Following a hiatus of two years , Louis Neimand was hired as rabbi in 1963 . Born in New York City in 1912 to immigrant parents , he was a graduate of City University of New York and was ordained at the Jewish Institute of New York . He had previously worked for the United Jewish Appeal , and from 1959 to 1963 was the first Hillel rabbi at Syracuse University . There was some concern about Neimand 's hiring , as he had a police record as a result of his involvement in freedom marches in the African @-@ American Civil Rights Movement ( 1955 – 1968 ) . He served until his death in 1976 .