After a two year absence, 47-year-old Yeshiva University literature professor Jay Ladin returned to school last week as Joy Ladin, putting the oy in Joy by arriving at the midtown campus wearing a black skirt and pink lipstick. According to the head of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Ladin is the only transgender employee of a religiously conservative university in America. Unsurprisingly, some feathers have been ruffled. Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a senior dean at......

The initial news of the legendary 2nd Avenue Deli’s reincarnation led us to stockpile Lipitor as visions of pastrami, chopped liver and gribenes danced through our heads. And when we feasted our eyes on the sneak preview of this fresser’s paradise, we could hardly wait to go and devour more of the menu. Even though it’s been open for a little more than a week, Gothamist paused to recover from holiday feasting before hitting......

The Chronicle of Higher Education released its annual salary survey of the heads of educational institutions and the value of a college education is evidenced in the paychecks being cashed by institutions' presidents. More than a dozen heads of private universities took home more than $1 million during the 2005-06 school year. According to the New York Post, the dean of higher earning was Donald Ross, who took home $5.7 million--most in deferred compensation after......

L train riders, your patience, as well as personal space, will be tested for at least another three years. The NY Times reports that an additional 64 train cars that would take advantage of the "high-tech signal system" the MTA spent so much time installing won't be on tracks before January 2010. Which means that you'll have to make do with waiting for now! Currently, rush hour trains are scheduled to arrive every four......

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments): Barnard College: Anna Deveare Smith, playwright-actress CUNY Lehman College: Representative Charles Rangel CUNY Brooklyn College: Roberta S. Matthews, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Brooklyn......

-- Some timely advice: always look both ways before you backflip! -- Improv Everywhere goes to Yankee Stadium and hilarity ensues. -- Yeshiva University gets $100m worth of gelt right before the holidays. -- Have you ever wondered who reads the Post? Now you know. -- Who says the real estate market is imploding? These douches are asking for 40% more than they paid SIX MONTHS AGO! -- Speaking of real estate douchebaggery, Property......

- The United States has now been in Iraq for over three years. - More from the other bouncer at the Falls. Which reminds: we never want to work at a bar owned by the Dorrian family. - Howard Stern won't shut up about CBS and Les Moonves. We think he just misses having the threat of censorship hanging over him all the time that came with being on FM. - The downside of......

If you had to guess which public or private University in America had the most Jews, you might be tempted to guess Yeshiva University uptown, or perhaps Brooklyn College-- but you'd be so so wrong. The real answer is NYU! Yep, it turns out that our homely downtown alma mater has more Jews than any other school in the country-- so step off, University of Maryland! Washington Square News has the report: NYU enrolls the......

Steven I. Weiss, Journalist/Blogger...