russia,” according to historian Gilbert Klapperman, his death marked the passing of an advocate and sage. For Rabbi Matlin, his rabbi’s death meant the loss of a teacher and role model. Rabbi Matlin joined communal leaders, parents of the students of his yeshiva, Lithuanian immigrants, and other lay-leaders in deciding to name the new yeshiva in his honor. His death gave birth to the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

The next twenty years of RIETS brought about quick changes. Under the guidance of Rabbi Matlin, the yeshiva bought a new building. The newly formed Union of Orthodox Rabbis threw its support behind the school. Yeshiva Etz Chaim merged with RIETS in 1915. After student protest, the administration introduced a new general studies curriculum. The outbreak of World War I ended immigration and forced the school to attract American students by expanding course offerings. In 1916, RIETS opened a high school. In 1921 it opened a Teacher’s Institute. In 1928, RIETS opened a four-year liberal-arts school: Yeshiva College.

The American answer to Torah U’Madda was not quite as rosy as many had hoped. The founding of the college was not without internal and external controversy. Orthodox Jews associated all but the most basic secular study with secularism.  Helmreich’s The World of the Yeshiva recounts that various protests against the project. The head of the Mir, Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, denounced American Torah institutions. In 1932, postcards were distributed across the east coast proclaiming Yeshiva College to be a “nest of atheism and Apikorsut” (denial of God). Rabbi Elchana Wasserman condemned the school.

By bifurcating the institution between seminary and college, tensions and mutual suspicion became inevitable. When funds dried up during the depression, roshei yeshiva accused the administration of siphoning funds away from the yeshiva.

Rabbi Matlin, however, escaped the second round of ideological battles of Yeshiva College. According to Encyclopedia Judaica, Chronic health problems caused him to flee New York City in 1915 in search of a tranquil town, not unlike his bucolic birthplace in rural Lithuania. Spurred by populist romantic enthusiasm, Rabbi Matlin applied for government land in Montana where he hoped to create a model rural Jewish community in America.

Moshe Meir Matlin, however, was a rabbi, not a rancher. Not surprisingly, his idealistic venture quickly fell apart. He was forced to give up the land. He traveled to Sioux City, Iowa, where he accepted a small rabbinical position. He also served as a mashgiach for Midwestern slaughterhouses until his death in 1927.

Without Rabbi Matlin’s quiet coordination and vision, RIETS and Yeshiva University would not exist. But you wouldn’t know it from visiting campus. His name appears nowhere—not on buildings, not in classrooms, not online. There are no Moshe Meir Matlin memorial lectures or Moshe Meir Matlin memorial prizes.

In the annals of YU history, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor, like Harry Fischel and David Zysman, lives on in name only. “Like many other major figures of his stature and influence he has not received the attention from historians that is his due” said Dr. Jess Olson, Assistant Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University. “We are still waiting for a critical, academic study that places Rabbi Spektor in his context as a leader during perhaps the most complex and trying times in modern Jewish history.”