By Gabriella Gomperts, Features Editor and Social Media Manager
Stern students in The S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program were upset to learn about changes made to the program’s extracurricular requirements, ending the unique cultural experiences that used to be a vital part of the program. The email announcing this change, sent on Tuesday, June 18, was unexpected by students, causing confusion about the honors committee’s decision.
There are three components to the SCW honors program that participating students are required to complete: write an honors thesis, take honors leveled courses, and attend extracurricular events unique to the program. In previous years, all Stern honors students were expected to attend five extracurricular events of the eight offered each semester. These included shows such as Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish and Suffs, a musical performance at The Philharmonic, the opera, speakers from a variety of fields, and walking tours throughout some of New York City’s most notable sites like Central Park.
However, according to the email sent by Dr. Cynthia Wachtell, Director of The S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program, “After evaluating the components of the program and the steady development of robust extracurricular offerings on campus independent of the program, the honors committee has decided to” change the educational events for the SCW honors program extracurricular requirements.
Beginning next academic year, honors students will instead be required to attend an alumni panel dinner in the fall semester and the senior project presentations dinner in the spring semester. In addition to these two requirements, students must attend one other event already being held at YU each semester. The honors program will provide a list outlining the choices of events that will fulfill this requirement.
Needless to say, honors students felt blindsided by this change. With no prior warning that the honors committee was even considering altering this aspect of the program, students were extremely upset when they received the email. “The honors events were a large contributing factor in what encouraged me to apply to the program in the first place,” Naomi Rose (SCW ‘25) told the YU Observer. “I very much cherished the opportunity to expand my cultural experiences in New York.”
For many honors students, these cultural events were a unique aspect to the program which provided them with the opportunity to experience New York in a way that no other YU program could. “Being required to attend an opera, ballet, or dance festival is something I genuinely looked forward to every semester,” Rose said. “I also really enjoyed the honors dinners and speeches where I got to spend time with my fellow honors students and learn about a diverse range of topics.”
With the limited number of events and two specific ones being required, students are now concerned about configuring their schedules in order to be available to attend them. “I… loved that I could make my own schedule and pick which events interested me and fit within other commitments,” Naomi Klinghoffer (SCW ‘25) told the YU Observer. “I don’t imagine they’ll ask us which dates work for us for the alumni panel and senior dinner.”
Students are unimpressed and expressed dismay with the new options for honors extracurricular events. “We commit so many precious hours of our young lives to two overcrowded buildings on Lexington Avenue, so it was wonderful to get out into the bustling and lively culture of New York City,” Klinghoffer said.
She continued, “It’s disappointing that this program is starting to feel like a burden instead of a life changing addition to our college experience.”
The decision to alter this aspect of the honors program was prompted by the already vibrant offerings of events at YU, Dr. Wachtell told the YU Observer. “Given the wealth of fantastic extracurricular events on campus, there was a recognition that there is no longer a need for the Honors Program to create a parallel slate of extracurricular events.”
Dr. Wachtell told the YU Observer that she believes the already remarkable event offerings on the YU campus are as unmatched as the previous ones. “In the 25 years since the inception of the honors program in Fall 1999, the extracurricular offerings at YU have become ever more robust and are now truly exceptional,” Dr. Wachtell added. “Last month, the honors committee came to the conclusion that we should modify the expectations for honors students accordingly.”
At the beginning of the last academic year, a new change was implemented and those registered for Senior Project 1 or Senior Project 2, the courses required of honors students to complete their honor theses, were exempt from the obligation of attending all extracurriculars (with the exception of the senior project presentations dinner held annually at the end of each academic year). This change was made to accommodate the time commitment that writing a thesis takes as well as the fact that in their senior years, many students hold time consuming leadership positions on campus.
Senior honors students specifically are concerned with how this change will affect their required attendance at the extracurricular events. “I am… concerned that this [change] will impact the previous decision which exempted seniors from extracurricular event requirements due to the increased workload from their honors theses,” Rebecca Kalmar (SCW ‘25) told the YU Observer. For many students, being required to attend these extracurricular events will inevitably impact their ability to effectively schedule around the massive project that is the senior thesis.
Dr. Wachtell confirmed for the YU Observer that, after these new changes, senior honors students registered for Senior Project 1 or 2 will be required to attend the extracurricular events starting next year. She also added that there will be an off campus cultural honors event for incoming honors students to give them the chance to meet the other new students in the program.
Ultimately, Stern honors students wish that their input and desires would have been taken into consideration when these changes were made to the honors program. YU students continue to feel that their best interests are not being taken into account each time the YU administration decides to change another aspect of their college experience without student feedback first.
Photo Credit: Yeshiva University