New York, New York -- Michael John Kay’s homosexuality was not an issue during his years as a law student at Yeshiva University -- until graduation day.
At the commencement ceremony in June, Mr. Kay, an elected student speaker, publicly thanked his partner of many years and told him he loved him. The speech prompted uncomfortable murmurs from some members of the audience and a standing ovation from many students.
Months later, murmurs and applause can still be heard at Yeshiva, officially non-sectarian but historically a modern Orthodox Jewish university. The graduation speech has led to a debate here over whether Yeshiva’s recognition of gay-student groups threatens its identity and compromises the religious principles on which it was founded.
Opinion columns and angry letters have appeared in the law-student newspaper and in the Forward, a Jewish newspaper in New York. Some students and parents have complained about the groups to Yeshiva’s president, Norman Lamm. Mr. Lamm, a rabbi who in the past has condemned homosexuality on religious grounds, would not talk to The Chronicle.
“It’s a difficult issue for the university,” says David M. Rosen, Yeshiva’s public-relations director. “Yeshiva does not condone homosexual behavior, but it does permit the use of its facilities by gay-student groups to the extent required by law.”
New York City’s human-rights office forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation, and so do the accreditors of Yeshiva’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. While those groups make special allowances for religious institutions, it is unclear whether Yeshiva could use its Jewish roots to justify banning gay groups -- something that critics have called for. Those critics argue that even if the university were to lose a legal battle, as Georgetown University did in 1987, it would win by staking out its principles.
“I’m not saying gay students should be prevented from coming here; I’m saying, Don’t expect this administration to fund them,” says Moshe Schwartz, a law student who has written critical opinion columns for The Cardozo Law Forum. “If you want the university to fund the club, great; just take down the words ‘Yeshiva University’ from the door.”
So far, gay-student groups, which receive office space and a bulletin board, have formed only in graduate programs, such as law and medicine. Unlike Yeshiva’s undergraduate colleges, which generally attract Orthodox Jews, those programs draw many students from outside the Orthodox community.
Most critics of gay groups are Orthodox Jews, whose strict observance of religious laws governing beliefs and daily life distinguishes them from other Jews. The critics concede that they represent only a small minority of students at the law school, where the debate has been most intense. Nonetheless, they say their concerns point to a much larger identity problem for Yeshiva. They have accused the university of trying to reap the financial benefits of its non-sectarian status while also promoting its close ties to Orthodox alumni and donors.
“Yeshiva is walking a fine line,” says Jeff Stier, another law student. He thinks Yeshiva is sacrificing the principles of its Hebrew motto, Torah Ummadah, or “Bible and knowledge"--a call to combine the two in one’s life.
“This is a defining moment,” Mr. Stier says. “The question is, What is Yeshiva University?”
That question has been asked before. Twenty-five years ago, Yeshiva revised its charter to make itself non-sectarian and hence eligible for state aid. Its rabbinical school was split off and placed under a separate governing board.
In 1988, in a book called The Men and Women of Yeshiva, Jeffrey S. Gurock wrote that some critics of the change accused the university of misrepresenting itself. The book quoted one critic as asking, “Can we be so schizophrenic as to represent ourselves in one way to the outside world, while remaining inwardly true?”
The change led to protests on the campus, recalls J. David Bleich, a rabbi who teaches at both the law school and the rabbinical school. He believes Yeshiva was wrong to change its charter and it is wrong to recognize gay clubs. “The homosexuality issue is very serious,” he says. “There’s a difference between discrimination and sanctioning a club, which is like giving it a Good Housekeeping seal.”
Yeshiva now considers itself a non-sectarian institution “under Jewish auspices.” A strong Jewish flavor is evident on the campus, where small religious objects known as mezuzahs are mounted on the door frames of law-school offices, and all food sold is kosher.
Most undergraduates take part in an intensive Judaic-studies program. At the law school, however, a majority of the 920 students are non-observant Jews or non-Jews. For many of them, homosexuality does not pose the same religious conflict.
“Gay students should have the right to have a group,” says David Goldsmith, a law student. “If this law school did not allow that, it could hurt our reputation.”
That, say some observers here, is precisely why Yeshiva has not fought the groups, even though the president’s theological position is thought to be far different from his legal one. Mr. Lamm, who is only the third president in Yeshiva’s 108-year history, strongly condemned homosexuality in an essay published in the 1974 yearbook of the Encyclopedia Judaica. He noted that the Torah, Judaism’s holy book, considered homosexuality an “abomination.” He also said that to permit gay groups to form under Jewish auspices made no more sense “than to suffer the formation of synagogues that cater exclusively to idol worshipers, adulterers, gossipers, tax evaders, or Sabbath violators.”
Mr. Kay, the graduation speaker, uses equally strong imagery to defend the rights of gay students. It is ironic, he says, that critics of homosexuality are attacking a group “that shared the gas chambers with them.”
When preparing to apply to law school, Mr. Kay saw the existence of a gay-student group at Yeshiva as an indication that its school was “gay friendly.”
Karen Marcus, head of the Cardozo Lesbian and Gay Student Alliance, which has about a dozen members, says law-school officials have assured the group that it is welcome. Still, she worries that critics may make life uncomfortable for gays and lesbians. In the past, she says, literature posted on gay groups’ bulletin boards was defaced. Ms. Marcus also worries that homosexual students are held to a different standard from others.
For example, she says that when her group recently invited alumni to a “mixer,” a Yeshiva official suggested that students use the word “reception” instead. (They did not.) Another student group, meanwhile, felt free to publicize a social “boozer,” she says. “Ours was a very dignified, networking kind of event,” she adds.
People on both sides of the issue would like the administration’s backing. “The administration has been a little too silent,” says Paris R. Baldacci, an associate professor of law. “If Yeshiva stands for inclusion and non-sectarianism, it needs to say that.” An openly gay man, Mr. Baldacci has taught estate classes using a theoretical will of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, a famous lesbian couple.
Gay rights and theology have collided at other institutions, as well. When Georgetown, a Jesuit institution, refused to recognize a gay-student group, it argued that recognition would be seen as endorsement. The university lost the case and now recognizes the group.
Gay students at Yale University’s Divinity School were upset this year when an associate dean signed an article that condemned homosexuality. Students and professors agreed that the dean had a right to hold certain religious beliefs, and they agreed that Yale’s non-discrimination policy needed to be enforced. They disagreed, though, about whether the dean could do both at the same time.
Mr. Baldacci is optimistic that religious views and tolerance of homosexuality can coexist at Yeshiva. He adds: “I’m hoping this will lead to a discussion of issues involving equality and civil rights.”
