The Commentator

Antiquated Yeshiva policies, while annoying at times, usually don’t insult the entire student body. Yet, when it comes to the issue of the non-operational ovens in the IHP apartments, the policy is both patronizing and uncalled for.

According to the Wilf Campus Resident Handbook, "students may have their own microwave oven in the apartment, as other forms of cooking are not permissible." The question that begs asking is “Why?” Why are we the only college that doesn't permit its students to use the ovens that are already in place, and why doesn't Yeshiva trust us enough to operate this supposedly complicated machinery?

We're in college. We can vote. We are, for all intents and purposes, responsible adults. We don't need anyone to hold our hands to make us do our homework or go to class. We don't need our mothers reminding us to eat three meals a day or to change our sheets. We moved beyond that stage when we left home and entered college. There needs to be that same sense of trust when it comes to the ovens. 

Even though every other college dormitory in the known world allows their students this privilege, it seems that YU chalked this up as a safety issue - as disrespectful to the student body as a statement like that is. However, this policy is not entirely uniform throughout the undergraduate campuses. The ovens in the IHP apartments on the Beren campus are fully functional from the stovetop, all the way down to the actual oven.

This inconsistency presents a double standard that is both unacceptable and sexist. The administration of Yeshiva University has made it clear that it thinks that the women down at Stern are more adept at operating ovens than Yeshiva students. To insinuate that women should be able to cook and to assume that men cannot is offensive to both the men and women of this University.

Fifty years ago it may have been accepted that men went out into the workforce while women stayed home to cook, clean, and raise the children, but times have clearly changed. So why hasn't YU changed along with it? Gender roles are not what they used to be and for a forward thinking university to sink to antics like this is appalling. More than just turning on the ovens, the University should be apologizing to its entire male student body for this disrespect of our intelligence and common sense, and to the entire University, both male and female for trying to force us into these antiquated gender roles.

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