Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Ari Feldman September 26, 2019

The student councils for the undergraduate colleges at Yeshiva University announced on Thursday the reinstatement of the school’s Democratic club, after disciplining the group earlier this week after the College Democrats sponsored a march in support of LGBTQ students.

The march was not officially sanctioned by the school’s administration, and this week the student councils told the club that as a result, they would not receive funding from student activity fees or be allowed to host events on campus for the remainder of the semester.

Leaders of the College Democrats called the move “retribution” for hosting a pro-LGBTQ march on a campus where the administration has refused to allow the creation of a student organization for queer students. The penalizing of the College Democrats drew criticism from a member of the New York State Assembly, Dan Quart of Manhattan.

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“Now is the time for Yeshiva University to step up and voice its unequivocal support for its LGBTQ students and reinstate the College Democrats, instead of choosing to stymie conversation and hand down undue punishment,” Quart told a YU student newspaper Monday.

The president of the student councils, Ariel Sacknovitz, did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

In his email notifying the club of its reinstatement, Sacknovitz said all club heads would need to state that they follow the rules necessary to maintain funding and recognition of their groups.

“It’s the right thing to do,” said Courtney Marks, one of the College Democrats co-presidents. “They realized that this wasn’t the hill they wanted to die on, kicking the Dems off campus.”

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

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