(JTA) — The presidents of Yeshiva University’s seven student councils have abstained from voting on whether or not to approve an LGBTQ club.
The fate of the YU Alliance as an official campus organization will be left to the administration, The Commentator student newspaper reported.
In a statement emailed to the student body, the presidents said that “our role is to express the student voice, our role is not to determine major ideological decisions for the institution.” And, they added, the decision “has larger implications outside of Yeshiva University.”
The leaders said they met with students inside and outside the LGBTQ+ community, as well as administrators and roshei yeshiva, or rabbinic heads, at the Modern Orthodox flagship institution, “to discuss the intricacies of having the YU Alliance as a club on campus.”
The YU Alliance. a student-run organization that does not receive funding from the student councils, currently holds its LGBTQ-related events off-campus, according to the newspaper.
The Alliance released a statement condemning the student councils’ decision, citing several laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, according to the Commentator report. It has threatened legal action.
In September, the College Democrats club lost and then regained its official status on campus after organizing a protest march for gay rights that attracted about 100 students. Its recognition was withdrawn shortly after club members called for the establishment of a Gay-Straight Alliance Club and for permission to host LGBTQ events on campus.
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