SAAC Propsals

This comes to you from the Student Academic Affairs Committee in advance of our meeting on
April 14th. It contains proposals regarding various ideas students have had in the past few
months. Please take the time to look them over and feel free to respond to us. Tell us the
feasibility of our proposals, amendments we ought to consider, and the necessary next steps.
1. Fixing Reading Week
2. Taking Tests on Laptops
3. Publicize Teacher Evaluations
4. Changing the Music/Art Requirement
5. Requiring Syllabi
6. Ideas Regarding Academic Advising

Raffi Holzer
President
SAAC@yu.edu
Fixing Reading Week
Daniel Muller
Abstract
This proposal posits that reading week ought to be a week set aside solely for studying.
Classes offered during said week should not be mandatory, and exceptional
circumstances aside, should not cover new material.
Proposal
Dear Dr. Lowengrub and YU Deans,
Reading week was established at this university for a purpose. Due to the
enormous schedule that every Yeshiva student is forced to juggle, time to study for finals
is scarce. Therefore, a week was set aside to serve as a period of time during which
students are free from their obligation to attend classes and can therefore focus their
attention wholly on studying for their final exams.  However, recently, it appears that the
inviolability of this week has not been respected. Many students, both in YC and Sy
Syms, are complaining that mandatory classes have been scheduled during reading week
and that their time to study has been taken away from them.
This issue was raised at a recent Town Hall meeting with President Joel. Certain
members of the administration present at the meeting expressed their feeling that
decisions regarding whether reading week is used as a study period or as a time in which
extra classes can be scheduled should be left to individual teachers. President Joel
however sided with the students and said that he believed all professors should respect
reading week.
To that end, we propose that President Joel’s well-put sentiments be put into
action. Though we do not pretend to know the best ways to implement university policy,
we make the following suggestions:

 Mandatory classes during reading week should not be allowed. Only voluntary
review classes are appropriate.
 Teachers should receive an email stating the last day of class for a given semester,
as well as specifying the exact days of reading week, in order to create awareness
among the faculty members about this important concept.  
 The message should stress the importance of not having classes, presentations,
labs, or papers due during that week. This email should be sent to teachers and
faculty members at the start of the semester in order for everyone to get organized
and not violate reading week, and a second email should be sent by the end of the
semester, a week or so before the last day of class, in order to remind teachers of
the importance of that week.

2
Taking Tests on Laptops
Moshe Abbe
Abstract
We propose that students be allowed to take writing intensive finals on their laptops or
school computers.
Proposal
Dear Provost Lowengrub and YU Deans,
Exam time in Y.U is a notoriously high-pressure experience for many students.
After hours of studying, reading, and writing, students still experience exams with a high
level of anxiety. For many students, the typical anxiety is compounded due to a factor
that, in the age of the laptop, should be a non-issue – their penmanship. They not only
must know the answers, or respond to the essays, but they must also spend a great deal of
mental (and not a small amount of physical) energy making sure that their handwriting is
clear and legible. Therefore, I propose that the university allow students who choose to,
to take tests that require essay writing on their computers.
Beyond aiding anxious students, this measure would have a number of other
beneficial effects. First, it would allow an average student to focus more on the content of
their ideas and less on the physical writing of them. Second, professors would surely
welcome typed, legible essays, rather than the current scrawl they are now forced to wade
through. In the digital age, there is no reason why an institution of our caliber should not
provide this service to our students and professors.
Of course, providing this service to students would have to be accompanied by
great caution to ensure that students do not have access to the Internet or personal files
during the course of the test. However, there are already software options available that
would permit the university to safely and securely administer tests on students’ own
computers. One such option is offered by a company known as Examsoft, but there are
other options out there and, if given the green light, we would be more than willing to
look into comparative pricing and other potential criteria for an acceptable option at YU.
Sincerely,
Student Academic Affairs Committee

3
Publicize Teacher Evaluations
Moshe Abbe and Raphael Blumenthal

Abstract

Currently, teacher evaluations are written by students and submitted to the

university administration. While the information these reviews provide undoubtedly
enhances the ability of administrators to evaluate members of the faculty, we feel that it is
a shame to withhold that same advantage from the composers of these evaluations, the
student body. It is for that reason that we propose that student evaluations be made public
through a web-based system that would be easy to access and use.

Proposal

Publicizing teacher evaluations has many advantages:

 It will provide students with additional information, allowing them to select a
professor based not only on academic achievement, but also on student review.
 It will allow students to select a teacher that best suits their personal learning
proclivities. For example, some students may prefer a professor who is heavily
lecture-oriented while others might prefer a professor who places more emphasis
on discussion and interaction.
 It would provide an added incentive for professors to excel, as they know that the
evaluations will be publicized.

We also anticipate some potential disadvantages to publicizing the evaluations. These

disadvantages will be listed and then followed by a response that will demonstrate why
they are not legitimate deterrents to this proposal.
- Some might argue that publication of the reviews may have a negative impact on
faculty morale.
- The evaluations, which are done anonymously and hence with no accountability,
may not be taken seriously. They may also reflect a student’s personal issues with
a professor rather than an objective judgment. We therefore risk the publication of
potentially offensive material.
Rebuttal:
Students already have an alternative source for professor evaluations, from
www.ratemyprofessor.com. This new system of public evaluations would merely
make this sort of forum official and alleviate the problem wherein only students most

4
 motivated by a particular agenda review their professors publicly, leading to a skewed
representation. In addition, if this system of publication is implemented online, a

user-generated review system could be implemented, as it is on many websites,

wherein users of a website report offensive material.

Implementation:

In order to effectively implement this new program, we propose a new system

where the evaluations are filled out online. To ensure that all students fill out the
evaluations, one of two methods could be implemented. Either the student does not
receive his final grade in the class until he has filled out he evaluation; alternatively, and
perhaps more practically, each student could receive a printable receipt after completing
the evaluation which he would then be required to give to the professor. This would be a
simple and effective way of guaranteeing that the evaluations are filled out by all the
students, while still ensuring the confidentiality of the evaluation itself.

In conclusion, I believe that this endeavor is a promising one and has the potential
to promote amore serious academic atmosphere. Teachers would feel that there is more
responsibility and accountability, while students would have more confidence in their
professors’ after having made better-informed registration decisions. It is important to
reiterate that, in this case, not acting upon such an initiative is already an act in of itself
because, as of now, students rely on word-of-mouth and biased reports on
www.ratemyprofessor.com to help them decide which professors/classes to take.
Implementing this new initiative would provide students with a more objective and fair
assessment of the professor which would certainly further the overall academic quality of
each student’s educational experience here in Yeshiva University.

5
Changing the Music/Art Requirement
Raffi Holzer
Abstract
We propose that one ought be able to fulfill the music/art requirement by taking almost
any music or art course of interest to a student, rather than one specific survey course.
To: Dr. Lowengrub and YU Deans
Recently, the Yeshiva College curriculum has been undergoing an overhaul.
Faculty have been examining every requirement and elective and attempting to determine
what function they serve as regards the education of the student body, and how students
might be better served. Tweaks and adjustments have been made but there is one area that
has and continues to be neglected. The music/art requirement currently requires students
to take either “Sense of Music” or “History of Art”, survey courses that are meant to
impart an appreciation for their respective disciplines in students. It is however, time that
we recognize that survey courses such as these do not serve the best interests of the
students and that we need to expand the number and variety of courses the courses that
fulfill this requirement.
Yeshiva is a liberal arts college, and in keeping with the traditional liberal arts
philosophy, we aim to educate our students in a variety of disciplines, to form them into
well-rounded citizens of the world. However, many liberal arts colleges today recognize
that the old model of well roundedness no longer applies in an educational landscape of
that is changing and expanding exponentially. It is understood by some of the most
venerable names in education, that there is no longer a canon of information that once
learned, makes a student “educated.”
Rather than attempt to identify a corpus of knowledge for students to memorize,
we ought to allow students to pursue their passions. I am all for requirements in the broad
sense. It is still the essence of a liberal arts education that students be pushed to encounter
new points of view and sample a variety of subjects. However, both psychology and
common sense indicate that students benefit most from classes they enjoy and can engage
in. Thus, within the music or art requirement, we ought to allow students to take classes
such as Jazz, or Art of New York. As a fellow student wrote in an article in the

6
Commentator, “‘History of Art’ certainly has its advantages, but
if ‘Art in New York’ is eye- opening enough to exist as an
art course, it should be inspiring enough to fulfill a

requirement.” “If every YC student - scientist, sociologist, and smichaist alike - had the
chance to sculpt, sketch, strum, or stroll through the Met, YU (and the Orthodox world)
would be a better place.”

Requiring Syllabi
Alan Davidowicz
Abstract
The purpose of this proposal is to require that syllabi be given out for every class, and
that they be sent to students well before the beginning of the semester. We propose that
they in fact be made available, in electronic form, during registration.
Proposal
To: Dr. Lowengrub and YU Deans
As Yeshiva University students start the lengthy, often traumatic registration
experience, there are many obstacles they must overcome. Most of the issues they will
face are simply part of the process. Certain courses will only be offered during the Fall
semester, and Freshmen will always get closed out of the amazing class they heard about.
However, there is an area where one simply step can smooth the path for many students.
Having the syllabus for each course posted along with the class list would offer
much valued, necessary information for students registering for their classes. While there
are many different areas where having the syllabus in advance would be extremely
beneficial, let us examine two of the more important aspects.
Many teachers assign multiple textbooks for their classes. On the first day of
class, they hand out the syllabus, along with a reading assignment to be completed by the
next class session, often two days later. Students are then forced into a buying frenzy,
searching for the fastest way to get their textbooks. They are often faced with the decision
of buying them at the best price online, but having to wait two weeks for delivery, or buy
the more expensive book in a bookstore. This situation could easily be avoided if the
class syllabus was made available during registration.
Additionally, courses in the same subject are often taught in wide variety of
manners. That is the beauty of college- having the opportunity to learn in new ways. For

7
example, some professors may run their course as a lecture-
style classroom. Other Professors may find they prefer
to use the more informal, discussion based technique.
Furthermore, some Professors are firm believers in the
“midterm and a final” approach, while others put more emphasis on class discussion,
weekly homework’s, and essays. While each technique is laudable and advantageous in
its own way, not every student will appreciate them all.

By granting students in Yeshiva University the opportunity to have the class

syllabus during registration, you will be allowing them to make the best, informed
decisions regarding their education.

Academic Advising
Raffi Holzer
To: Dr. Lowengrub and YU Deans
Currently, Yeshiva University’s Academic Advising Center is undergoing an
overhaul of sorts. Offices are being moved and directors are being hired. It seemed to us,
the members of the Student Academic Affairs Committee, that this was the perfect time,
while changes are in any case being made, to propose some ideas of our own regarding
the future form and function of the Academic Advising office in YU. We saw this as such
an ideal opportunity to effect real change, that we have made academic advising the
primary focus of our efforts this year. Though this proposal is not complete, we
nevertheless submit it as a brief introduction to our thoughts and as an expression of our
keen interest in working with the administration in improving such a vital aspect of the
undergraduate experience.
Though there are a number of technical and technological improvements we
believe ought to be made to the academic advising center, those are tangential issues.
Rather than broaching them here, we begin by tackling the more fundamental aspects in
which the academic advisement on our campus is in dire need of improvement. Those
fundamental aspects, first and foremost, are the knowledgeability and helpfulness of our
academic advisors.
In our experience, helpful academic advising is limited to a select group of
professions that follow a rather standard path and have well-established benchmarks of
accomplishment. Potential doctors, lawyers, and accountants have much to gain, but
those interested in the arts, sciences, and a host of other fields benefit little. Thus, in

8
addition to the advisors for the more standard professions, we
hope that advisors hired in the future will be able to advise
students on a broader array of potential career paths.
The mention of career paths brings me to my next
point. For most students, there is a natural progression from an undergraduate experience,
to potentially graduate school, and then to a professional career. In life, those experiences
are organically integrated, but in YU, the academic advising and career development
centers are artificially separated. There needs to be a greater integration between those
two departments. An academic advisor, when consulted with, ought to know what classes
it might be important for a student to take if he or she is interested in pursuing a particular
career.

Advisors also work best when they develop a relationship with the students they
advise. In our opinion, advisors should not be faceless automatons working at a help
desk, but should become mentors to their students. How to achieve this relationship

however, is admittedly, still a matter of debate among us. Perhaps professors serve this
role best and could thus serve as the primary advisors. The academic advising center
could then work with those students who do not feel helped by a professor from their
major and could serve additionally as a resource for professors who are ill equipped to
advise students on questions that pertain to their potential career or graduate options. This
again is merely one option floated during a committee meeting.
Ultimately, what we are asking is that the Student Academic Affairs Committee
be given a voice regarding the future of academic advising at YU. We would like to be
involved in the hiring of the new director, and work with that individual to improve what
we consider to be one of the most important facets of any undergraduate institution.
Sincerely,
Student Academic Affairs Committee