On May 9, 2025, Yeshiva University’s (YU) administration announced that it would ban the Hareni student group, which was newly created in March 2025 as a resource for LGBTQ students, for allegedly promoting values antithetical to the school.
Hareni was created after a several years long legal battle between the YU Pride Alliance, an unofficial student group, and the YU administration. In 2022, the YU Pride Alliance sued YU for refusing to recognize an LGBTQ student group. YU contended that, as a religious institution, it was exempt from New York City Human Rights Law requiring anti-discrimination protections. In June of that year, a New York State Supreme Court Judge ruled against YU, pointing to the university’s charter that founded the institution as “an educational corporation under the education law of the State of New York” that was “organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes.” Yeshiva appealed the ruling to the US Supreme Court, which rejected the request and ordered the university to continue its appeals at the state level.
In March 2025, after several years of continued legal battles, YU changed course and reached a settlement with YU Pride Alliance agreeing to recognize a new group called Hareni, which would, according to a school statement, “support L.G.B.T.Q. students and their allies and will operate in accordance with the approved guidelines of Yeshiva University’s senior rabbis.” According to a statement made by Hareni, the student group understood its recognition as “ensuring it has the same rights and privileges as other student clubs, including access to campus spaces, official student event calendars and the ability to use ‘L.G.B.T.Q.’ in its public materials.” However, just a few days after recognizing Hareni, YU’s president and rabbi each made statements disavowing LGBTQ “values,” “ideology, lifestyle, and behavior.” The university also stated that Hareni could not hold social and recreational events and must include a disclaimer on all communications, stating “This club is for students who seek to fully maintain traditional halachic standards of sexual morality as defined by the Shulchan Aruch.”
On May 8, Hareni’s lawyers wrote to YU’s administration, objecting to the restrictions placed on Hareni and accusing university leadership of “ongoing displays of animus and hostility” and arguing that the university’s behavior breached the March 2025 settlement agreement The following day, the university announced that it would ban the group, arguing that the group had violated the settlement agreement. At the time of writing, neither group had filed any new legal action.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about a university’s decision to deny recognition to a student group based on the anticipated content of the students’ nonviolent expression and activities. University authorities have a responsibility to refrain from content-based discrimination when providing opportunities and services to students, such as access to campus spaces and event calendars. Actions disfavoring or otherwise targeting particular expression or activities violate this responsibility and undermine core higher education values.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/nyregion/yeshiva-university-lgbtq-club-ban.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/nyregion/yeshiva-university-lgbtq-club.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/03/nyregion/yeshiva-university-ny-public-funds.html
https://www.timesofisrael.com/yeshiva-university-rescinds-approval-of-lgbtq-student-group/
https://www.yu.edu/news/yu/new-student-club-and-end-litigation-joint-statement-parties
https://yuobserver.org/2025/05/hareni-who-and-what-we-are/
https://yuobserver.org/2025/05/yu-roshei-yeshiva-direct-osl-to-discontinue-newly-formed-hareni-club-citing-values-antithetical-to-school/