When I attended YU, like many of my friends, I had what could be described as a benign attitude towards YU. I was by no means an absent student, as I headed several clubs and participated in shabbatons, but I never felt a particularly positive or negative attitude towards YU.
Surprisingly, the first time I felt really proud of being a YU alumnus was last Chanuka when the Maccabeats published their hit song. At the time, I was working at a secular Jewish school outside New York. When I walked into my fifth grade class, my students would not stop singing the song. I was even more taken aback when the school played the music video at the Chanuka spirit rally. Most of these kids never heard of YU, and now I was super cool because I once shared a class with the astronaut.
Looking back, it’s a little sad that it took the Maccabeats to make me feel proud of YU. In fact, the Yeshiva University family of schools are some of the top schools in the country. Einstein Medical School hosts cutting edge research, while Cordozo alumni include some of the top lawyers in the country. Even Yeshiva College has professors who have received thousands in grant money to conduct research. However, these accomplishments rarely make headlines, and in fact are not out of the norm for other Universities.
What is making headlines is YU’s trend toward censorship. I cannot relate how upset I was to open up Fox News on Thursday to see a story about YU cutting the Beacon’s funding. I had already read the Beacon column that caused the controversy, and my reaction was that the story was PG13 at best. However, I did appreciate that it made an attempt to bring to light something that I know as a former student happens at YU. In addition, the fact that the character in the story relates that she regrets her actions hints to an issue in the Jewish community. The reality is that Modern Orthodox kids, whether in high school or college, are doing the same things other kids their age are doing, but because their actions are taboo, we sweep them under the rug and fail to educate or even acknowledge what is going on. However, though the article could have opened fresh dialogue, it has instead led to a national story about how YU and/or fellow YU students censor other students.
It is ironic that the day after I read the Fox News article, I saw another article about how YU will filter the Internet because of a group of students that complained about their addiction to porn. Again, I perceived an inappropriate reaction by the administration and by the school’s rabbis. If these students have an addiction, they need help. Students need to deal with their issues, whether they be porn or drugs. Porn addiction, like premarital sex, alcoholism, or homosexuality is a topic that the Modern Orthodox community needs to address. Our reaction cannot be to sweep everything under the rug and censor as an attempt to deal with issues that we need to discuss. New Square (a private community of chasidim in upstate new york) has banned computers in houses because of the issue of porn. Is that where YU is leading us?
To be clear, I am ashamed to be a YU alumnus not because of what others outside YU might think. I am ashamed because YU is supposed to represent the Modern Orthodox community and lead us. However, YU is not leading anyone; it is clutching at a failed method that will only hurt us and our future.