With Yeshiva's Wilf Campus nearing full capacity, both housing and classroom space are in short supply. A small number of spacing problems notwithstanding, Dean of Students David Himber remains firm in assuring the Yeshiva community that "the current situation is adequate to meet the needs of the students."

Although the administration was anticipating an increase in enrollment for the spring semester due to returning Israel students, this expectation was not realized. With approximately twenty fewer students in the dorms and twenty-four fewer students in total this semester, Yeshiva has been able to accommodate the burgeoning student body. "There are currently enough classrooms as well as some additional room for growth and expansion," asserted Himber. "To date we have been able to provide housing to all the students who request it, regardless of the number of students who come to the Wilf Campus."

Contrary to Himber's assertions about class space, many classes found themselves without a room at the beginning of the semester. A Yeshiva College Sophomore in one such class, Dr. Joshua Zimmerman's History of Modern Russia, griped, "For the first four classes of the semester we did not have a set room. It took the University administration two weeks before they fixed the problem. There is no reason why something like this should not have been taken care of before the first day of classes."

According to Director of Enrollment Management, John Fisher, "classroom space is adequate" and early-semester confusion can always be expected regardless of the number of classrooms. Fisher did concede, however, that "the situation is worse now because we are close to maximum capacity."

As an additional problem, Fisher noted, there is greater difficulty in allotting classroom space because the Wilf Campus shares its facilities with several graduate schools whose academic calendars differ from that of Yeshiva College and Sy Syms. "We're trying to get the graduate and undergraduate calendars in-synch in order to most efficiently assign classroom space for the proper dates and time periods," Fisher remarked.

Some students are not satisfied with that explanation, however. One Sy Syms Junior, who has a class in the Main Building, used primarily for high school classes, complained, "It's impossible to have a proper class discussion when there are bells going off because you're stuffed into MTA. It's ridiculous that there is such a lack of room at Yeshiva University that they have to resort to using the high school building."

According to Fisher, Yeshiva has grown at an approximate rate of four percent throughout the past four years, as its reputation and appeal have dramatically risen. As it stands, however, the University is no longer able to sustain such growth, primarily due to a dearth of space. "Admission applications for fall 2002 are greater than a year ago – we're getting more applications from stronger applicants. At the same time, though, we don't have the physical space to sustain the four percent growth that we have had for the past several years. Because of that, admissions decisions are becoming weightier," Fisher concluded.

For the time being, Yeshiva admissions officers will be forced to accept fewer students than they were previously able to, and the growth rate will suffer because of that. The long-term goals of the institution, however, remain uncertain. With a new Board of Directors at the helm, and, shortly, a new University President, there are many fundamental decisions that will be decided upon, including growth and outlook assessments. "Yeshiva is educating the next generation of leaders in the Jewish community," explained Fisher. How big an institution should be to accomplish that task remains unclear.