Richard M. Joel (born September 9, 1950) is a Jewish scholar who was the fourth president of Yeshiva University (YU), a Modern Orthodox Jewish university in New York City. He has written on topics that include Jewish leadership, the BDS movement on college campuses, and civil discourse. Academic and professional credentials Richard Joel received his BA and JD from New York University, where he was a Root-Tilden law scholar. He received honorary doctorates from Boston Hebrew College and Gratz College. He was an assistant district attorney and Deputy Chief of Appeals in the Bronx. His career continued as associate dean and professor of law at NYU's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Hillel presidency From 1989 to 2003, Joel served as President and International director of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, an organization which supports Jewish life for college and university students throughout the world. In 1994, Joel orchestrated Hillel's independence from B'nai B'rith, its parent organization since 1925. While at Hillel, Joel attracted major philanthropists such as Michael Steinhardt, Edgar Bronfman, Sr., and Lynn Schusterman and Charles Schusterman. During his tenure, Hillel partnered with Birthright Israel, launching the Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps, a group of recent college graduates tasked with engaging unaffiliated Jews and drawing them to Judaism and Jewish events. Hillel also expanded to the former Soviet Union and South America. Joel's tenure at Hillel has been criticized by some as providing stylish instead of substantive Judaism. However, he also received praise for his "skilled management, magnetism, personal warmth," as well as revitalizing the Hillel movement. During his tenure at Hillel, Joel served as the head of the special commission impaneled by the Orthodox Union (OU) to investigate allegations that community leaders had ignored charges against the abusive outreach rabbi Baruch Lanner, an executive with the OU's National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY). The commission concluded that many OU and NCSY leaders had made serious errors in judgment. Presidency of Yeshiva University Joel became president of YU in 2003, succeeding Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, who had been president since 1976. He stepped down in June 2017. As YU President, Joel appointed new deans for Yeshiva College, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Syms School of Business, and the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), and added faculty positions throughout the university. He facilitated the construction of the Jacob and Dreizel Glueck Center for Jewish