By Shira Kramer, Managing Editor
These days, many people often view colleges as liberal. Professors are cautious of what they say in order to stay politically correct and many students feel that if they aren’t a Democrat, they aren’t accepted by their peers. However, at Yeshiva University, the political culture is the opposite.
Democrats on YU’s campus sometimes feel as though they are treated like outsiders. While the campus is filled with students and faculty of varying political beliefs, liberal students feel like they are treated as less than their fellow students.
“I’ve been told that I can’t be a liberal and an Orthodox Jew and that everything the liberals believe goes against the Torah,” Talia Isaacs (SCW ‘27) told the YU Observer.
Not only have liberal students been the subject of verbal insults, but Nissim Farhy (YC ‘26), President of the YU College Democrats Club, has even seen discriminatory writing in dormitories. According to the Use of Facilities Policy for both the Beren and Wilf campuses, “room furnishings, including wall posters, should be in consonance with the standards of propriety of our Yeshiva University community.”
“There is a section of the student body that is not as tolerant,” Farhy told the YU Observer. “A door over in the YU dorms had a sign that said ‘Democrats Hate You!’ and ‘Republicans Only.’”
Liberal students have said that in addition to most students holding biases towards liberals, the YU administration tends to publicly lean politically right as well. According to alumnus Yaffa Goldkin (SCW ‘24), the administration is not welcoming towards liberal students or students who identify as queer.
Goldkin told the YU Observer that she felt “the overall administration” in YU is “unsupportive of queer students, students who are Democrats and anyone who is different or unique.” She continued, “That is why we find comfort in our humanities and social sciences professors who support us and want us to thrive.”
The YU Pride Alliance filed a lawsuit against YU in 2022, “YU Pride Alliance et al v. Yeshiva University et al” on claims that the university discriminated against LGBTQ+ students, including by barring the Alliance from officially forming their own club. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Sept. 2022 that YU must institute a pride alliance club, the university temporarily suspended all club activity in defiance, which resumed after the Pride Alliance granted the university a stay on the judge’s ruling.
Professor Joseph Luders is the Chair of Stern College’s Political Science department. He believes that with research, students who are passionate about politics can become less aggressive in their divides.
“When we undertake a serious investigation into a political phenomenon (war, ethnic violence, voting behavior, or what have you), we set aside our priors in order to come to an understanding of reality based on a rigorous scientific method that gets us to a closer approximation of the truth,” Luders told the YU Observer. “In this striving for the truth, it is my hope that we can all find common ground.”
In an email sent out to the student body on Nov. 5, Election Day, Dr. Jonathan Schwab and Dr. Sara Asher encourage students to treat each other with respect. “However you vote, engage with each other in peaceful and constructive dialogue,” the email said. “The powerful community on our campuses is one of the hallmarks of a YU education; though we are united in our values and purpose, we have many different views on how to realize them in the world.”
According to Schwab, an email of that nature was sent to every university on Election Day, or at least, it should’ve been. “People have voted whatever way they’re voting and the priority is remembering that we’re all part of one community here and there’s room for different opinions,” Schwab told the YU Observer.
Some self-identified Democrats on campus believe that the institution is accepting of everyone. YU student Dov Pfeiffer (YC ‘25) told the YU Observer, “I believe YU as an institution is accepting of all political beliefs and political identities; however I do think campus discourse often takes being a Republican as a norm and sees being a Democrat as bizarre in some way.”
Liberal students do have a place of their own, as the YU College Democrats Club welcomes people of all backgrounds to speak freely about their beliefs. The club’s group chat constitutes respectful dialogue between anyone who would like to take part. Even some of the school’s most outspoken Republican students have joined this group in order to participate in discussions.
“The YU College Democrats [Club] is a safe haven for students from all political backgrounds to share their ideas without fear of bullying or social ostracism,” Farhy said. “[It] stands as a beacon for students who may feel alienated from the general YU community as one or more of their values contradict the assumed status quo.”
Photo Caption: The logo of the YU College Democrats Club
Photo Credit: Nissim Farhy / YU College Democrats Club