At the same time, we firmly believe that all members of the University community share responsibility for maintaining a climate of mutual respect and civil discourse, and we are working with college leadership, faculty, staff and students with this in mind.
Many campuses across the country are facing some of the same issues that CUNY faces and are similarly engaged in efforts to promote and maintain respectful and civil campus environments. I will appoint a task force of administrators, faculty, and students to review the ways CUNY colleges promote a campus climate that supports a respectful exchange of ideas, identify best practices across CUNY, and learn from the experiences of other universities. The task force will make recommendations for appropriate campus and University action.
These actions, some well underway and some new, reflect our commitment to ensure that The City University of New York provides a safe and welcoming environment for all members of the University community, while perserving the University’s essential role as a center for open inquiry, robust debate and learning.
James B. Milliken
Chancellor
The City University of New York
Financial Accountability In Jewish Life
This week’s Torah reading starts with: “These are the reckonings of the Tabernacle…which were reckoned at Moses bidding…. All the gold was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekel…. The silver…was one hundred talents…”
The parshah then goes on to talk about the copper (verse 29). As explained by ArtScroll, “the sedrah begins with a detailed listing of the amounts of gold, silver, and copper that was contributed for…the Tabernacle. Despite the fact that the metals were deposited with Moses and under the supervision of Bezalel – people whose greatness and integrity were indisputable…Moses made a full accounting of all proceeds and use of the contributions. He would not rely on assumptions, for leaders…must keep accounts of the funds that pass through their hands.”
In today `s language, we would say that Moses gave a full and complete financial report, maybe even an audit, of both the income and the expenses involved in building the Tabernacle. And he didn’t give this financial report to his brother, Aharon the high priest. Nor did he give the financial report to the twelve leaders of the respective tribes or even to the seventy elders.
He gave this report publicly to the children of Israel, what we might refer to in today’s terminology as the public or least his entire membership. And the Almighty found this so important that he included it in His Torah.
The question is obvious. On what basis does a synagogue, yeshiva, or charity find it acceptable not to issue regular detailed financial reports to its members?
It’s almost Purim, with Passover just a month after that. And the charity letters requesting money for matanos le’evyonim are starting to come in, with the ones for maos chittim right behind them. Maybe it’s time for each of us to set up a principle for giving:
If the organization soliciting funds does not provide (on an annual basis) a listing of its assets and liabilities, we won’t respond. If the group does not tell us its sources of funds and its expenses, including its top five salary payments to employees, we have no obligation to help it. One can go online and see what every New York City employee earns, so why shouldn’t we have the same right to scrutinize organizations that are soliciting our voluntary donations?
I once had a great interest in synagogue newsletters because I was editing one for a local shul. Friends, colleagues, and acquaintances knew of my interest and shared many shul bulletins with me on a regular basis, sometimes ten or twenty a month. I remember someone once lending me a very large newsletter from Kahal Adas Jeshurun, the German-Jewish congregation in Washington Heights. Included in that newsletter was a four-page detailed financial report for that rather large kehilla. In all my years, that’s the only one I can recall seeing in a newsletter or otherwise made available to a wide audience.