Bigotry Is as Bigotry Does, FAFO Edition

Yeshiva University banned an  L.G.B.T.Q. club at the school.

When they were told that they could not do this as a school that received (lots of) public funding, they decided that they were not a school, but a religious institution, so now some in the legislature are suggesting that they should return the $230,000,000.00 in public money that they have received over the years, because they would not be entitled to those funds as a religious institution.

It looks like we have a classic case of F%$#ed Around and Found Out.

It's clear that much of their operations are not religious in nature, the Cardozo School of Law, the Sy Syms School of Business, and the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, are examples.

They could, of course spin off the Seminary, and make sure that they are not operating out of facilities operated with state funds, but I don't expect to see that happen:

A state inspector has been asked to review whether Yeshiva University, which is in a court battle with a group of L.G.B.T.Q. students over whether it must recognize their campus club, should have received $230 million in taxpayer funds after the university has said that it is a religious institution.

The referral could lead to a significant escalation in a complex case in which the university has argued in court that it is a Modern Orthodox Jewish religious institution, which would exempt it from anti-discrimination laws and allow it to reject the club. Before the 2021 lawsuit, Yeshiva described itself as an educational institution, which made it eligible for taxpayer funds but obliged it to follow city and state nondiscrimination laws.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers said the university’s legal argument raised alarm bells because it had for decades accepted public funds to pay for the construction and renovation of its facilities. The lawmakers accused Yeshiva of misrepresenting itself to obtain at least $230 million and asked the university to provide a full account within 30 days of how it had spent those funds.

Yeshiva declined to do so, said Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the chairman of the State Senate Judiciary Committee. In a letter sent last week, he asked the New York State inspector general, Lucy Lang, to investigate whether the university had misled the government “to qualify for low-cost, tax-exempt bond financing.”

The college’s “discriminatory behavior and claimed status appear to be at odds with the statements Y.U. made to obtain state bond financing,” Mr. Hoylman-Sigal said in the letter. David King, a spokesman for the inspector general’s office, said on Thursday that it had received the referral and would review it.

In an interview, Mr. Hoylman-Sigal said, “Regardless of anyone’s motives, misrepresentation to procure public money is dishonest and could potentially violate state law.”

………

The central question in the legal dispute involving Yeshiva is whether it should be considered an educational corporation that is governed by state education law, which is what it says in the university charter, or whether it should be granted the First Amendment protections of a religious corporation, which is what the university has argued in court.

Judges have so far rejected the university’s argument.

In a ruling against Yeshiva last June, Justice Lynn R. Kotler of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan pointed to the university’s charter, which describes it as “an educational corporation under the education law of the State of New York” that was “organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes.”

After that ruling, Yeshiva made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has taken a broad view of religious liberty in recent years and almost never ruled against a religious freedom claimant since Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the bench in 2020.

But the high court rejected Yeshiva’s request last year. It ordered the university to recognize the club, known as the Pride Alliance, and to exhaust its appeals at the state level.

Of course the Supreme Court rejected Y.U.'s request.  When they talk about religious freedom, it only applies to Christians, silly.

………

If Yeshiva succeeds at being recognized as a religious institution, more legally akin to a seminary than to a college, that would raise a tricky new question: What should be done about the large amount of public money it has received in recent years?

In his letter to the inspector general on Monday, Mr. Hoylman-Sigal said lawmakers’ concerns centered on at least three separate instances in 2009, 2011 and 2022 when the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York issued bonds on behalf of Yeshiva to raise money for construction projects.

The Dormitory Authority is a public finance and construction agency that works with health care and education institutions across the state. The authority has a long history of working with religiously affiliated colleges, said Jeffrey Gordon, an authority spokesman, but not religious institutions like Catholic seminaries.

Brad Hoylman-Sigal is both gay and Jewish, but this straight Jew agrees with him as well.

This level of blatant hypocrisy is not a good look for the University.