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Yeshiva University Failed to Act on Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Its Staff before 2001, New Report Say

By Daniel Beekman
New York Daily News
August 26, 2013

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/yeshiva-university-failed-act-allegations-sexual-abuse-staff-2001-new-report-article-1.1437137


[the report]

Yeshiva University failed to act on multiple allegations of sexual abuse made by students until 2001, a report by a law firm hired by the institution said Monday.

But the report is skimpy on details because Yeshiva honchos directed the firm to publicize its findings only in summary form.

The 21-page document is the result of a months-long investigation by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP into claims by former students that they were molested by adults affiliated with Yeshiva.

"The investigative team found that, up until 2001, there were multiple instances in which the university either failed to appropriately act to protect the safety of its students or did not respond to the allegations at all," says the report obtained by the Daily News.

"Based on what the investigative team learned from its interviews with victims, this lack of an appropriate response by the university caused victims to believe that their complaints fell on deaf ears or were simply not heard."

Yeshiva began the probe after a bombshell article by The Forward newspaper in December 2012 about allegations of abuse by two Yeshiva University High School for Boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

Last month, a group of former students field a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court and are currently seeking at least $380 million in damages.

The report says abuse occurred at multiple Yeshiva affiliates, not just the boys high school, but is extremely short on details, with just four paragraphs devoted to findings.

The rest is dedicated to background, methodology, recommendations and other information.

The report says the investigative team planned to make public its complete findings on sexual and physical abuse but was directed by a special committee of the Yeshiva board of trustees, "as a result of the pending litigation," to describe the findings "in summary fashion."

It says the investigative team, which also included sex abuse expert Lisa Friel and her firm, T&M Protection Services, spent more than 6,300 hours on the probe, interviewed more than 145 people and "received full cooperation from the university administration … and operated with complete independence."

Contact: dbeekman@nydailynews.com




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