Yeshiva College Three-Year Computer Science Bachelor of Arts Program Canceled

Yeshiva College’s computer science program for a three-year Bachelor of Arts degree has been canceled, Department Chair Professor Judah Diament announced in an email to computer science students Sunday. Students not already registered for the program will no longer be able to select the track.

“After careful consideration,” Diament told students, “we have decided to discontinue admission of new students to YC’s BA in CS in order to enable us to focus 100% of our department’s time and energy on the ongoing delivery and improvement of the Bachelor of Science tracks, as well as on corresponding opportunities for students.”

YC’s three-year, unspecialized program in computer science was the sole option for students until the launch of two specialized, four-year Bachelor of Science tracks in 2020. These tracks require additional computer science courses and allow students to waive several humanities courses in YC’s Core Curriculum. The decision, which was effective immediately, means that future students hoping to major in computer science will now be required to take one of the two newer tracks.

“Our department has always strived to offer the program that we think sets our students up for success,” Diament told The Commentator. “We are confident that the Bachelor of Science curriculum gives our students the best educational and professional opportunities. It gives our students the best opportunities in the ever-growing and changing professional world.”

Since the launch of the Bachelor of Science programs, students were heavily encouraged by the department to enroll in either of the four-year programs. Diament told The Commentator that enrollment in the three-year track has “consistently been significantly below the overall enrollment in the major.” 

In recent months, two computer science alumni have written for The Commentator encouraging students to consider enrolling in the three-year Bachelor of Arts program, prompting criticism from the department. On Sept. 2, several months following the publication of the first article, Diament sent a lengthy email to computer science students with the subject line “play the long game to win,” criticizing the article for providing a “very distorted perspective on a number of issues,” and urging students to only take career and academic advice from faculty or industry experts with 10-15 years of experience.

“If you remember only one thing from this entire email,” Diament wrote to students, “remember the following: we do not ask halachic shaylas to a yeshiva bochur who has been learning for only 3 or 4 years; we do not go to a premed student for medical care; we go to the experts – a competent poseik/rabbi, a qualified medical doctor, etc. The layman will often not understand the psak of the rabbi or medical guidance, but it would be self-destructive to not follow it. Similarly, DO NOT take your career advice (and that includes advice about major and track) from someone who isn’t a qualified expert!”

Days after the email was sent to students, another article was submitted to The Commentator by an alumnus who had graduated from a four-year track, questioning the value of the additional year. The article was published Sept. 15, about a month before the announcement that the three-year program would be canceled.

“[T]he YU computer science department has done an excellent job of revamping the program and turning it into something that is nothing short of extraordinary,” Eli Goldberg (YC ‘21) wrote in the Sept. 15 article. “I just wish that we progressed from the current status of default four-year students with a few three-year rebels to people giving it more thought and having a more even split. Who knows, maybe in a few years it will be the default three-year students with a few four-year rebels?”

Diament told The Commentator that the department’s decision was made “independent of the op-eds in the Commentator.”

“Our department has always strived to offer the program that we think sets our students up for success,” Diament said. “We are confident that the Bachelor of Science curriculum gives our students the best educational and professional opportunities. Curriculum evolves; this is a normal part of university operations.”

The three-year track did not require any additional computer science courses not otherwise offered. When asked whether the program cost the university additional money to operate and how much “time and energy” the program cost faculty to operate if it didn’t require additional courses to be taught, Diament told The Commentator that any academic program requires “countless hours involved in matters that range from course scheduling to curriculum updates to career and internship placement.”

“This decision will allow us to focus 100% of our department’s time and energy on the ongoing delivery and improvement of the Bachelor of Science tracks, as well as on corresponding opportunities for students.”

Some students told The Commentator that they were supportive of the move.

“Judah made it clear from day one that he was strongly opposed to the three-year program,” David Hahn (YC ‘26) said. “And as a student in the four-year program, his points made sense. I had time to focus on the important parts of YU, instead of trying to stuff a bunch of unrelated classes into a three year period while completing one of the hardest majors YU had to offer. It’s good to see he finally put his foot down with the YU administration and showed them who’s really in charge here.”

Other students felt that eliminating the three-year program, which had students to take regular YC core requirements, would undermine the general education aspect of the university experience.

“I certainly respect Professor Diament’s past and continued efforts to bolster the YC CS program,” Akiva Sturm (YC ‘24), an alumnus of the three-year program, shared with The Commentator. “The job market is unpredictable, and he wants to do his best to ensure that his students are prepared and positioned for a successful career. At the same time, I feel that eliminating the BA program will restrict the educational experience of YC students. I found the core classes to be a valuable contribution to my education. I did not feel that these additional classes were roadblocks on the way to my computer science degree. On the contrary, I found them to be edifying and a valuable broadening of my education. While members of the B.S. program are certainly welcome to register for classes in other disciplines that interest them, in practice, this will be infrequent due to the workload of their additional CS classes.”

“The Bachelor of Science tracks were designed, and continue to evolve, informed by the YC CS professors’ many decades of industry experience, ongoing contact with, and feedback from, technical leaders in industry and the scheduling realities of Yeshiva College students admirably dedicated to excelling in both UTS [Undergraduate Torah Studies] and CS,” Diament explained.

“The CS department has always strived to offer the program that we think sets our students up for success. Per our industry advisory board, as well as our own assessment as a faculty, we are confident that the Bachelor of Science curriculum offers our students the best educational and professional opportunities.”

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Photo Caption: Yeshiva College's three-year computer science program has been discontinued.

Photo Credit: Yeshiva University