“Drop the Word ‘Yeshiva’”: Petition Calls on Yeshiva University to Rename Itself Amid LGBTQIA+ Club Controversy

Edited by: TJVNews.com

In the wake of Yeshiva University’s decision to allow an LGBTQIA student club on its undergraduate campus, a new petition is making waves in Orthodox Jewish circles—urging the historic institution to remove the word “Yeshiva” from its name. The campaign, titled “Drop the Word ‘Yeshiva,’” is a sharp rebuke of what its authors see as a fundamental betrayal of Torah values by a university long associated with Orthodox Judaism.

The petition, reported on by VIN News, opens with a pointed statement: “An institution that bears the name ‘Yeshiva University’ has a responsibility to represent Torah values in the public square. Unfortunately, YU has proven unable to do that.” It goes on to argue that if the university cannot uphold halachic (Jewish legal) standards, it should at the very least rebrand itself to avoid what the petition’s authors view as a chillul Hashem—a desecration of God’s name in the eyes of the public.

The petition was authored by VIN News contributor and podcaster Elliot Resnick, himself a two-time graduate of Yeshiva University, with both a BA and a PhD from the school. Resnick acknowledged to VIN News that crafting such a petition was personally challenging. “I obviously owe [Yeshiva University] a debt of gratitude,” he said. “But the Gemara says we suspend some of the normal rules when chillul Hashem is involved. And it’s hard to think of a bigger chillul Hashem than millions of Americans reading that a Torah institution has essentially caved to the LGBT movement—a movement that seeks to overturn Biblical morality and whose members take pride in their desire to commit an issur sekilah.”

The term issur sekilah refers to transgressions traditionally punishable by stoning under Torah law, and Resnick’s invocation of it emphasizes the intensity of his concern over YU’s direction. According to the VIN News report, Resnick indicated that his ultimate hope is for the university to adhere fully to Torah values. “If it can’t,” he said, “let it at least change its name so it doesn’t drag Hashem’s name through the mud.”

Beyond the recent decision to allow the LGBT student club—a move that followed years of legal and public controversy—the petition also calls attention to other past and present university policies that the signatories view as inconsistent with Orthodox teachings. As detailed in the report on VIN News, the petition points to YU’s employment of an openly transgender professor from 2008 to 2021, and its current hiring of a Bible scholar who, according to the petition, “has openly advocated that Jews ignore the Torah’s stance on homosexual ‘marriage.’”

The petition reflects broader tensions within the American Orthodox community, where debates over how—or whether—to engage with broader cultural norms remain deeply divisive. Yeshiva University, founded in 1886, has long attempted to straddle the line between traditional Jewish learning and secular academic excellence. Yet in the current climate, that balancing act is proving increasingly precarious.

YU’s allowance of the Pride Alliance student club follows a protracted legal battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2022, the high court declined to block a lower court’s ruling that the university must recognize the club, prompting YU to suspend all undergraduate student clubs for a time. Eventually, the university agreed to a compromise that permitted the group to operate, a move that critics, including Resnick and the petition’s signatories, view as a retreat from Torah-based principles.

The petition serves both as a protest and a demand for clarity. The VIN News report explained that the petition does not call for students or alumni to sever ties with the university outright, but rather insists that the name “Yeshiva”—and the weighty religious significance it carries—not be used to mask actions that are considered antithetical to Torah observance.

The petition is currently available for public signing at this link: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/drop-the-word-yeshiva.

Its circulation appears aimed at sparking grassroots pressure within the broader Orthodox world.

The future of Yeshiva University’s identity—and its relationship to the Orthodox community that built and sustained it—may well hang in the balance.