September 12, 2012—the Heights Lounge welcomed in streams of students, board members, and YU affiliates eager to watch and listen to President Richard Joel deliver his first-ever State of the University Address. Anticipation had been building for days, as rumors of “big news” swirled around both the Wilf and Beren campuses. The event had a certain air of exclusivity; only a select few YC and Stern College students were offered seating, including members of YU’s Quest program, both Student Councils, TAC, SOY, and representatives from each of the university’s publications. Amidst a flurry of live-tweeting and frantic note-taking, President Joel delivered his address, lauding the university’s fortitude in the face of hard economic times and describing a plan for the future – under the banner of “Shleimut” – billed as a “roadmap to next.”
Although there were those hoping for a bombshell to really shake things up, the President wasted no time in announcing that he had formally accepted the Board of Trustees’ offer to extend his presidency until June 2018. The news is certainly big, though many felt that it was not surprising. President Joel transitioned to a different topic by clarifying the mission of Yeshiva University, describing the institution as “the world’s Torah-informed University,” explaining that Torah u’Madda continues to be the “philosophical construct at the very bedrock of this institution.” In rehashing an age-old understanding, President Joel urged his audience to “emphasize Torah as the ikkar” before introducing the principal theme of his address: his belief that YU “must put forward an agenda of Shleimut…of meaningful wholeness.”
The President ran through a number of significant ways in which YU has grown and reached greater heights in the past few years. News of faculty increases, the growth of students at Azrieli and Revel, research achievements at Albert Einstein College, and new partnership programs at Wurzweiler School of Social Work, the work of the YU Museum, and the dynamism of the Presidential Fellowship set the stage for President Joel to present the five points that he believes will contribute to the Shleimut agenda he proposes. The five points presented were: Education for our Yeshiva and for our University, continued development and support of our faculty and staff, the maintaining of a viable business model and resource support for our institution, continuing to build our thriving University culture, and instilling in our students and community the mandate to matter.
And now, for your enlightenment and entertainment, some choice tweets from the event:
- @AdamRakhamim: “I loved @PresJoel’s State of the University Address. I want to be part of the Shleimut of YU!”
- @Yehuda Kaminer: “WOW. @YUNews is launching grad programs in SP, PT, and OT. That’s #hock. #YU12”
- @YUObserver: “@YUNews Adina Minkowitz compares YU to Apple. #freeiphones? #YU12”
- “Bring your own soybeans? Did anyone else catch that? #YU12”
- @YUCommie: “Wilf campus has become Wilf village – next stop Olympics? #WashingtonHeights #YU12”