Volume 67, Issue 5

Yeshiva Denies Brill Tenure
Students, Faculty Riled by the Decision
by Zack Streit

Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies Dr. Alan Brill was effectively fired on Thursday, November 15, when Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Morton Lowengrub – acting at the behest of University President Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm – informed Dr. Brill, who holds a joint position in the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies and Yeshiva College, that he had been denied tenure.  The move flies in the face of students who have been lobbying for Dr. Brill to receive tenure ever since he had come under review in March of this year and had subsequently voted him 2001-2002 Yeshiva College Professor of the Year.

Five Syms Students Caught Cheating on Midterm
Expulsion Considered but Rejected
by Kevin Cyrulnik

Five students from the Sy Syms School of Business have received failures in their Principles of Marketing course after confessing to cheating on their most recent exam.  Although Sy Syms Dean Dr. Charles Snow was initially pondering expulsion for all those involved, he opted on a more lenient punishment after careful deliberation.

Former Commentator Editor Battling In Court To Protect A Source
Claims Student And Professional Journalists To Be Synonymous
by Kevin Cyrulnik

Sy Syms School of Business Professor Diane Persky’s lawsuit, which was initiated against Yeshiva in 1999, has recently taken a twist: Persky’s lawyers are attempting to coerce former Yeshiva student and Commentator Editor-in-Chief Pinky Shapiro into testifying in court.  Shapiro has no intention of complying, and knows the outcome of his refusal will have lasting effects on the credibility of student newspapers throughout the country.

Peer Counseling Program to Debut at Yeshiva
by Ariel Brandwein

In order to facilitate the growing demand for student advisement, a group of students from Yeshiva’s Wilf Campus have created an official venue by which students may seek advice from their peers on any matter.  The Peer Counseling program, initiated and managed primarily by a select few, aims to provide a form of guidance not found elsewhere on campus.  With counselors on call twenty-four hours a day, students are afforded the opportunity to voice their concerns to their peers in an informal setting. 

OPCS Optimistic about New Associate Director
by Aaron Kraft

Yeshiva frequently points to its impressive post-college placement record – finding students top-paying jobs in many high-end professional vocations and sending students to reputable graduate school programs – as a measure of its success.  The Office of Placement and Career Services (OPCS), which has always assisted students in the ever-competitive job hunt, is said to play a prominent role in Yeshiva’s post-graduate success. 

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.

And the Winner is…
by Avi Zohar

A battle took place at the Schottenstein Cultural Center of Stern College for Women on November 10. A Battle of the Bands, that is. A number of Jewish bands competed against one another to decide who will open for renowned singers Dedi and Yaakov Shwekey at the Yeshiva Chanukah concert, which will be held in Lamport Auditorium on December 5. 

Israeli Vendor Fair Hits Yeshiva
by Commentator Staff

With many Israeli businesses suffering due to the precipitous decline in tourism triggered by the upswing in terrorism over the past two years, vendors from Israel began a traveling fair in the United States in an attempt to compensate their losses. On Thursday, November 14, in the fifth floor of Belfer Hall, the fair made its first trip to Yeshiva.

Memorial Lecture:
The Women of Yesterday Changing Tomorrow
by Avi Zohar

On November 9, Dr. Debra L. Shultz, Director of Programs at the Open Society Institute Network Women’s Program, delivered the Hillel Rogoff Memorial Lecture at the Ivry Student Center at Stern College.

Yeshiva Stiffs Faculty for Second Consecutive Year
Contracts and Salary Raises Yet To Be Established
by Alexander Chester

At most universities nationwide, faculty are mailed their contracts for the upcoming year late in the Spring semester.  Late is considered closer to the end of summer.  But at Yeshiva late has yet to be defined. 
More than three months into the fall semester and for the second consecutive year, Yeshiva faculty members are still working without established salaries and contracts.  And, whereas last year the delinquency was remedied a month into the semester, this year the mailing date is anyone’s call.

Students Still Waiting for Bill of Rights
by Alexander Chester

Eight months after last year’s infamous Purim incident, students are still waiting for the Office of Students Services to devise a Bill of Rights enumerating students’ rights and obligations.  The decision to compose such a document arose toward the end of last year, as a direct respone to the problems and inconsistencies that pervaded the execution of  Yeshiva’s disciplinary procedures. 

Faculty Discuss Academic Integrity
at Development Day
Students and Faculty Respond to Recent Incidents of Cheating
by Alan Goldsmith

The annual Faculty Development Day is usually a forum for faculty members to discuss a wide array of university-related academic matters. This year’s meeting, however, was decisively different: it centered on one issue. On Tuesday, November 5, while students were casting ballots, Yeshiva College professors and deans were casting opinions on “Supporting Academic Integrity.”

Yom Iyun Held on Religious Zionism
by Elliot Fruchter

The Religious Zionists of America (RZA), the American branch of the Mizrachi movement, held a one-day seminar November 10 at the Park East Synagogue in New York City.  The seminar, geared toward rabbis, professionals and lay leaders involved with synagogues, educational institutions, and summer programs, addressed the relevance of religious Zionism in modern times and what can be done to motivate youth to take an active role in its causes. With over 150 people in attendance, the RZA hailed the program as a “huge success,” according to its web site.

Project One Percent Exceeds Everyone's Expectations
by Michael Hoffman

The Jewish students of America, especially those attending Yeshiva, have been responding to grave situation in Israel with much enthusiasm. Project One Percent, a charitable organization calling for Jewish students across the country to pledge that small fraction of their summer earnings to the Israel Emergency Fund, is perhaps the best example of this response. The program has been a raving success, already raising more than $23,000.   

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