Volume 67, Issue 3  

Wilf Campus Improvements to Debut:
Students Question Enhancements’ Necessity
by Moshe Greenbaum

 
Though Yeshiva officials were quick to publicize the Wilf Family’s philanthropic donation to the university this past spring and the subsequent renaming of the Uptown Campus, many Wilf Campus students seem to think that they were far less diligent in utilizing the gift.  But that is supposed to change.

According to Yeshiva’s Department of Communication and Public Affairs, students who frequent the Wilf (formerly known as the Uptown) Campus will begin seeing some of the benefits of the $12 million put into use.  “New banners have already gone up all over campus, and work should be commencing soon on major enhancements throughout the uptown campus,” said Hedy Shulman, Director of Media Relations for Yeshiva University. 

Shulman was apparently referring to the improvements mentioned in a press release made public last spring, which included projected alterations of the Tenzer Gardens flanking Belfer Hall and a dramatic redesign and landscaping of the southeastern entrance to the campus on Amsterdam Avenue.

Student sentiments has varied greatly with regard to the announcement “I applaud the Wilf family’s gerenosity, but I simply don’t understand why the Yeshiva administration allows donors to earmark funds that play little or no role in solving the financial needs of the university,” grumbled an irate student leader.  “Yeshiva’s upper echelon should inform the Wilf’s, as well as other benefactors, that their contributions would be most beneficial if they were aimed at, say, the construction of a new dorm.”  

Many other students simply despaired, claiming they got absolutely no say in the management of the funds.  “Do I need a newly renovated Tenzer Gardens or upside down banners all over the campus? Has anyone ever walked past the Gardens without getting blown away by the wind?” questioned Yeshiva College Junior Aaron Rothstein angrily.  “They would be much wiser to spend a big chunk of the money on regulating heat in the dorms so students don’t boil in there, but what are the chances of that? Zero.”

Others were even more optimistic about the planned improvements. “These people get paid to help make Yeshiva a nicer place to live, and no one ever has anything positive to say about them. They are always comparing us to other schools like Columbia, but that is just unreasonable,” remarked one student who requested to remain anonymous.

Other key elements of the Wilf Campus Beautification Project, as the development plan is known, are the installation of a sculpture somewhere on campus identifying the Wilfs as major contributors to Yeshiva, as well as a new landscaping plan for the Dancziger Quadrangle in front of the Max Stern Athletic Center.

The Wilf family, from Hillside, New Jersey, has been deeply involved with Yeshiva for many years, contributing its first Benefactor-level contribution eleven years ago. That money, about $1 million, was earmarked for the establishment of a major scholarship fund for financially needy students of all three undergraduate schools.  More recently, they donated $2 million for an achievement-based scholarship, commonly known as the Wilf Distinguished Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.

Rothstein observed that, on the whole, students “still refer to the campus as either the YU campus or the Uptown campus. I don’t think many students here call it the Wilf Campus, but maybe is time to realize that they should.” 

Overall, the Wilf family has donated over $12 million to the Yeshiva University Capital Campaign, making them the third largest Campaign donor.

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