[ Golden Gater Online - October 14, 1997 ]
Susanne Sachsman
Yale Daily News
(U-Wire) NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Last week, the four orthodox Jewish students who have threatened to sue Yale discussed if they could live in a co-ed Yale dormitory without violating their religious laws about modesty.
Yale reportedly sent Nathan Lewin, the students' lawyer, an offer to accommodate them within the existing Yale dorms.
Lewin said if the offer does not satisfy the students, they will file suit in the coming days.
While declining to discuss the specifics of the offer, Yale legal counsel Dorothy Robinson said the letter "focused on how to accommodate the students on campus."
University officials also said while Yale already has single sex floors, single sex dorms and entryways are inconsistent with residential college policy.
Single sex dorms and entryways "go against the grain of everything that Dean Brodhead has said," said Betty Trachtenberg, dean of student affairs at Yale.
But the orthodox Jewish students have previously said the only way to preserve modesty is either to live in a single sex dorm or in off-campus housing.
"I just don't understand why I should be forced to meet diverse women in my bathroom and my bedroom," Jeremy Hershman said on a Sept. 11 show on Court TV.
The students were unavailable for comment last week.
The housing dispute between the university and the orthodox Jewish students began in September when the students asked Yale for an exception to the housing rule which requires freshman and sophomore students to live on campus, unless they are 21 or married.
The students argue that Yale's co-ed dorms do not meet their religious standards for sexual modesty because they feel uncomfortable with the possibility of meeting members of the opposite sex in their bathrooms and bedrooms.
After Yale refused their request to live off-campus, the students threatened to sue the university and launched a media campaign that included an editorial in the New York Times and an appearance on Court TV.
The four students have never lived in their dorm rooms, but after Yale threatened to withdraw their status as students last week, they reluctantly paid their overdue room and board bills.
[ Golden Gater - October 14, 1997 ]