Yeshiva University


Yeshiva University is a private university with four campuses in New York City, New York, United States. The university's undergraduate schools—Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, and Sy Syms School of Business—offer a dual curriculum inspired by Modern–Centrist–Orthodox Judaism's hashkafa of Torah Umadda, which synthesizes a secular academic education with the study of the Torah.
The majority of undergrad students at the university identify as Modern Orthodox. Hillel International estimates that nearly all of the university's undergraduate students are Jewish, while most of the graduate students are not. This is especially the case at the Cardozo School of Law, the Sy Syms School of Business, Katz School of Science and Health and the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology.
Yeshiva University is an independent institution chartered by New York State. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

History

Yeshiva University has its roots in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva founded in 1886 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a cheder-style elementary school founded by Eastern European immigrants that offered study of Talmud along with some secular education, including instruction in English. The rabbinical seminary was chartered in 1897.
When Lamm took office in 1976, Yeshiva was facing a serious financial crisis. As a result, some of the schools and programs had to be consolidated or closed. The renowned Belfer Graduate School of Science was closed in 1978. Once this was stabilized, additional divisions were added: For example, the Sy Syms School of Business, with divisions for both the undergraduate men and women was opened in 1988. At this time, many of the undergraduate students began to spend their first year studying in yeshivot and other schools in Israel, which has become an almost universal practice, and a Joint Israel Program regulating these studies was established to allow them to receive credit for this year at Yeshiva. RIETS also maintains a campus in Jerusalem, and many of the rabbinic students spend a year studying there as well. Over the course of Lamm's tenure, enrollment grew considerably to over 2000 undergraduate students. In addition to its undergraduate schools and affiliates, Yeshiva maintains graduate schools in Jewish studies, Jewish education and administration, social work, psychology, law, and medicine. There are over fifteen schools in total. In addition, numerous joint undergraduate-graduate programs with other schools in the New York area and beyond are maintained. The Yeshiva University Museum, an affiliate of the school, is now one of the components of the Center for Jewish History, located in downtown Manhattan.
Under Joel's leadership, Yeshiva University's endowment was invested in high-risk investments, including the funds of Bernard Madoff. Losses of at least $110 million resulted. In early 2014, Moody's lowered the school's bond rating by five steps to B1, junk bond level. To raise funds and cut costs, Yeshiva University has sold off real estate, and transferred control of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine to Montefiore Medical Center.
Joel created the Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future, folding other programs, both from within and from outside YU, into it.
In December 2012, Joel apologized over allegations that two rabbis at the college's high school campus abused boys there in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Investigations into these allegations by The Jewish Daily Forward and a law firm hired by the university found "multiple instances in which the university either failed to appropriately act to protect the safety of its students or did not respond to the allegations at all." These allegations led to a 380 million dollar lawsuit by former students. The case has since been dismissed.
In 2012 the Middle States Commission on Higher Education warned the university "that its accreditation may be in jeopardy because of insufficient evidence that the institution is currently in compliance with Standard 10 and Standard 14." On June 26, 2014, the Middle State Commission on Higher Education, which accredits the university "reaffirmed accreditation", but requested a progress report "evidence that student learning assessment information is used to improve teaching and learning." This was accepted by the commission on November 17, 2016.
In January 2016, the university disclosed plans to cede almost half of its $1 billion endowment to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, as the medical college enters a separate joint venture with Montefiore Health System.
In the 2020–2021 school year, Yeshiva University enrolled approximately 2,250 undergraduate students, and 2,700 graduate students. It is also home to affiliated high schools—Yeshiva University High School for Boys and Yeshiva University High School for Girls—and the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. It conferred 1,822 degrees in 2007 and offers community service projects serving New York, Jewish communities, the United States and Canada. As of 2015, the university had run an operating deficit for seven consecutive years. In 2014, it lost $84 million, and in 2013, it suffered a loss of $64 million.

Presidents

  • Bernard Revel 1915–1940
  • Samuel Belkin, 1943–1975
  • Norman Lamm, 1976–2003
  • Richard M. Joel, 2003–2017
  • Ari Berman, 2017–present

    Academics

Schools

The university's academic programs are organized into the following schools:
  • Yeshiva College for Men
  • Stern College for Women
  • Sy Syms School of Business
; Graduate and professional schools
  • Katz School of Science and Health
  • Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
  • Wurzweiler School of Social Work
  • Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration
  • Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies
  • Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology
  • Sy Syms School of Business
; Affiliates
The U.S. News & World Report's 2025 "America's Best Colleges" ranked Yeshiva University 98th in National University.
In 2023, Forbes ranked Yeshiva University as: No. 226 in "Top colleges 2023", No. 118 in Private Colleges, No. 143 in Research Universities, and No. 82 in the Northeast. Nationally, Yeshiva was ranked 138th by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and internationally it is ranked in the 900s by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities and 369th in the world by the QS World University Rankings.

Campuses

The university's main campus, Wilf Campus, is located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan. Yeshiva University's main office is located within the Wilf Campus, at 500 West 185th St. A 1928 plan to build a spacious Moorish Revival campus around several gardens and courtyards was canceled by the Great Depression of 1929 after only one building had been erected. Building continued after the Depression in modern style and by the acquisition of existing neighborhood buildings.
Since it was founded in 1886, Yeshiva University has expanded to comprise some twenty colleges, schools, affiliates, centers, and institutions, with several affiliated hospitals and healthcare institutions. It has campuses and facilities in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Israel.
The Yeshiva University Museum is a teaching museum and the cultural arm of Yeshiva University. Founded in 1973, Yeshiva University Museum is AAMG accredited and aims to provide a window into Jewish culture around the world and throughout history through multi-disciplinary exhibitions and publications.
The university's building in Jerusalem, in the Bayit VeGan neighborhood, contains a branch of the rabbinical seminary and an office coordinating the S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program. Under the latter, first year students studying in selected Israeli Yeshivot are considered YU undergraduates.

Student life

Student publications

The undergraduate university newspaper is The Commentator, and the newspaper for Stern College is The Observer. Law students at Cardozo also edit and publish five law journals. There are numerous other publications on a wide range of topics, both secular and religious, produced by the various councils and academic clubs, along with many official university publications and the university press. The call letters of the student radio station are WYUR, and it is currently an Internet-only station.

LGBTQ+ club controversy and lawsuit

Yeshiva University has been involved in legal proceedings since April 2021 after it blocked official recognition of a Pride Alliance club for undergraduate LGBTQ+ students and their allies.
Controversy over LGBTQ-supportive undergraduate groups has been ongoing since at least 2009, when students created a "Tolerance Club." Its purpose was to promote acceptance of diversity of people within the Yeshiva University community. A founding member said that the group had "determined that the school’s lack of diversity has fostered significant insensitivity to those outside of the mainstream Y.U. culture" and aimed to address that issue. The group's members included undergraduates at both the men's and women's campuses. Although not organized to address LGBTQ issues specifically, the group's promotion of tolerance for sexual and gender diversity generated controversy on the Yeshiva University campus; the student newspaper reported that the administration quashed a panel discussion because they objected to one of the speakers, a gay Orthodox rabbi. This controversy came to a head when the Tolerance Club sponsored a panel discussion entitled "Being Gay in the Orthodox World" in December, 2009. Several hundred people attended this panel discussion. Numerous Jewish news sources covered the panel and the conflict that enveloped the Yeshiva campus in its wake, and the Tolerance Club disbanded in May 2010.
A decade later, in 2021, undergraduate students sued the university for refusing to recognize a new LGBTQ+ student group, YU Pride Alliance. The university has retained the pro-religious practice law firm Becket Law as its counsel. A New York court ruled in June 2022 that the university must recognize the undergraduate Pride Alliance. The university appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in August 2022, and a temporary stay was issued by Justice Sotomayor. In a 5–4 decision the full court vacated the stay without prejudice, ruling the NY appeals process was incomplete and thus SCOTUS relief premature. In response, the university put all student clubs on hold in September 2022, pending resolution of their ongoing legal challenges. This lasted for a matter of weeks until an agreement was reached between the plaintiff and defense allowing other clubs to continue operating.
YU-affiliated Cardozo School of Law and the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology have publicly supported their own students and voiced their disapproval of the university's position and legal response. At Cardozo School of Law, there has long been an officially recognized LGBTQ+ student group, and the Graduate School of Psychology also publicly supports the LGBTQ members of their communities.
The university announced on October 24, 2022 that they approved "Kol Yisrael Areivim", a new LGBTQ student group. According to the university, this new group will be the "approved traditional Orthodox alternative to its current LGBTQ student group, the YU Pride Alliance". There is still a dispute with the Pride Alliance who claimed the university's action as a stunt and distraction. Administrators later described Kol Yisrael Areivim as "a framework within which we hope to eventually form a club". Kol Yisrael Areivim is not included on official club lists, and it does not have any student members. On April 10, 2023, student journalist reported that Kol Yisrael Areivim was still yet to hold a single event.
On March 19, 2025, Yeshiva University announced that it would recognize the LGBT student club, bringing an end to the lawsuit. The club renamed itself to "Hareni". According to the agreement, five events were pre-approved for the coming year, and the club would "operate consistent with all other student clubs at the University" and "not be required to submit to any approval or oversight procedures that are not required for all student Clubs." However, less than two months later, YU reversed itself and banned the club.