From the Professor's Desk

by,  Judah Diament Rav Yisroel Meir Kagan is known popularly as “The Chofetz Chaim ”, after his famous work by the same name. In klal 10:1-2 of Sefer Chofetz Chaim , he codifies the rules regarding when one is allowed to share negative or damaging facts about another Jew in order to achieve a positive goal, such as correcting an improper behavior. The first rule of the seven is that one must have witnessed the incident or behavior in question firsthand, and must not have only heard about if from someone else. The fourth rule is that one may not exaggerate the facts, even though his intention in doing so is to achieve something good. Since arriving in Yeshiva College as a professor of Computer Science in 2016, on multiple occasions I have heard or read claims that cheating is “widespread” in YU. Like any other decent person, I was and am deeply disturbed by the idea that YU students would cheat. Equally disturbing, however, is the complete lack of rigor and care with which I hav