Yeshiva University Granted Permanent Stay After Agreement with Pride Alliance; Clubs Confirmed to Restart After Sukkot

A New York Court, due to an agreement between Yeshiva University and the YU Pride Alliance, granted YU a stay Thursday on a judge’s order directing YU to recognize the group until all appeals — including potential appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court — are decided. 

YU confirmed that club activities would restart after Sukkot shortly after the Alliance declared its intention to grant the university a stay. 

The YU Pride Alliance offered YU a stay Sept. 21, days after the university froze all club and student council activities in response to the  U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of the institution’s  appeal for a court-ordered stay. The Alliance’s offer was made to allow club activities to restart. Lawyers representing both parties signed a document agreeing to the stay in the following days, which was entered into the court record Monday.

The agreement, confirmed by four justices of New York State’s Supreme Court’s appellate division Thursday, stipulated that the stay would remain in effect until all appeals are decided, including potential appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The parties to the above-referenced appeal,” stated the agreement, “hereby stipulate and agree that the June 24, 2022 Order entered by the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, should be stayed pending the exhaustion of all appeals, including any appeals to this Court, the Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Yeshiva University is represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the YU Pride Alliance by Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP.

Shortly after the Alliance declared its intention to give a stay, Hanan Eisenman, director of communications at YU, confirmed in a press release from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty that clubs would restart after Sukkot.

“We are starting clubs after the Jewish Holidays when students are back on campus,” said Eisenman. 

Yeshiva Student Union (YSU) President Baruch Lerman (YC ‘23) was pleased by the news. “I look forward to clubs resuming as soon as they can and hope to shortly receive guidance on how to proceed with approving clubs for this year,” he told The Commentator.

According to Lerman, even if clubs are approved after Sukkot, it will still take three weeks before club activities and events can resume on campus.

“According to Office of Student Life policies and guidance it takes a minimum of three weeks to get an event fully approved and on the books, and a minimum of four weeks if there will be a speaker or film shown,”  Lerman told The Commentator. “Students are not able to have events without going through the Office of Student Life, and at this point, because no clubs have been approved, there is not even a live link to submit an event request for clubs.” 

After YU froze club activities, Jewish Queer Youth (JQY), an organization that supports LGBTQ youth from the Orthodox community, announced that it would financially support clubs until the university restores them. At least three events, with $1,160 of funding, have been approved, a JQY spokesperson told The Commentator. JQY will continue to financially support clubs until events resume on campus.

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Photo Caption: New York State Supreme Court

Photo Credit: Dylan Dehnert — Unsplash