On Tuesday, May 9th, Head Librarian of the Heidi Sternberg Library Edith Lubetski sent out an email to the YU mailing list announcing that library hours at the Stern would be extended until 4:00 PM on the remaining two Fridays of the Spring 2017 semester, which fall on May 12th and May 19th. In her email to the student body Lubetski labeled the change an “experiment” and said that library usage will be evaluated “for future determination of hours.”

The hours have been extended from the typical 1:00 PM closing time on Fridays. The Mendel Gottesman Library is already scheduled to close at 4:00 PM on Fridays, hence why no extension was announced for the Wilf campus facilities.

While the extension may seem out the blue for most, it is actually comes in response to a single Stern student’s request, made only just last Thursday, May 4th. Maya Saketkhou SCW ‘18
emailed Paul Glassman, Director of University Libraries, to request the change. Maya told The Observer that when she noticed that the the Wilf library stays open until 4:00 PM while the Stern library closes 3 hours earlier, she figured, “I had nothing to lose by emailing them to ask why this was the case and ask if the Stern library could be open for longer hours on Friday to match that of the Wilf campus.”

Glassman responded to Saketkhou the next day promising that he would bring it up with the Lubetski and get back to her soon. Saketkhou said that Lubetski contacted her in less than a week to let her know that the change would be implemented for the rest of reading week as an experiment.

When asked about the extension by The Observer, Lubeskti said that they were able to implement the change after “two staff members graciously agreed to [each] take one of the Fridays” and after “arrangements with security” were made to “make sure the building would be open” until 4:00. On whether or not this would become a long term change Lubeskti responded that “It should be noted that there are very few patrons normally  on Friday at the Beren campus. [So] we will evaluate the usage this year and then determine what further action is necessary.” She made sure to not that the library staff is “always open to student suggestions and can act upon those that are reasonable and doable.”

On her experience with the issue Saketkhou said, “What I have learned— and I think many can learn— is that if you ever want something, it can’t hurt to ask for it.”

The post Friday Library Hours Extended at Stern After A Single Student’s Request appeared first on The Observer.

One of the requirements for applying to medical school is completing between one hundred and one hundred fifty clinical hours. This requirement is often met through volunteering at a local hospital. Somehow, much of the rhetoric I had been exposed to about this volunteering experience is that it is something that one does to get it over with. I was warned that the four-hour hospital shifts are mainly spent giving out orange juice and filing paper work, providing little if any exposure to physicians. The consensus seemed to be that this experience was relatively unimportant in terms of learning what it means to become a good doctor.

When I started volunteering, I found that my peers were mostly correct. Much of what I do at the hospital would generally be classified as trivial work. I refill patients’ water pitchers and bring them tea. I restock the gloves and other medical equipment and sometimes go to the hospital’s basement kitchen to pick up snacks for patients. And I rarely interact with the doctors. Yet each week, I found the work more fulfilling and have now come to view these four hour shifts as extremely important to my future medical career.

Part of what makes these four hours so formative is that they give me a lot of time to observe the dynamics of the hospital. I have developed an appreciation that a physician is only one part of a larger team that works together to meet a patient’s needs. This team ranges from the janitorial staff, to dieticians, physical therapists, social workers, nurses, physician assistants, clerks, secretaries and hospital managers. Each of these individuals works tirelessly and deserves tremendous respect for the care they deliver. As a result, I have come to value the importance of collaboration and respect that is vital to a physician’s role. I often interact with patients  who can not speak English and am beginning to appreciate the many non-medical challenges a doctor may face. Finally, I have seen how many patients are lonely and uncomfortable in a hospital setting and are too intimidated to even ask for an extra blanket or pillow. I hope and pray that I will remember these interactions when I am a physician, so that I may give each patient the attention they deserve, while trying to make it as comfortable as possible for them to express their needs.

However, the main way volunteering at the hospital has impacted me is far more personal. When I walk into each hospital room, I see a patient. But after interacting with them for a few minutes, I see a person who has a full life—someone’s mother, daughter, spouse and friend.  Volunteering at the hospital has pushed me to see beyond each patient’s frail exterior and glimpse the person they are inside. I meet immigrants from all over the world, along with men and women who have lived in Manhattan for over ninety years. The patients are extremely diverse, yet they all want the same thing: to recover and go back home. The hospital is a complex place where people can’t bring their wealth or accomplishments. All one has is their strength, resilience, sense of humor, personality and loved ones. I am inspired by the love and devotion of mothers sitting at their children’s bedsides and husbands sitting beside their wives. I am touched when patients in excruciating pain ask me how I am doing. My weekly shift at the hospital provides me with an important perspective regarding what really matters in life. It helps me remember that it is not graduate school acceptances that determine who I am, but the person I choose to be and the relationships I develop. I am reminded how precious life and especially health is, and that beyond our differences there is much that unites all of humanity. And I have also learned that there is no trivial job. Smiling at patients, asking them about their lives or bringing patients ice and pillows to slightly alleviate their pain is meaningful work and a highlight of my week.   

The post Volunteering at a Hospital: More than a Pre-med Requirement appeared first on The Observer.

As an American Jew growing up in New York, I was never really exposed to the world of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). I remember being jealous of all the kids who came back from Israel after school breaks, wearing the classic green sweatshirts emblazoned with the Tzahal insignia. I remember the elementary school assemblies where a former IDF soldier would speak about his or her experiences to a group of students who wanted to be anywhere but there. I was taught in high school by a former soldier about Zionism, something that the school administration deemed to be quite fitting. I only knew of the two famous brigades—Golani and Tzanchanim. To be frank; I was ignorant.

Let me clear the air before I go any further. I know how the military works. I happen to be the daughter of a U.S. naval veteran, so I grew up with the military in my veins. It shapes your whole way of being, even when you don’t mean it to or even want it to. But there’s something different about fighting for your country because you choose to rather than it being a national requirement when you reach adulthood. To me, there’s something both honorable and terrifying in knowing that you will be going to fight for the land that the Jews deserve, according to the Torah.

When I came to YU in the fall of 2014, I again naively didn’t think that I’d be so exposed to Israel and the IDF. I was sitting in a classroom in midtown Manhattan—roughly 7,000 miles away from the Holy Land, where my friends and twin brother were studying at the time. I went on Birthright my freshman year, where I got to know a few members that were serving at the time I happened to be there. Other than that, why would I need to be aware of it? I identified as an American. I just didn’t see the point.

But one year became two and two became three. I learned that some of the kids that I grew up and went to school with decided to make aliyah and enlist. I remember feeling this sense of pride for my childhood friends, while at the same time being terrified that I would wake up and hear news that I would never want to hear. Alongside that, the more and more I became enmeshed in the YU social life, I met more and more people who either had family in the IDF or had personally served. I became intrigued and wanted to learn more about a subject that was unfamiliar to me.

I started my research. I spent hours over the course of three years learning and absorbing information on the Israeli military. I read different books and looked up different websites that explained to me the different units and rankings. I learned that there were way more brigades and units aside from Golani and Tzanchanim, something I probably should’ve figured out a long time ago. I learned about defunct units and ones that were revived within the past twenty years. When I compared my father’s rank when leaving the U.S. Navy to the IDF, I discovered that if he had enlisted in the IDF, he would’ve left with a pretty high position. If you have the time, I truly recommend you read up on it—it’s fascinating to learn and it really opens your mind to what’s happening in the world around you.

I found something interesting about the veterans I met. Each person came from a different background, both religiously and personally. Each person had their own reasons why the IDF was the right choice for them. Each person had their own story. Some went because they were Israeli citizens and it was their duty, while some enlisted because they felt it was part of what they needed to do, becoming lone soldiers even as Americans. With each person I met, the more I realized how much growing up they needed to do in order to survive. They weren’t so much older than I was; in fact, some were even my own age! I might have had the military background, but I only knew it from the generation before me—never my own. I can’t even imagine enlisting and taking on both the physical and emotional responsibility of fighting for the state of Israel, and for some of the people I talked to, it seemed like the natural choice for them. They didn’t even think twice, never backing away from their decision.

As I’m penning this, we are getting close to Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut—two extremely important days for Israelis and Jews around the world. I think about how hard we fought to gain the land of Israel with the War of Independence in 1948, one which my maternal grandfather proudly served in. I consider the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War, where men and women my age or younger fought al kiddush Hashem for the sake of their country. I think of all the lives lost and all the lives that survived. I think of the attacks that occurred in the past few years, where our nation has come together to give support and pray for the protection of the people fighting for us. There are a few words that come to mind: Pride. Respect. Humility. Honor. Thank you.

So on behalf of myself and the student population at Yeshiva University, I say thank you. Thank you for risking your lives for the country that is our Jewish homeland. Thank you for playing a role in making the state of Israel as amazing as we’ve come to know it. Thank you for letting us support you, even when we didn’t know you personally. Thank you for stepping up when most of us can’t fathom of being in the position you were in. Thank you for making us believe in something greater than ourselves. Just…thank you.

The post An Ode to the IDF Veterans at Yeshiva University appeared first on The Observer.

My involvement with The Observer began accidentally. I hadn’t been active in my high school’s paper and, as a pre-med student who cares little about breaking news, I had no interest in writing, let alone serving an editorial position, for my college paper. Then a YU Rosh Yeshiva made a statement regarding women’s Talmud learning that undermined the pride and love with which my peers and I studied Talmud each day. We felt confused, upset and misunderstood within our community. And there seemed to be nothing we could do to rectify the situation.

But then I realized that I could respond in The Observer and submitted an article replying to the statement. I can’t say the article brought about any real change. In fact, since then there have been other insensitive statements made by leaders of the YU community disrespecting women’s Torah learning. However, hundreds of students did read the article, and for a day, or maybe just a few minutes, it created a conversation about women’s Torah learning. The article received many comments from both friends and strangers. Some applauded me for my words, while others critiqued me for being far too liberal or not feminist enough. I read each comment with excitement, struck by the realization that it was the first time I felt part of a community at YU where students care and are interested in one another.

The Observer and The Commentator serve many purposes. News pieces keep our students informed about changes throughout the university, interviews allow for a better appreciation of YU’s students and faculty, while feature articles cover events and programming that take place throughout the week and opinions sections give students a chance to share their perspectives, thoughts and frustrations. Having a strong newspaper creates leadership positions and instills pride in the student body. But the main purpose of the YU newspapers, which encompasses all the reasons I have listed, is that they create a community within our school.

The newspapers have more readers than any YU program has participants. Events at YU tend to be monolithic, attracting a specific group of likeminded individuals. The newspapers, on the other hand, bring together a far more diverse group of students allowing them to, at least intellectually, interact and learn from one another. I read both The Observer and The Commentator each month with genuine interest and enthusiasm to learn more about what is taking place throughout our community and to better understand its members. Both newspapers have been an important part of my YU experience.

However, I fear that many students overlook the potential that lies within YU’s two papers. Instead of viewing them as community builders and meeting points, they view them as competitors. People often ask me if I mind that The Observer is sometimes disrespected. I don’t mind when people criticize The Observer and would be happy and interested to read constructive articles critiquing this paper. But the competitive rhetoric, extolling one paper over the other, is saddening because it represents a missed opportunity to create a stronger community. Competition is important in capitalist societies. But our newspapers are free and don’t need to compete over readers. Each newspaper helps create a community for both its individual campus and for YU as a whole, through sparking community wide conversations via sharing various students’ points of view and working to keep the student body informed about the university.  Our two papers could be supporting one another in the effort of building and creating a more vibrant community. Students often bemoan the lack of community at YU and dream of new initiatives to foster a stronger community. I commend them for their efforts but also want to remind each one of us that we already have a powerful tool in our hands. Let’s not throw this opportunity away. Instead, we should work together to view our papers with pride as representatives and creators of  a strong YU community.

The post On Newspapers and Community appeared first on The Observer.

It’s a Monday afternoon. I sit in the cafeteria, drinking my second cup of coffee for the day and catching up on the latest episode of Madam Secretary that I missed the night before. As I take a sip, I look around at my surroundings. Everywhere I look, I see the “same” girls sitting down, eating their salads, talking about the stereotypical young, Jewish girl issues—their GPAs, who is dating whom and which girl from their seminary just got engaged or married. It shouldn’t bother me that they are all dressed alike, but for some reason, it does. There’s nothing that seems strikingly different about each girl I glance at, although I’m sure there’s something there if I took the time to talk to them.

It seems to be a recurring theme that not one girl in the Orthodox Jewish community is different from one another—emphasis on the word seems. It seems like they are all Bio majors, looking to get the grant for Stern College students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. They all seem to worry about their best friends getting engaged before they do. They all seem to want to be the picture-perfect “Good Orthodox Jewish girl,” but failing to adhere to all the rules, although they give the impression that they are upholding them. But is it so wrong to not be the perfect person? Is it alright to be a little unorthodox while still maintaining your values?

I start to think about who I am inherently. I grew up in a Modern Orthodox home, with a TV and access to movies and theater. I went to a Modern Orthodox yeshiva for my formative school years. My father received semicha when I was seventeen, so I am technically a rabbi’s daughter. I am shomer shabbat and shomer kashrut. Although my twin brother studied in Israel for the year, I chose to go straight to college, something that some people in Yeshiva University can’t fathom doing. I have my struggles with trying to figure out what religious level of Judaism I choose to live by, something that ironically didn’t start until I came to Stern. I choose to wear pants, something that a small group of people at this university physically turn the other way for. I don’t worry about getting engaged, because frankly, I’m not ready to start dating. I’m more concerned about getting a job after graduation than about what ring I am going to receive for my non-existent engagement. I choose to be accepting of all types of people, rather than surround myself with the same type of person. I could go on forever about my choices, but either way, I’d probably win the same prize: “Bad Orthodox Jewish Girl.”

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, one definition of the word orthodox is “conforming to [an] established doctrine, especially in religion.” The Orthodox Jewish community has come to believe that the word refers to how tzniut your outfits are, whether you keep Shabbat, the laws of kashrut, or whether you go to synagogue every week. The Orthodox community has come to accept that, in order to be a practicing Orthodox Jew, you need to live by an arbitrary set of rules that you only follow because you need to keep up with the people surrounding you. It’s a contradiction that we really need to consider. I think about this concept a lot, probably more than I should. I don’t know why this bothers me so much—it shouldn’t. I grew up in it, and I should see no problem in being Orthodox… But I do. Every day, I question what it is to be an Orthodox Jew while still being me.

I learned to view Judaism as something that shouldn’t be “black or white”—you either do this or you do that. I wouldn’t have a great relationship with my dad’s side if I did. Our religion shouldn’t have any labels, although we often thrive on what level of Orthodoxy we’re on, or where our family is from, or who our family knows that could help us find the perfect shidduch. We shouldn’t conform to what we know/grew up with and never question our beliefs. What we really need to do is be unorthodox while still being Orthodox. We need to question what we think we know. We need to be accepting of everyone and their ways of believing in God. We need to be supportive of one another, despite our differences. In a world that often hates others for being different, we should form a community and protect our fellow brothers and sisters, despite clashes on world or religious views. Although I will admit that I’m not a saint, I do try (keyword: try) to be understanding of everyone’s methods of religion, even if I personally don’t agree.

Back in the cafeteria, I hear my name from a distance and I glance away from my TV episode. I see one of my closest friends approach me for our planned lunch date. From the outside, we couldn’t be any more different—she is dressed like the girl I described previously, and I am in a pair of jeans and a baggy sweatshirt, with no patience to put together a nice outfit for the day. But underneath appearances comes a friendship forged from the first day of our university years. We look past our differences and look at what makes each of us unique, which is exactly the type of person I need to be around. Our views on religion may be different (she is a little more “to the right” on the religious spectrum than I believe I am), but our friendship was never based on that. It’s based on loyalty, trust and acceptance of the other’s beliefs, without questions or expectations to be different.

Maybe at some point there will be a way to merge the unorthodox and the Orthodox views. Until then, I will continue to question my values and go through trial and error until I gain my own beliefs.

The post Being Unorthodox in an Orthodox World appeared first on The Observer.

According to New York City property records filed on Wednesday, April 26th, Yeshiva University has refinanced five of its main properties in Manhattan using a $140 million mortgage from debt fund managers Silverpeak Argentic Real Estate Finance LLC and Citigroup’s Citi Real Estate Funding Inc. The structure of the refinancing involved placing the properties, located at 2495 and 2520 Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights (Pollack and Gottesman Library and Belfer Hall), and 215, 245 and 253 Lexington Avenue in Murray Hill, into a wholly university owned limited liability company called Y Properties Holdings LLC. The transfer was conducted as part of a sale and leaseback transaction in which the properties were leased back by Yeshiva University.

The new mortgage was used to redeem $175 million in taxable bonds held by UMB Bank, which the university had issued in August 2014. The remaining principal balance owing on the bonds was approximately $125 million.

The status of YU’s bonds was upgraded in February from a “negative” to “stable” B3 junk rating by Moody’s Investors Service, as reported in The YU Commentator. The credit rating referenced an increased and now “sufficient level of unrestricted liquidity” as a “stabilizing factor” during the transitional period of new university presidency, but also considered YU to be in “very weak fiscal and operational condition.”

The rating also accounted for “the likelihood of full recovery for bondholders from marketable real estate assets if the sale of those assets were to become necessary.” By refinancing the buildings through a loan to Y Properties and putting in place a lease in favor of Yeshiva University, the university is transferring some of its assets to Y Properties in title. However, as the sole member of Y Properties, YU will still retain them as assets to be used by the university.

“The University continues to evaluate ways to improve its operations,” said Mr. Avi Lauer, Vice President for Legal Affairs, Secretary and General Counsel. “In this case, we were able to refinance our long term debt at a more favorable interest rate, which will help the University reduce its annual debt costs.”

At President Richard Joel’s final Wilf Town Hall on March 29th, he stated that the university hopes to reduce its deficit to $27 million by the end of this year, and $17 million by the end of next year.

The post YU Refinances Five Properties with New $140 Million Loan appeared first on The Observer.

As YU increases its number of summer course offerings from thirty-four in 2016 to forty-five in 2017, it has also upped tuition by $15, from $525 per credit in 2016 to $540 per credit in 2017. In addition to the continuing $200 in registration and university fees paid by all students, most students enrolled in a standard 3-credit course will now pay $1820 instead of last year’s $1775 tuition. Visiting students will continue to pay an additional $65 application fee prior to enrollment, and all students enrolling in labs will still be subject to any additional lab fees.

Sofia Binioris, Director for New Programs and Special Initiatives at the Katz School, noted that this is “within a normal annual increase” range. Provost Selma Botman said that the university has “adopted minor increases due to regular rising costs.” The percent increase in tuition is 3% this year, which is actually lower than the 5% increase between 2014 and 2015 from $500 to $525.

Another notable change to this year’s summer courses is on the administrative end. Previously managed primarily by the Office of the Provost, the courses are now being overseen by the Katz School of Graduate Studies.

“Summer courses have always been made possible through a collaboration between university administrators and faculty in YU’s three undergraduate schools,” said Botman. “As YU’s Summer Session has expanded over the past few years, we have asked the Katz School to take on a leadership role. Summer school remains, however, a collaborative effort that includes Katz administrators, deans, chairs and faculty of the three undergraduate schools.”

Forty-five classes are being offered over the course of the two sessions, excluding YU’s three travel programs. Pending enrollments, there are currently seventeen online, two blended, and twenty-six on-campus courses. The number of repeating courses—those with identical course numbers which are being offered either both online and on-campus, or those being offered during both first and second session—totals four. Excluding these repeating courses, the total course tally is forty-one.

Additional repeating slots of certain courses may be added in response to popular demand as the enrollment period continues, while under-enrolled courses may be cancelled. Just as second and third slots of online Account Principles II were added prior to the start of first session last year, Binioris suggested that a second slot for Physics I Lab may be added to meet already evident student interest. The school has since added second and third lab slots. 

The Katz School partly shaped its course offerings based on a survey it conducted in the fall, and also worked with the undergraduate deans and department faculty of Stern, YC and Syms to determine what students might need to take in order to fulfill their major and general requirements. The preference of the course instructor, or the home campus of the department that recommended the course, frequently determined whether a course would be offered on Beren or Wilf.

Some price increases have also been applied to YU’s summer travel courses. Returning this year is the month-long archaeological fieldwork Honors course in Gath, Israel in July, which cost $3500 last year; this year it will cost $3700 to account for a $200 increase in room and board. Two new Honors courses on the “Dutch Golden Age” will both span New York City and Amsterdam and cost $540 per credit, plus $200 in combined university and registration fees and the additional cost of independently arranged airfare. Depending on the price of airfare, the cost of these latter two courses for a given student could either increase or decrease. All other costs—including in-country transportation, room and board, and food—will be subsidized by the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought.

The number of online courses is consistent with last summer’s count. Binioris said that though there will still be seventeen offered overall, “the university’s repertoire of online offerings grows each year,” since over time new courses have been added while others have been selectively preserved. For instance, Forensic Psychology will be making an encore along with Terrorism, while Human Physiology—a combined lecture/lab—will newly be taught partly online. For the first time, there will also be a Jewish History course taught fully online.

“There were significantly more people in online courses than in face-to-face courses,” Binioris noted of last year’s enrollment pattern. “We’ll see over time if that continues or if it’s more about what we’re offering, and less about the format. I think even knowing how busy YU students are in the summer, it makes sense that the online courses are really attractive. You can still have a life outside school, and you can take a job or internship or summer camp or whatever it is you want to do, and continue to make progress.”

The post Summer Tuition Raised as Number of Courses is Increased appeared first on The Observer.

A new full-time chemistry professor, Dr. Ran Drori, will be starting at Stern College in the upcoming fall semester in the place of longtime professor Dr. Evan Mintzer. Drori is a post-doctoral researcher at New York University, and will be teaching Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry, which are both mandatory for the Biochemistry and Chemistry majors and commonly taken by pre-med students.

Rapp said that the selection committee was “pleased to receive interest from an outstanding group of candidates.” The selection involved a national search to screen candidates in the post-doctoral phase of their career. She described hiring more full-time faculty as enabling Yeshiva University to “offer more courses, provide more research opportunities, and overall better serve the needs of our students.”

Even prior to learning which chemistry course Drori would be teaching, students expressed pleasure at this development. According to several biology and chemistry majors, chemistry courses at Stern are considered primary weed-out courses—in other words, designed to pick out the best candidates for medical school through “survival of the fittest.” Some hope the new course will be easier than others in order to boost the morale of younger undergraduates hoping for careers in medicine and other sciences. Said an anonymous junior, “I hope this new professor teaches a rigorous, informative course while also encouraging young women interested in the sciences to pursue their goals and help them get the support that they need if they are struggling.”

Drori is a “first rate researcher and teacher who is a leading expert in the field of ice crystallization and antifreeze binding proteins,” explained Dr. Chaya Rapp, the current chair of the Biochemistry and Chemistry departments at Stern and longtime professor of its General Chemistry course. “His research spans the fields of chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics and so we anticipate that it will appeal to a broad range of students. He is a great communicator with a contagious enthusiasm for science.”

Dr. Drori described his research to The Observer as involving “a family of remarkable proteins that bind to the surface of ice crystals and inhibit their growth. These unique proteins, which are termed antifreeze proteins, allow fish, insects and other organisms to survive at sub-freezing temperature. Using advanced microscopy, I plan to study how plants respond to low temperatures and ice formation, with an ultimate goal to develop frost-resistant plants.”

Drori’s hiring fills a vacancy from the departure of Adjunct Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr. Evan Mintzer, who had been teaching at Stern since 2007. Mintzer has served as the Deputy Chair of Chemistry and Physics at Touro’s Lander College for Arts and Sciences since September 2014, where he will be continuing in a reportedly upgraded position.

The post Stern Hires New Organic Chemistry Professor Following Mintzer’s Departure appeared first on The Observer.

On April 26th, the Wilf Campus Constitution received its first update since 2014, as the student body voted in three amendments to the document. These newly authorized changes reflect the student council’s response to the ever changing and developing Wilf community, and its attempt to fully and accurately represent all of its constituents.

“The Wilf Campus Constitution went through the amendment ratification process because the student council felt that there were certain regulations in our current system which were either obsolete, viewed as pointless, or something deemed necessary in order to adapt to the ever changing type of student body and culture here on Wilf,” said SYMS Student Council President Akiva Koppel. “Essentially, we thought the constitution needed updating, as any governing document anywhere regularly should be updated, and we gave the students three weeks to submit an idea for an amendment to our constitution via Google forms.”

The voting process was relatively simple and the same as it has been in recent years. Students proposed amendments to the General Assembly (GA), which consists of the four male student council presidents and one Student Life Committee chairman. The GA then made the final decision on which suggestions would appear on the ballot, which the student body voted on as part of the general election on April 26th.

“The GA narrowed five submitted proposals down to three we found imperative, and those were on the ballot this past Wednesday,” Koppel explained. This is precisely in accordance with the campus constitution, which, in Article XIII, Section 1, (5) states, “Ratification of amendments shall be by three-fifths of votes cast by the Student Body during the Amendment Vote, excluding blanks.”

Various members of student council, such as the YU Canvassing Chair, were involved at different stages in the ratification process. Moshe Lehman, who currently occupies this position, explained that after the GA approves the votes, it is his responsibility to clarify any constitutional changes to the student body, and to ensure that students fully understand them. The Canvassing Committee is also responsible for ensuring that all candidates are qualified to run, and for any other technical matters such as campaign spending.

The student body voted in all three amendments on the ballot. The changes include allowing SOY presidential candidates to come from any morning program as opposed to the largest morning program, the addition of a PR secretary to the SOY board, and, effective next election, the requirement of the Office of Student Life to completely disclose the percentage of votes each presidential candidate receives in the Wilf student council elections.

“I believe it was important to incorporate these changes and I was very happy that the student body approved the three amendments,” said Koppel. “There was a fourth amendment that I thought was worth putting on the ballot…but the GA voted it down with three against, one for, and one abstention. This amendment proposed having female justices on the student court, being nominated by the SCWSC president and not just the YSU president, and for the Student Court to preside over female students as well as male students. My thinking was that bringing female justices onto the court and having jurisdiction over all female students, when on the Wilf campus, would be the best way to push the Beren council women to create a court and/or join ours. We are one university and one group of people—if there is any time to get the Beren crew on board, the time is now.”

The majority of the GA, however, did not agree with this proposition—or, at least, did not see it as a viable way to encourage the Beren campus to form a court—and the proposal therefore did not appear on the ballot.

Another proposal, which suggested renaming a handful of YSU board positions with more elite titles, was also turned down in a three to two vote. Though the proposal intended to boost productivity and morale within the council, some did not view retitling as the best way to accomplish this. “I voted against it, as I believed that giving fancier names on a resume will not necessarily change the outcome of service, especially when the work and requirements will remain the same,” said Koppel.   

Regardless of the actual constitutional changes, the ratification process ensures a generally positive reception, as student involvement is encouraged along the way and the final vote is left up to the student body. Still, it may be too early to determine the effects of these particular changes. Lehman stated that, though he believes the effects are not yet apparent, he has heard “rumblings” among students about amendments they agree with and others that are inciting dispute. Further potential effects of the amendments remain to be seen.

The post Wilf Votes On, Passes All Three Constitutional Amendments appeared first on The Observer.

Stern College has introduced a new section for Calculus I geared towards students pursuing biological and pre-health studies. The fall semester class will be focused on applications relevant to the biomedical and life sciences and is intended to “better fit student interests” and “better equip students with specific skills that will help them in their future academic and career paths,” according to Dr. Marian Gidea, Chair of Mathematics at Stern.

For the past three consecutive semesters, Calculus I has been taught to one larger class capped at 30 students. Next semester’s two smaller classes are each capped at 20 students, though both classes fill the same Calculus I requirement and look identical on transcripts as MATH 1412. The targeted course is akin to Stern’s specialized Intro to Statistics slot tailored to Psychology majors.

The four-credit Calculus I course is compulsory for seven Stern College majors: Biochemistry, Chemistry, Economics, Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Physics and Pre-Engineering. Calculus I also fills the selective math requirements for Biology and Computer Science. As of fall 2016, 31% of Stern students are registered under one of these majors; 25% of Stern students are registered as Biology majors.

The new class will be taught by Adjunct Professor Dr. Maxwell Musser, while the traditional Calculus I class will be taught by University Professor of Mathematics Dr. Morton Lowengrub. Musser has been teaching at Yeshiva College since the Spring 2016 semester, and previously taught for six years at the City College of New York. His teaching experience encompasses basic math courses like Precalculus, Algebra and Trigonometry, along with more advanced courses like Calculus I and II, Linear Algebra and Advanced Euclidean Geometry.

Musser was chosen to teach the course because of his prior experience in teaching Calculus material specifically for Biology majors. He will continue to teach at YC as he commences his first semester at Stern.

“While the main body of knowledge of Calculus is the same regardless of major, Calculus is used differently in the biomedical world than it is in physics and engineering,” noted Gidea. “For instance, mathematical modeling of blood flowing in a blood vessel is quite different from modeling vibrations in an engine. Good examples that fit students’ interests improve the understanding of the subject matter, and motivate students in their study.

“We believe that this will be a great addition to our course offerings, and we plan to continue this in the future, paying, of course, close attention to students’ feedback.”

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