By Sam Weinberg
Many students remember the rally in Washington D.C. last year, where the entire American Jewish world gathered together in support of Israel’s efforts to free the hostages and defeat Hamas. For those of us who walked up and down the aisles at the event, seeing every shul and school that you can name, a sense of necessary universality was deeply felt. Yeshiva University sent a tremendous number of students, what felt like each and every one of us in our school community, to take part in such a critical occasion.
Except, of course, it wasn’t each and every one of us. It actually wasn’t close. Only about half of the student body went, a far cry from what felt like a vast majority. That statistic is surprising, but it points to a broader tendency I’ve noticed in YU: we have a uniquely large proportion of students who invest virtually nothing in campus life.
At first glance, I understand why this happens, and why YU is uniquely suited to experience this phenomenon. Some students view school as a place to get good grades and earn a diploma, and some students don’t even consider the former to be relevant. There’s often a deeply utilitarian understanding of what higher education is supposed to do: raise your attractiveness as a candidate in the job market. You pay a lot of money, end up with a bachelor’s degree, and everyone goes home happy.
Trends among young people demonstrate potential reasons why this may be occurring. Studies have indicated that college students often don’t view themselves as full adults, and the rise in helicopter (or snow-plow) styles of parenting create expectations from these students that life will be handed to them. Jewish parents appear to be no exception to this. Why should a student put in additional effort to be involved in a campus community if they’ve been raised to believe the community will always be involved in them?
Lastly, the religious component of YU provides additional opportunities for points of interest for involvement – and additional barriers, as well. The dual curriculum of YU provides little time for extensive activities outside of the classroom, and a significant portion of the student body avoids much (or all) co-ed programming, which limits the ability of such students to be involved in extracurriculars. Some students view investment in a club to be out-of-line or even at odds with religious development and growth.
Yet, even though I understand what inspires such a student, I lament the widespread nature of the given rationales. Extracurricular investment – whether it be assuming leadership roles or simply attending events – has been the defining feature of why I’ve enjoyed my YU experience so much. It’s cultivated a feeling of investment in my community that I hope to take with me to the spaces I will inhabit as I grow older. It’s given me tangible skills – communication, teamwork, responsibility, organization – and provides a deep sense of reward, far greater than doing well on a single exam or course.
I’ve gotten to meet and work with so many tremendously talented and capable people, both students and staff, in YU and beyond. Through student government, I’ve gotten to work with the Wilf Campus General Assembly, composed of four other student leaders who continue to inspire me with their dedication and commitment to their campus community, and Shalhevet Cohen, my Beren campus counterpart, who I feel similarly toward. In the YU Political Action Club (YUPAC) I’ve been grateful to be co-president with Shoshana Fisher, former students like Allie Orgen and Jaqueline Englanoff and a tremendous team of current students, including Hillel Golubchik, Judah Troodler, and Bat-Tzion Atik, all while promoting and fighting for Israel in an array of ways. And on YU National Model United Nations (YUNMUN), I’ve gotten to meet the next generation of high school students who will be pillars of their communities wherever they end up, as well as current and incredible YU undergraduates. All of these people are not just strong students – they are positioning themselves to be relevant players in the Modern Orthodox community beyond their higher educational years.
This leads me to my main concern about the lack of student involvement on campus. YU uniquely represents a denomination of the Jewish people, and lack of investment now will lead to lack of investment in the future. The values that make YU the pillar of the Modern Orthodox world are not meant to be limited to your three (or four) years on campus; they are meant to be honed here and taken beyond, wherever your post-graduate life may take you.
One of YU’s five core Torah values is chayim, life, and a mission of YU is for students “to take what they learn and implement it within their own lives as well as apply it to the real world around them.” I’m not sure that this idea always matriculates to the student body. The idea of positioning oneself to be best equipped to make an impact on the world around them seems to sometimes be lost on a large number of people here. Optional involvement in student activities – clubs, events, speeches – are frustratingly poorly attended, even when there’s no logistical or religious reason a student wouldn’t feel comfortable attending. And while I like to think I may have gotten the votes to be elected Yeshiva Student Union (YSU) president anyway, it’s not lost on me that the small handful of other candidates dropped out in advance of the race, leading to me running unopposed. I appreciated the lack of tension, but I lamented the lack of dedication: how is it that not a single other student was willing and able to be on the ballot to take such a leadership position?
However, even with my concerns and frustrations, I continue to believe. I believe in the people that compose our student body to be, as President Berman discusses time and time again, the leaders of tomorrow. I believe that the future faces of Modern Orthodoxy, not just the past and present, walk through the halls of Glueck, Furst, 215, and 245. And I believe that the world outside of YU will be better because of the people inside of it. I hope that you all believe it, too, and take advantage of the opportunities to be invested in the community, in ways large and small.
Photo Caption: Weinberg (second left from center) and other YU students on a trip to D.C.
Photo Credit: Sam Weinberg