Repairing our Academic Reputation

Over the past four years, Yeshiva has been recognized by US News and World Report as one of the top fifty national universities in the country; however, this distinction is fairly misleading. While our endowment and small class sizes allow for such a prestigious national ranking, our academic reputation lags far behind the elite status upon which Yeshiva has placed so much emphasis.

YU is fortunate to be blessed with fully qualified professors who are dedicated to the academic process, but these professors are overworked and terribly underpaid. They are forced to teach more courses per semester than their colleagues elsewhere, and at less-than-standard compensation rates.

Each year, teachers at Yeshiva receive payraises at continuously decreasing rates, and following the current pattern, it would be no surprise if teachers salaries soon begin to actually decrease yearly.

It is horrible and unfortunate that our professors do not receive paychecks commensurate to their worth, but the situation stretches far beyond the mistreatment of university employees. The low salaries and heavy courseload burdens also serve as a deterrent to qualified professors who may consider employment at Yeshiva in the future, further hindering Yeshiva's ability to raise its academic reputation.

It is now up to the Deans of Yeshiva and Stern College, along with Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Morton Lowengrub, to take the burden upon themselves to push for the payraises of our professors. We have already seen Dr. Lowengrub's ability to stand for the academic process by acting to rectify the many problems the registrar's office has been facing. We hope that Dr. Lowengrub will again defend the academic process and set the salaries of our professors back on track.