Yeshiva University's rejection of Pride Alliance hurts students who need support
Yeshiva University, which is engaged in a court battle with a group of students seeking recognition of the Pride Alliance, has shut down all clubs temporarily. Credit: Getty Images/Spencer Platt
Decades ago, as a University of Pennsylvania freshman, I felt lost in a crowd of thousands. Until I joined The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn Hillel, and some volunteer groups. In those spots, I found colleagues and friends, support and kindness. I found my home.
The political, preprofessional, religious, and social clubs that dot every college landscape form a critical piece of the experience — a way for 18- and 19-year-olds to find their niche, meet like-minded students, find a community, even discover their identity.
Yeshiva University isn't making that easy. The school is fighting a group of its own students in court to avoid officially recognizing the YU Pride Alliance, an organization with the super-scary mission of "hoping to provide a supportive space on campus for all students, of all sexual orientations and gender identities, to feel respected, visible and represented."
And, after an initial Supreme Court decision didn't go its way, Yeshiva University went further — shutting down all clubs temporarily so it wouldn't have to acknowledge the Alliance.
That unfortunate decision — coming as the High Holidays and a season of repentance and forgiveness approach — hurts the very students about whom YU claims to care.
This is, after all, about the students. Young adults choosing Yeshiva University as a place to learn, grow, and change. Young adults still wrestling with their identities, their futures, and whom they love. Young adults whose university and religion should nurture them.
But YU hasn't done that when it comes to its LGBTQ+ students. Instead, the university retreats into the hardened shell of religious observance, arguing that accepting a Pride club — which might host speakers and book clubs and movie nights — would violate the school's Jewish teachings and beliefs.
It wouldn't. When they fund clubs for Young Republicans or Young Democrats, universities aren't taking a political side. And by funding a Pride Alliance, YU wouldn't be taking a side in favor of homosexuality, or homosexual sex — and therefore wouldn't be violating any religious standard, no matter how it's interpreted. It's possible to be inclusive and accepting and religious.
Unfortunately, the school's battles over how to handle LGBTQ+ issues aren't new. But the university hasn't always been this closed off. In 2009, hundreds of students, alumni and others gathered for a panel on campus called "Being Gay in the Modern Orthodox World." Another similar discussion took place over Zoom in 2020. At least two Yeshiva University graduate schools recognize LGBTQ+ clubs. And now, more than 1,000 alumni, along with some faculty and others, have voiced support for YU's LGBTQ+ community.
YU defines itself as an educational institution, which can and does receive public funds and tax benefits, and which falls under New York City's Human Rights Law. That comes with certain privileges — and responsibilities.
Responsibility #1: Teaching and taking care of its students.
Take Molly Meisels. A "hostile atmosphere" at YU initially kept her from coming out to herself — or to anyone else, the 2021 Yeshiva University graduate wrote in an affidavit associated with the YU Pride Alliance case.
"I stayed closeted to myself until I could no longer lie to myself," Meisels wrote, noting that the lack of a club made her an "outcast," with only a "terrified" underground community to call her own.
On its website, YU promises "intensive support services for students' educational, social and religious needs." But by actively promoting division and fear, Yeshiva University is violating that promise.
Columnist Randi F. Marshall's opinions are her own.
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
