Volume 67, Issue 4

Stanton Identifies Dr. Baruch Brody as Serious Presidential Candidate
Reorganizes Search Process to Expedite Decision
by Yehoshua Levine and Zack Streit

Chairman of the Yeshiva University Board of Trustees Ronald P. Stanton has confirmed that Dr. Baruch A. Brody of Houston, Texas is being strongly considered to succeed Dr. Norman Lamm as Yeshiva President. Dr. Brody, who is Leon Jaworski Professor of Biomedical Ethics at Baylor College of Medicine and Professor of Philosophy at Rice University, has already met with various Trustees and will, within the next few weeks, meet with administrators and students as well. According to Yeshiva insiders, in fact, although Azrieli Dean Dr. David Schnall is still under consideration, Dr. Brody is the clear favorite for the position.

Web Registration: Pilot Program to Debut This Spring
by Avi Levine

After months of joint effort between the Office of Enrollment Management and the Management and Information Systems Department, Yeshiva is gearing up to test a pilot run of the much anticipated online registration system this coming spring.  This program will enable students to register for classes and access their financial information entirely over the Internet.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Addresses Yeshiva Stresses the International Body’s Importance
by Alan Goldsmith 
In the past, Yeshiva has hosted a litany of prominent Israeli figures ranging from President Moshe Katzav, to Education Minister Limor Livnat, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and, on numerous occasions, former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to deliver on-campus lectures. And, this month, we can add another name to the list.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg To Receive Honorary Degree At 78th Annual Hanukkah Dinner
Four Communal Leaders Among the Honorees
by Jeremy Mazurek 

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been invited to deliver the keynote address at the Seventy-Eighth Annual Hanukkah Dinner and Convocation at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on December 8th.  The Mayor, Betty Feinberg, Charles Kushner, Barry A. Shenkman, and Elliot K. Wolk are also slated to receive honorary doctoral degrees, and Ronald P. Stanton will be officially installed as Chairman of Yeshiva's Board of Trustees.

YUStudents.org Up and Running
by Alexander Chester and Moshe Greenbaum 

Although Yeshiva has boasted a University website for over seven years now, students have never had anything of the sort.  Until now, that is.  Through the hard work of Yeshiva College juniors Chanoch Goldfeder and Ezra Butler, www.yustudents.org, a comprehensive internet site devoted exclusively to students, is now up and running. 

Yeshiva’s Recent Middle States Accreditation Praises, but Exposes Heavy Criticism
by Kevin Cyrulnik

The renowned Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, whose commissions evaluate universities and schools nationwide every ten years, recently issued a comprehensive report declaring Yeshiva a “special and abundantly rich nature[d] University.”  After observing Yeshiva’s students, faculty, and staff for a 3-day period, the team ultimately praised the University and its ideals.  Underlying the acclaim, however, they criticized the administration for its “penurious approach to the funding of the University’s undergraduate programs,” attributing virtually all culpability to Yeshiva’s Vice President for Business Affairs.

Students and Leaders Speak in Unusual Forum
by Alan Goldsmith

For the first time, the Yeshiva Student Union held a Town Hall meeting to address “issues of importance” to Wilf Campus students. Held on October 16th in the Morgenstern lounge and moderated by YSU Vice President Yaakov Green, the meeting featured student leaders from the various schools across the Yeshiva spectrum responding initially to questions submitted to them prior to the event followed by an open question and answer session.

Memorial Service Commemorates Life of Yoni Jesner 

On Sunday, October 20th, a memorial service took place for Yonatan Jesner HY”D, a victim of the Erev Sukkos Tel Aviv bus bombing.  Yoni, a Scottish citizen, was killed at the age of 19 while attending his second year in Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush).

Big Apple Writing Tutors Converge on NYU
by Moshe Grussgott

For the second straight year, Yeshiva College Writing Center tutors participated in a four-hour symposium of tutors from other major colleges in New York City. Held on October 27th at the New York University Center for Expository Writing downtown, it was also attended by the writing center staffs of Columbia, NYU, Barnard, and Long Island University, thus dwarfing last year’s conference at the Wilf Campus, which drew only Barnard, Stern, and Yeshiva participants.

Visiting Writer Enhances Book Project with Guest Reading
by Alan Goldsmith

Though this year’s Book Project text is The Plague, by Albert Camus, the Project’s global focus is “Writing in the wake of trauma: responses and responsibility.”  To that end, on October 1st, Yeshiva hosted a reading of “The Resurrectionist,” by Richard McCann, an assistant professor at American University and co-director of the University’s Master of Fine Arts writing program.

Mixed Opinions About Career Fair
by Shamir Seidman 

Monday, October 28th – The Wilf Campus witnessed scores of well-dressed students flocking to Belfer Hall, and they weren’t responding to free food advertisements. The drawing card, instead, were companies the likes of JP Morgan Chase and Price Waterhouse Coopers, who had come to Yeshiva’s annual career fair at the behest of the Office of Placement and Career Services (OPCS).

Undergraduate Catalog Online After 2-Year Absence
by Alan Goldsmith

The Yeshiva University Undergraduate Catalog, which was last seen four years ago, has now been updated through 2004 in an online version.  The catalog’s new edition was overseen by Amy Rotheim Sullivan, the Associate Director of Enrollment Management, and consists of a compilation of faculty listings, class descriptions, and program and graduation requirements.

Torah U’Madda Annual Lecture: Feit Addresses Controversial Cloning Issue
by Seth Salpeter

The cloning of Dolly the Sheep over three years ago precipitated considerable excitement throughout the scientific community. The experiment was not only an amazing scientific feat but also had clinical human applications. Since the discovery, the technique was utilized to clone other animals and, in various attempts, to manufacture human organs.  Yet, while the therapeutic possibilities of the cloning technology are fairly clear, the ethical ramifications remain uncertain. For Jews sensitive to halacha, the potential conflict with cloning makes the reservations all the more important.

Students Appointed to Faculty Committees
by Aaron Kraft

Here at Yeshiva University, mesorah (tradition) plays a special role.  No, not the archive of recycled tests on the web, but rather the tradition of students playing a vital role in the molding of Yeshiva College’s academics.  Recently, the Yeshiva College Student Assocation (YCSA) in conjunction with the three most important faculty committees – the Yeshiva College Academic Standards, Curriculum, and Honors Committee – preserved the tradition by appointing this year’s student representatives.

Comedy Nite Rocks the Commons
by Gennady Gelman

October 24th – Weissberg Commons showcased up and coming talent in the world of humor this evening with the Yeshiva Student Union event  “Comedy Nite at the Commons.” The prompt 8PM kickoff coupled with sizeable attendances from both the Wilf and Midtown Campuses testified to both the event’s punctuality and popularity.

SCW Students Decry Current Dress Code
by Alex Grange

Tuesday, October 22rd – Stern College for Women Student Council President Sharon Weiss along with other student leaders called together a meeting in light of recent objection to the SCW dress code.  Although the participants did not reach a definitive conclusion, the meeting signaled the first step of an ongoing process aimed at amending or perhaps even changing the school's dress code policy.

This Old Earth Just Keeps On Spinning
by Jesse Mandell

“The atmosphere of this planet is very fragile, like the skin of an apple,” said Nobel Lureate Dr. Mario J. Molina in delivering the Ira Kukin Chemistry Lecture to a crowd at Weissberg Commons on October 29th.

Fowler Lectures at Yeshiva
by Alex Grange

October 22nd – James Fowler, renowned Professor of Theology and Human Development from Emory University, delivered a lecture to Yeshiva’s students, psychology professionals, and members of the faculty.  The address focused on the topic of his most recent book, Stages of Faith, which discusses the psychology underlying faith and religion.

Honoring the Dead, Literary Devices Headline Book Project Lectures
by Moshe Hertz

The Yeshiva College Book Project lecture series continued last month as Janny Scott, former reporter for The Los Angeles Times and editor of The New York Times’s series of obituaries on the victims of the September 11 terror attacks, and Dr. Holly Haahr, Assistant Professor of French at YC, spoke to students and faculty about subjects pertaining to Albert Camus’s The Plague, this year’s Book Project text.

Incompetence Means No Presidents for JSS, SBMP
by Alexander Chester

A new constitution, a Student Services shake-up, honest mistakes, and assumptions by a number of people have resulted in leaving half of Wilf Campus undergraduates without a president representing their Jewish Studies Programs.  Almost two months into the semester, both the Stone Beit Medrash Program (SBMP) and the James Striar School (JSS) are without presidents. 

Yeshiva Students Attend Wexner Memorial Lecture Krauthammer Draws Tremendous Crowd
by Alexander Chester

Wednesday, October 23rd – a busload of Yeshiva College and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary students traveled to the Upper Eastside’s Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue (KJ), paying homage to Bella Wexner by attending a memorial lecture in her name.  Drawing significant regional coverage primarily because of its keynote speaker, Charles Krauthammer, the second annual Wexner Memorial Lecture was of particular significance to the Yeshiva community because of the late Mrs. Wexner’s intimate affiliation with the institution. 

Students Unite for Night of Learning
by Avi Robinson 

Yeshiva’s Main Beis Medrash featured a new look on Tuesday night, October 22nd, as close to forty James Striar School, Isaac Breuer College, and Stone Beis Medresh Program students joined Mazer Yeshiva Program students for an hour of communal learning and post-Maariv refreshments. An initiative of student leaders in collaboration with Rosh Hayeshiva Rabbi Meir Goldwicht, the program represents the first of many such unity events slated to be held throughout the upcoming year.

Panim, Unmasking College Campuses
by Elliot Fruchter

Panim, the college outreach program of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services, has gone all over the country to inspire and educate Jewish communities about Orthodox Judaism.  This year’s inaugural event was a weekend seminar on October 24th-26th in the previously uncharted territories of Arizona State University.

New Quantum Computing Course: 
Students Claim Ignorance
by Moshe Greenbaum

Yeshiva College is currently offering a one-time, cross-disciplinary quantum computing course this fall taught by Professor Joseph Stampfli, a visiting mathematician from the University of Indiana.  Meant to satisfy those students who expressed interest in the emerging field of molecule-sized computers, the new course will fulfill an advanced elective requirement for physics, mathematics, and computer science majors and has no prerequisites save a first year calculus course.

Order in the Court: Student Court Finally Selected
by Avi Zohar

 Unbeknownst to many Yeshiva students, the Student Union Constitution calls for the establishment of a Student Court to deliberate on matters pertaining to interpretation of the Constitution and to judge potential violations thereof. According to the Constitution (Article XI, section 1, paragraph 3), “The Student Union President shall appoint all Justices and the Justice Pro-Tempore at the first meeting of the General Assembly.”  Although this mandate demands that justices be appointed shortly after the start of the academic year, the appointments were only made in recent weeks.

Student Government Officials Finally Chosen
by Ben Kessler

Incoming students got their first glimpse of politics at Yeshiva on October 18th, with freshman and sophomore class elections yielding a new batch of student politicians.

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