Much candidate attention has been devoted to courting the "Jewish vote" in the upcoming November 3rd New York state Senatorial election. Whether such a factionally directed approach to electioneering is useful for the political health of our republic is open to question. We, as Rousseau, believe it is not. In our view, public efforts by politicians to exploit ethnically charged points of contention, or other wedge issues, for political advantage are deleterious to attempts to approach a popular consensus on more weighty matters that affect the whole of the American populace.

Negotiations between labor and management are over. The threat of a strike has passed, and the employees of Yeshiva University are expected to lay dormant for three years until the next round of the contract dance begins anew.

The hours between 8AM and 11PM are supposed to be part of a sacred and peaceful time at the Uptown campus of Yeshiva University. This is the time of day when Amsterdam Avenue transforms itself from a busy street in the midst of Washington Heights, into the center of a very real and vibrant college campus. This transformation is one that goes unnoticed by the school and the local community and the reason is patently obvious: the school and local authorities refuse to allow the change to occur.