YUPR Haggles With SOY'S Enayim L'Torah Over Web Page

Enayim may be Victim of Stepped Up PR Effort to Purge Student Publications from University Site

Enayim L’Torah, the Student Organization of Yeshiva’s compilation of divrei Torah on the weekly Bible portion, is in danger of being removed from Yeshiva University's World Wide Web site by the Department of Public Relations.

Yeshiva University Public Relations, the overseer of the University site, recently engaged in a round of correspondence with Enayim webmaster Elie Wildman. Although Enayim L’Torah has been on the site for over three years, the University alerted Wildman that the publication's new design, created by student Azriel Chelst and put into use at the beginning of this school year, had three minor problems that had to be changed in order to prevent PR from pulling it from the University site. This PR move has caused Wildman and the Enayim L’Torah staff to seriously consider moving their site to the Yeshiva University Computer Society server which is independent of the University’s.

The correspondence began when Tom Deering, an MIS employee currently on loan to the Public Relations department, sent an e-mail to Wildman on Wednesday, April 29, stating that he needed to know "who authorizes [the Enayim site]. All YU pages must be authorized by a faculty member or administrator...I need this information in the next few days, or I will remove these pages from our website."

At that point, Wildman called Deering and explained to him that George Sullivan, another MIS employee, had allowed him to put up anything on the site. Deering answered that students have no right to put anything on the University site, but allowed this academic year's final issue of Enayim to go up as a courtesy to Wildman.

Wildman investigated the history of Enayim on the web and found that it had originally been given the approval of Rabbi Hirt and Rabbi Charlop. With this faculty authorization, David Rosen, head of the YUPR, allowed Enayim's placement on the web.

Upon querying David Rosen for the reason why Enayim's appearance on the web has suddenly become a problem, Wildman received an e-mail response. "It is true that I authorized electronic publication of this journal but with certain provisos with which you are no longer in compliance."

Rosen went on to explain that PR's objection is twofold: Firstly, a fundraising/subscription appeal appears on the page in violation of University rules. Secondly, the presence of a banner which reads "A publication of the Student Organization of Yeshiva" appears across the top of the web page. University rules state that no student publications are allowed on the University site.

Ephraim Shapiro, YC ’99, SOY secretary and supervisor of SOY publications, responded to this rule saying, "These protocols and rules have mainly caused students to distance themselves from the school. Almost every university not only furnishes the student publications with links from the main page, but also affords their students the ability to create their own website. Here everyone must find independent means, including official publications such as Enayim."

Eventually, Rosen, Deering, and Wildman came to an agreement as to what changes must be made to the Enayim site. According to an email that Rosen sent to Wildman, the changes are as follows: 1) "Masthead should state this 'a publication of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary' and YU seal should be removed or replaced with RIETS seal." 2) "Remove moving band at top of first page that advertises subscriptions and donations." 3) "Remove all references to donations or providing financial support for the publication. Reference may be made to the availability of free subscriptions."

Wildman made the suggested changes and thought the affair had come to a close. But then Tom Deering sent him an email that stated, "I removed the references to SOY on the Enayim pages as we discussed." According to Wildman, however, "we never discussed anything about that."

Deering also explained that for next year, it is likely that each page will need authorization on a weekly basis by a faculty member or department head and information on the University server will have to be uploaded from a University machine, i.e. a computer connected to the University network.

When these new provisions came to light, Wildman, along with Shapiro and others, began to seriously consider the possibility of moving Enayim to the independent student server. Although it was recognized that moving the page without warning might inconvenience some people, SOY leaders judged that the bureaucratic red tape they were likely to face next year justified considering a move. Wildman said that Enayim would probably be moved sometime in the summer or early fall.

Wildman and Shapiro were both visibly upset with YUPR's seemingly endless focus on minutia and its effort to obstruct the circulation of student publications. Shapiro had this to say, "It bothers me that for all the little nuances they do not like, they are fighting against student publications. What’s the big deal?"

Related Links:

• Enayim L'Torah on YU's Web Site
• SOY's outsite web site
• YUCS Student Server
• Letter to the Editor