Early Wednesday morning, the governing board of The Commentator elected Commie News Editor Shmuli Singer and Yeshiva College Student Council President and former Commie Executive Editor Pinky Shapiro co-Editors-in-Chief for Volume 66. Yehuda Kraut, current Copy Editor, will rise to the post of Managing Editor. Rounding out the Governing Board will be Yehuda Shmidman, the current layout Editor, who will be shouldering the responsibilities of Executive Editor in addition to his layout duties. In a return to tradition abandoned this past year, two people will share the helm of this newspaper.

The early morning meeting produced a decision after much deliberation. Singer and Shapiro will be charged with quickly selecting a staff and rewarding internal promotions for the forthcoming volume, as they plan on publishing an issue before the semester's end. "We want to begin our tenure immediately," remarked the bright-faced, bleary-eyed duo in unison.

Singer, who often goes by the pseudonym 'Sam,' is a Yeshiva College student majoring in UND with a concentration in English Literature, Pre-Med, and Brill studies who "occasionally pretends to be a pseudo-intellectual," or so he opines. Yes, he openly admits to writing poetry and prose in his free time. Sam hopes to graduate with honors from the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program prior to entering one of the nation's top medical schools. That is, of course, if his MCAT scores are in the range of his polysyllabic diction.

Singer hails from far flung Forest Hills, Queens, where he lived when he was not being dragged on unexciting trips to Florida, Paris, London, and other major boring European cities. He attended Mesivta Yesodei Yeshurun High School, an institution which, according to Singer, "viewed me as a poster child before I walked off the poster." Ostensibly, this was the first of many institutions to fail in inculcating him with any concrete religious values.

After spending two years learning at Yeshivas Kol Torah in Bayit Vegan - another educational establishment that failed miserably in proselytizing - the newly anointed Editor finally arrived in Washington Heights. And what an entrance it was. He appeared wearing a purple shirt, wool pants, dragging a package labeled "Big Diction," and with a cell phone surgically attached to his ear.

A member of the Yeshiva College Honors Committee as well as the former Literary Coordinator for The Arts Festival, Singer joined The Commentator staff in the fall of 1999 during his first semester on-campus, and while still on the phone. After getting a student expelled for his "anarchist, militaristic views as well as marked contributing to Sephardi-Ashkenaz tensions," as a result of writing his first story, it comes as no surprise that Singer was rapidly appointed Associate Features Editor.

Three issues later Singer was promoted to Features Editor where he continued to produce exceptional stories of consequence. After faithfully serving the features section for almost a year, Singer shifted his talents to the news department as a result of his anointment to News Editor at the close of the 1999-2000 academic year.

"I hope to emulate my hero Jason Cyrulnik in his quest to bring halachic journalism to the pages of this newspaper," Singer averred in an interview conducted over his cell-phone. "I am hoping to lead a newspaper that represents the entire student body of Yeshiva, as well as one that is relevant, worth reading, impeccably edited and that contributes to the public discourse on every level. I also plan to use the word 'nascent' in every issue." Singer's excitement peaked upon reaching the realization that his quest to find any excuse that would afford him the opportunity to don formal attire would be made much easier in light of the recent appointment.

Singer also called upon the student body to contribute to The Commentator. "This is not Pinky's and my newspaper, it's the students' newspaper. I hope that they realize that their opinions and thoughts are welcomed and required."

Pinchas Shapiro is a 5'4, 130 lbs, blond hair, blue-eyed Yeshiva College student, double majoring in Speech and Political Science and minoring in Writing. He immensely enjoys politics and "cumbersome intellectual hairsplitting with an emphasis on expounded elucidation."

A native of Jackson Heights, Queens, and current resident of North Woodmere, Long Island, Shapiro began his Yeshiva 'early admissions' academic career in 1997, after leaving Yeshiva Tiferet Torah prematurely. "It was an equally amenable situation for both me and YTT because they wanted me to leave and I left," recounts the nascent Editor.

Shapiro, in addition to being Freshman Class President and President of the Debate Society, joined his predecessors Noah Streit and "Pappa" Kahn as a Commentator staff member in 1997, during his debuting semester on campus. He also quickly befriended Editor Emeritus Alex "Gus" Traiman. The following year Shapiro "took a year off from [his] extra curricular activities" and traveled to the Holy Land to learn at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh.