Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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U ' l- do mil roiuldiu ' tlu- wluiKsalc I ' littini; o( soiiu ' of our seniors; but vc cannot hring ourselves to eondcmn it litlier. After siuli strict restrictions, it was but natural that the students should read a bit too iolcntly to their new-found freedom. This license is already disappearing. However, we must not considir our wtirk ilone because things are running so smooth] V in the college. Even those who most vehemently criticized the editorial piiliiv of The Commentator in 1937-1938 have come to realize that student dcnioc- racv in the college cannot be full unless followed by freedom in the other depart- ments of this institution. We have seen this last year how the college was aifeeted bv the insistence of a member of the administration of another department of this institution that it is no concern of the students whether a man or a Tennenbaum runs their cafeteria. Faculty-Student ]Mixers and Class Nites have helped weld the men of our insti- tution together. In this connection, we cannot but look askance at the mammotli Class Nite held in the Nathan Lamport Auditorium. Vague fears of the loss of the free, informal comraderie of the previous Class Nites haunt us. True, sueli a performance sliowed the outsider a new vista of Yeshiva life. However, we must bear in mind that it is the impression we make on the inside rather than that on the outside which really counts. Not that we advocate the discontinuance of larger enterprises. An occasional Varsity Show would be appropriate provided that parallel to it run the old Class Nites with their old spirit. In spite of our friendships within Yeshiva walls, we sometimes wonder whether our social activities have not been skewed to one side. May we not have been slighting Eve while we sought out Adam? Of course, we have had our boat-rides, our class affairs. They were somehow inadequate. There was no attempt to ac- quaint out of town students w ith local people, no attempt to bring recalcitrant indi- viduals out of their shells, no attempt to inculcate a bit of social savoir faire in the less polished men. Those who would not have ordinarily gone to such affairs were annoyed, made to feel guilty and uncomfortable, and did not go after all — or did go and spent a miserable evening- Vv ' e cannot close this editorial without at least a cursory glance at extra-curri- cular activties in general. They have done much to enliven our college years. In many cases, they have been more profitable than class-room hours. It has been the boast of Commentator men, some of whose names are still synonymous with schol- arship at Yeshiva, that one year on the governing board of the student newspaper teaches more than four years in college. Those extra-currieularly inactive mem- bers of our institution will leave it with a hopelessly warped concept of collegiate life. They will never know what a college education really means. We do not advocate sacrificing scliolarship entirely on the altar of extra-curri- cular activity. But, if scholarship entails the complete stifling of student endeavor, then some of it must be curtailed to make way for that student endeavor; just as a student who devotes all his time to out of school activity must delete some of that for the benefit of academic pursuits. Both must exist synclironously ; one with- out tiie other is futile. MASMID There are many problems we have not touched upon in this hurried appraisal. Those we have treated we feel we have not discussed enough. We have tried to stimulate thought along certain lines, no more; for we have had time in tl ese pages only for a glance over our shoulders, a hasty look backwards. We wish to leave vou time for a glance ahead. Eight

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Over Our Shoulder Four iDiii;- yc-irs for iiiic sin;ill di rcc. Iwd lilll,- Icllivsl Wli, n hi- r.ji li lliis .stage, wc begin Ui wonder wlietliei- it «as all wortli wliile. uIkIIiit wi- lia i- not been guiltj ' of a horrible waste of youthful tiiergy. Those long, weary lectures — what w re liny worth! ' Could wi- have obtained more from reading than from lisUninn? Were tliry just a |iuni.shnient for an in- nate indolence which does not pc riiiil us to sil loo long o er a book . Yes, we have been polished with a little veneer of eullurr. the ])omponsness to overawe sopho- mores. We are good charlatans. Are wi ' good scholars? ' Tis an unsolvable enigma. However, the friendships we formed in college are worth every second of those four years. We have met our Levins, our Millers, our Kaplans, our Reises, our I ' oupkos, even our Klirenthals. We have come in more or less close contact with onr Litmans, our Belkins, our Churgins. our Isaacs, our Krauses, and our Finkel- steins. We have known warm hearts and sympathetic souls. ' e have made fast friendships with the men of the faculty. We have worked hand in hand with them. In our collegiate life-time, we have seen a great menace to faculty and student democracy removed. We have seen a lesser obtacle brushed aside. Working together, striving for a common goal, has united the faculty and student-body. However, these facts do not signify that the two bodies do not criti- cize each other. Only of the dead must we speak n ithing but good. The student- body and the faculty must be every bit alive. The present faculty administration is the very one the students would have elected, had they the franchise in such matters. We have been gratified to watch the Executive Committee continue cooperating with student leaders when in office as they had done when out of it. Some tongues, however, must wag. Rumor would have it that there are indications of a cleavage between students and administra- tion. There is no foundation to these rumors even though there ma - have been oversights on the part of the Executive Committee. Still, we must never again allow such oversights, never again help open the mouths of potential back-biters. This coordination of faculty and students has been instrumental in liberaliz- ing one of the great bugaboos of the Ycshiva system — the cuts. Some of the seniors have had occasion because of this to smile upon the grumblings of some of our pro- fessors. Some of us have realized, perhaps for the first time, that professors too are human. They hate work just like the rest of us. They hate to have the interest which their lectures evoke as the criterion for attendance. It demands too much work. Seven

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F JIC U L TY