That email was sent two days after the nation’s highest court rejected in a 5-4 vote a request by the university to block a lower court ruling asking it to recognize an LGBTQ student club “Pride Alliance.” Katie Rosenfeld, the attorney representing the club, called the university’s latest move a “disgraceful tactic” aimed at pitting students against their LGBTQ peers. “Today’s announcement by the YU administration that it will cancel all student club activities rather than host an LGBTQ peer support group on campus is a throwback to 50 years ago when the city of Jackson, Mississippi closed all public swimming pools rather than comply by court orders to desegregate,” Rosenfeld told CNN in a statement. “The Pride Alliance is seeking a safe space on campus, nothing more,” the lawyer added. It is unclear from the announcement how long undergraduate club activities will be put on hold and whether the decision will be reviewed. CNN has reached out to Yeshiva University for comment. Rabbi Ari Berman, the foundation’s president, released an online statement Thursday in response to the court’s decision, saying, “Every religious university in the country has the right to work with its students, including its LGBTQ students, to establishment of associations, places and spaces that suit the tradition of her faith”. “Yeshiva University is simply pursuing the same right to self-determination.” In its unsigned order earlier in the week, the Supreme Court noted that New York state courts had not yet issued a final ruling on the case and that the university could return to the Supreme Court after state courts have acted. Attorneys for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Yeshiva, also said the lower court’s decision is an “unprecedented” invasion of the university’s religious beliefs and a clear violation of Yeshiva’s First Amendment rights.
