Yeshiva University Observer

Issue date: 10/30/09 Section: Opinions

Like certain fashion styles, some ideas just keep making comebacks. Each year, it seems, some editor or staff writer at The Commentator comes up with the idea that The Commentator and The Observer should combine forces and merge into an uber-powerful newspaper called The Commentator. Over the years, a number of articles have been published, purporting a variety of different arguments in favor of "shutting down The Observer," as one such recent Commie article put it. I do not deny that there is merit to some of the arguments that have been made in favor of publishing one undergraduate newspaper. However, careful consideration of just a few of the most common rationales for eliminating The Observer uncovers their vacuity.

One of the arguments in favor of combining the two papers is that the coordination of news reporting that would result from publishing one paper would cut down on the redundancy in coverage of the goings-on of the Yeshiva University world-however minimal that redundancy may actually be. My own survey of The Commentator's recent news offerings revealed a heavy emphasis on Wilf Campus events, if not so much on Yeshiva University as a whole. The Observer, however, places its focus on issues that are of particular relevance to students on the Beren Campus. Recently, some of those topics have included innovations in Stern College for Women's course offerings, changes in campus bureaucracy, and pertinent upcoming events such as rallies.

Our feature articles not only delve into Beren Campus life and women's roles in the Orthodox community, but also cover important issues that affect the wider Jewish community outside of the "YU world." On October 13, 2009, in an article about child molestation charges among Brooklyn's ultra-Orthodox community, The New York Times directly linked to a May 2009 Observer interview with Rabbi Yosef Blau by Olivia Wiznitzer and Estee Goldschmidt. Claiming that the minimal superfluity in the reporting of The Observer and The Commentator warrants The Observer's decimation is not only insulting, but also ridiculous.

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