Letter to the Editor: An LGBTQ Hate Crime at Yeshiva University

To the Editor:

I was deeply disturbed to read Nissim Farhy’s article recounting the seeming hate crime and assault against a queer YU student, Tani Glaser (YC ‘26), at a public campus event. This is the inevitable end of unchecked intolerance and hate: targeted violence.

As the 100th editor-in-chief of The Commentator, I led the paper during one of its more strenuous periods when LGBTQ+ inclusion and sexual assault were active issues and conversations on campus. The editorial board and I wrote extensively about homophobia, sexual assault and the need for accountability on the part of the Yeshiva University leadership. Our reporting covered all of those issues and documented the ways in which our beloved university, which prides itself on rich, Jewish values, failed to live up to them. The administration consistently neglected the students who needed them most.

This latest story suggest to me that YU is continuing in this failure.

Farhy writes that the incident began when one student started to photograph the YU Pride Alliance’s unofficial stand at the Wilf Campus Club Fair. When Glaser approached, the student “immediately shoved me as hard he could into the table and people around me,” before shouting bigoted epithets: “f***ing f****t,” “abomination” and “filth.”

There is no mention of what happened next. Did other students intervene? How many? Did anyone confront the assailant? When did the administration contact Glaser? Were any public emails sent out? I recoil from the answers.

Last semester, Farhy writes, a student shouted “I hope Hashem judges you on Rosh Hashanah” to Schneur Friedman (YC ‘25) at a different student fair. A pattern of LGBTQ harassment is being established — and tolerated.

These may be isolated incidents, but the complacency of the Yeshiva University suggests that it is an unwelcoming institution for LGBTQ+ students. If actions speak louder than words, then inaction must shriek louder than them both.

This campus culture does not come from nowhere. Anyone familiar with the last couple of years of YU’s history (excellently documented in The Commentator) is likely familiar with a handful of stories: a gay YU student transferring schools, failed efforts for LGBTQ inclusion,the LGBTQ march, past whispers of conversion therapy, students blocking anti-discrimination policy, shutting down campus clubs — the list goes on. For years, Yeshiva University has showcased minimal interest in genuinely making its campus different for its LGBTQ students. Only once a lawsuit was on the horizon did the university roll out panels, policies and statements to address students’ concerns; and even that response was nominal.

That all brings us to the verbal and physical assault against a queer YU student in a campus space. It was infuriating when I was a student and journalist to witness an absence of school leadership with no one willing to fill it. It is heartbreaking to see that the void still remains.

I am sorry, Tani, that our university failed to protect you. You deserve a Jewish campus that welcomes you in all of its spaces, that is safe for you, in all of its spaces. Right now, Yeshiva University is not that.

An LGBTQ hate crime must never be allowed to happen at Yeshiva University again. But if the administration fails to act now, it most definitely will.

Sruli Fruchter, 100th editor-in-chief of The Commentator

YC ‘22, Revel ‘25, RIETS ‘26

Photo Caption: Yeshiva University’s Wilf Campus

Photo Credit: Yeshiva University