The Cost of a Campus Community

With around a hundred vacant beds in the dorms and IHP at the end of Spring 2008, YU is reduced the size of IHP by moving it exclusively into 475 W. 186th Street. The sixteen leftover apartments in 90 Laurel Hill Terrace and 480 W. 187th Street will be renovated and rented to student-couples, alumni, and kollel members. This move will undoubtedly prove beneficial for YU. The decision is financially prudent because the new rent accrues a larger profit than YU's undergraduate rooming fee, while at the same time filling open bed space from last semester. The decision also brings YU one step closer to creating a vibrant, young Jewish community in the general vicinity of campus. By renting out many apartments in Laurel Hill Terrace to married students and others, YU is cultivating its campus community which will grow, diversify, and hopefully flourish.

The benefits of the move notwithstanding, it is upsetting that YU is allocating valuable resources to a small portion of the Yeshiva community while at the same time overlooking a considerably larger one. The administration cannot ignore the fact that many students feel that IHP is a more comfortable place to live than the dorms. Consolidation, however, is reducing students' chances of being placed in IHP. The renovations in 480 and 90 Laurel are equally disappointing for students residing in outdated IHP apartments and for dormers without air-conditioning and other important amenities. Finally, the contrast between dorm and apartment facilities on the Wilf and Beren campuses is striking. While YU executes plans to downsize and renovate, it must not forget the needs of all undergraduates who live in on-campus housing.