Yeshiva University in New York City has again banned its LGBTQ student club, saying the organization's actions are "opposite" to the religious values of Jewish educational institutions. The decision comes two months after the school reached a settlement with students to endorse the group and ended a one-year legal dispute that had reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
The undergraduate club, formerly known as Yu Pride Alliance, was founded in March when a settlement was reached. But both sides now say the other party violated the terms of the agreement, which included the club’s mission of “not opposing the Torah doctrine” and asked the university to continue and enhance its sensitivity training and anti-discrimination policies.
"Recent actions and statements show that Hareni operates under a different name as a pride club and therefore contrary to the legal values of our Jesus," Rabbi Yosef Kalinsky, the dean of Tora Studies, the university's undergraduate student, said in a May 9 letter to students, a May 9 letter from Yeshiva University obver. "There is no such club in Jeseva. So we directed the Student Life Office to stop this club."
Kalinsky's letter comes a day after a letter from Hareni's legal counsel to a university lawyer, accusing senior leaders of the school in a public statement "expressed hostility and hostility towards college LGBTQ students and possibly violated the terms of the settlement agreement."
The letter, shared publicly by Yeshiva University observers, cites several examples, including a April 6 paper by Rabbi Meyer Twersky, said in part: “Identity with the LGBTQ acronym requires a heretical, nihilistic philosophy to support all forms of sexual behavior.”
A Yeshiva spokesman said in a telephone interview with NBC News on Wednesday that members of the club held an unauthorized event and began using graphics, terms, colors and logos prohibited by the March agreement. A spokesperson suggested that the new LGBTQ club was just an old club with a name change.
When asked to comment on the university's decision, Hareni sent an email statement to NBC News through the group's attorney Max Selver on Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward and Maazel LLP.
"We are very disappointed with the announcement of Hareni's cancellation, a letter from our legal team raised concerns about your violation of our terms of resolution - especially through the ongoing demonstration of Animus and hostility, threatening the safety and well-being of LGBTQ students on campus," the statement said. "This effort is not ending in dialogue, but ending with unilateral dissolution and hostility, but only highlighting how LGBTQ students at YU need support, security and community. This need has not disappeared, and neither have we."
Hareni did not comment on what steps (if any), what steps will be taken next.