 | |
| Motto | תורה ומדע (Hebrew) |
|---|---|
Motto in English | Torah and secular knowledge |
| Type | Private university |
| Established | 1886; 139 years ago (1886)[1] |
| Accreditation | MSCHE |
Religious affiliation | Modern Orthodox Judaism |
Academic affiliations | NAICU[2] |
| Endowment | $484 million (2022) |
| President | Ari Berman |
Academic staff | 4,714 |
| Undergraduates | 2,243 |
| Postgraduates | 2,688 |
| Location | , New York ,U.S. 40°51′02″N73°55′47″W / 40.85056°N 73.92972°W /40.85056; -73.92972 |
| Campus | Urban, 300 acres (120 ha) |
| Newspaper |
|
| Colors | Yeshiva Blue Yeshiva Black Yeshiva Gray[3] |
| Nickname |
|
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division III –Skyline |
| Mascot | The Maccabee |
| Website | yu.edu |
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Yeshiva University is aprivateOrthodox Jewish university with four campuses inNew York City, New York, United States.[4] The university's undergraduate schools—Yeshiva College,Stern College for Women, Katz School of Science and Health, andSy Syms School of Business—offer a dual curriculum inspired byModern–Centrist–OrthodoxJudaism'shashkafa (philosophy) ofTorah Umadda ("Torah and secular knowledge"), which synthesizes a secular academic education with the study of theTorah.[5]
The majority of students at the university identify asModern Orthodox.[6]Hillel International estimates that nearly all of the university's undergraduate students are Jewish,[7] while most of the graduate students are not (excluding Rabbinical students atRIETS, all of whom are Jewish). This is especially the case at theCardozo School of Law, theSy Syms School of Business, and theFerkauf Graduate School of Psychology.[7]
Yeshiva University is an independent institution chartered byNew York State.[8][9][10][11] It is accredited by theMiddle States Commission on Higher Education.[12]
Yeshiva University has its roots in theEtz Chaim Yeshiva founded in 1886 on theLower East Side of Manhattan, acheder-style elementary school founded by Eastern European immigrants that offered study ofTalmud along with some secular education, including instruction in English.[citation needed] 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.[13] Once this was stabilized, additional divisions were added: For example, theSy 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 (or more) 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 ofBernard Madoff. Losses of at least $110 million resulted.[14] In early 2014, Moody's lowered the school's bond rating by five steps to B1, junk bond level.[15] To raise funds and cut costs, Yeshiva University has sold off real estate, and transferred control of theAlbert Einstein College of Medicine to Montefiore Medical Center.[16]
Joel created theYeshiva 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.[17][18] Investigations into these allegations byThe Jewish Daily Forward[19] and a law firm hired by the university[20] 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.[21] The case has since been dismissed.[22]
In 2012 theMiddle 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 (Faculty) and Standard 14 (Assessment of Student Learning)." 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 (wherein the university met the minimum requirements for accreditation).[23]
In January 2016, the university disclosed plans to cede almost half of its $1 billion endowment to theAlbert Einstein College of Medicine, as the medical college enters a separate joint venture withMontefiore Health System.[24]
In the 2020–2021 school year, Yeshiva University enrolled approximately 2,250 undergraduate students, and 2,700 graduate students.[25] It is also home to affiliated high schools—Yeshiva University High School for Boys and Yeshiva University High School for Girls—and theRabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). It conferred 1,822 degrees in 2007 and offers community service projects serving New York, Jewish communities, the United States and Canada.[26] 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.[27]
The university's academic programs are organized into the following schools:[35]
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Forbes[36] | 226 |
| U.S. News & World Report[37] | 98 (tie) |
| Washington Monthly[38] | 267 |
| Global | |
| ARWU[39] | 901-1000 |
| QS[40] | =624 |
| U.S. News & World Report[41] | 265 |
TheU.S. News & World Report's 2025 "America's Best Colleges" ranked Yeshiva University 98th (tie) in National University.[42]
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.[43] Nationally, Yeshiva was ranked 138th by theTimes Higher Education World University Rankings,[44] and internationally it is ranked in the 900s by theShanghai Jiao Tong University'sAcademic Ranking of World Universities[45] and 369th in the world by theQS World University Rankings.[46]
The university's main campus, Wilf Campus, is located in theWashington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan. Yeshiva University's main office is located within the Wilf Campus, at 500 West 185th St.[47] A 1928 plan to build a spaciousMoorish Revival campus around several gardens and courtyards was canceled by theGreat 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.[48]
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 inManhattan (Washington Heights,Murray Hill,Greenwich Village),the Bronx,Queens, and Israel.
TheYeshiva 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 inJerusalem, in theBayit VeGan neighborhood, contains a branch of the rabbinical seminary and an office coordinating theS. Daniel Abraham Israel Program.[49] Under the latter, first year students studying in selected Israeli Yeshivot are considered YU undergraduates.
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The undergraduate university newspaper isThe Commentator, and the newspaper for Stern College isThe Observer. Law students at Cardozo also edit and publish fivelaw 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.[50]
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.[51][52]
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.[53] The group's members included undergraduates at both the men's and women's campuses.[53] 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.[53] 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 newLGBTQ+ student group, YU Pride Alliance.[54] The university has retained the pro-religious practice law firmBecket 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 theU.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.[55][56] In response, the university put all student clubs on hold in September 2022, pending resolution of their ongoing legal challenges.[57] This lasted for a matter of weeks until an agreement was reached between the plaintiff and defense allowing other clubs to continue operating.[58]
YU-affiliatedCardozo School of Law and theFerkauf 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.[55]
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".[59] There is still a dispute with the Pride Alliance who claimed the university's action as a stunt and distraction.[60] Administrators later described Kol Yisrael Areivim as "a framework within which we hope to eventually form a club".[61] 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.[62]
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".[63] 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."[64] However, less than two months later, YU reversed itself and banned the club.[65][66]
Student groups include the Yeshiva University Dramatics Society (YCDS), which puts on a performance each semester. A student-run group known as the Heights Initiative sponsors several outreach programs that work with the schools and organizations of the Washington Heights community. Student Government is run through YSU, YCSA, SOY-JSC, and SYMS. Additionally, these groups run community events like the annual Hanukkah Concert and a carnival celebrating Israeli Independence Day.
The Yeshiva University Medical Ethics Society (MES) is an undergraduate student-run organization of Yeshiva University which was founded by students in the fall of 2005 with the help of the Center for the Jewish Future toward the goal of promoting education and awareness of Jewish medical ethics in the university itself and the community at large. In the first several years, the group hosted a program of on-campus lectures in the field of medical ethics and Halakha (Jewish law). They also host genetic testing events to help combat the high incidence of various genetic diseases in the Jewish community.[citation needed]
Yeshiva University includes a number ofNCAA Division III-level sports teams. The teams, nicknamed "The Maccabees",[67] include: men's baseball, basketball, golf, volleyball, wrestling, women's basketball, cross country, fencing, soccer, tennis, and volleyball.
Because of Yeshiva's dual curriculum, most of the sports teams practice at night, sometimes even as late as 11:00 pm. A few of the sports teams practice or work out before classes begin at 9:00 am; for example, the men's basketball team routinely practices at 6:00 am.[68]
Teams have participated in weekend tournaments outside of New York City, with athletes staying with local families in the area. This took place in Boston with the basketball and fencing teams, and in Hollywood, Florida with the baseball team in 2008. Some international students have participated in NCAA sports, with as many as nine different nationalities representing the school on the sports field.[69]
Two members of the Yeshiva Maccabees Baseball team were drafted out of college by professional teams of theIsraeli Baseball League. Pitcher Aryeh Rosenbaum celebrated a championship with his team in the IBL's first year.[70] From 2023 to 2025, the Maccabees went on a 100 game losing streak spanning three years. On April 8th, 2025, Yeshiva broke their streak with a 9–5 victory overLehman College in the second game of a split doubleheader.[71]
Yeshiva's Men's Basketball team is an annual playoff contender. The most successful eras for Yeshiva basketball in recent history have been at the start and end of the 1990s, as well as the dawn of the 2020s. Banners hang in the Max Stern Athletic Center commemorating seasons from both eras. The 2007–08 season had particular note as Yeshiva was home to theSkyline Conference's Rookie of the Year. In 2018, the team won the Skyline Conference title in a game againstSUNY Purchase, earning its first-ever NCAA berth and considerable media coverage.[72] The current head coach of the team isElliot Steinmetz, who has been with the team since 2014. Steinmetz succeeded Jonathan Halpert, the longest ever tenured NCAA men's basketball coach in New York City at 42 years.[73] Steinmetz, a practicing lawyer, has been especially successful at attracting high caliber athletes, recognizing that Yeshiva's status in the Orthodox Jewish world means its athletics programs have unique access to a global talent pool from which to recruit players.[74]
In the 2019–20 season, the men's basketball team's only loss was in the season opener, with the Maccabees going on to win the Skyline Conference championship. This was the second time in three years that the Maccabees made the NCAA Division III Tournament. They won the first two rounds, pushing them into the Sweet Sixteen (3rd round) for the first time in school history. Before they played in the third round, the NCAA tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. After a 7–0 season in 2020–21 also abbreviated by COVID-19, the Maccabees entered the 2021–22 season on a 36-game winning streak, the longest current streak in NCAA men's basketball in any division, and were ranked #2 in the preseason by the Division III basketball websiteD3hoops.com. During this streak, the team was featured by media outlets as diverse asESPN,CNN, theNew York Daily News, theLos Angeles Times, andThe Wall Street Journal.[68] After previous #1Randolph–Macon lost in overtime, the Maccabees, with their winning streak having reached 44 games, inherited the #1 ranking in theD3hoops.com poll released on November 29, 2021, marking the first time any Yeshiva team had topped any national poll.[75] The Maccabees received recognition from the ESPN and NBA Twitter accounts for their 50th straight win, the longest winning streak in NCAA Men's Division III Basketball.[76][77]
As of December 29, 2021, the men's basketball team held the then-longest active winning streak in men's college basketball with 50 consecutive wins.[78] On December 30, 2021, the men's basketball team lost their winning streak.[79]
One of the most successful teams in Yeshiva University sports history is the fencing team, known as the "Taubermen", named after the coach of the team, Professor Arthur Tauber, who served as the head coach of the team from 1949 through 1985.[80]
In 2014, the Men's Tennis team won the Skyline Conference championship, becoming the first team in school history to advance to the NCAA tournament in any sport. In 2015,[81] the Men's Tennis team repeated as Skyline Conference champions and went back to the NCAA National Tournament, advancing to the second round.[82] They lost to the defending National Champions Amherst[83] College. In 2016, the Men's Tennis team won the Skyline Conference a third year in a row[84] and advancing to the NCAA D3 National Tennis Tournament again. The Men's Tennis team repeated as Skyline Conference champions in 2017 and 2018 to extend this streak of success to five consecutive NCAA National Tournament appearances.
Olympic gold medalistHenry Wittenberg was at one time the coach of the wrestling team.[85]
Since 2010, the Men's Cross Country and Men's Volleyball teams have won multiple championships.[86][87] Many of the Maccabees have gained attention nationwide, like Sam Cohen won an individual championship as well as Capital One Academic honors.[88] Other attention grabbers come from Women's Basketball and Women's Fencing.[89][90]
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