NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward
By Paul Berger
Published October 12, 2013.
The revelation that Yeshiva University hired a convicted sex offender even while facing charges that it covered up decades of sexual abuse has raised questions about the policies of other Jewish institutions at which he previously worked.
The Jewish Theological Seminary, which employed the man a decade ago, says it did not know then about his criminal conviction. But it does not, to this day, conduct criminal background checks before it hires staff, said JTS spokeswoman Elise Dowell.
JTS today asks job applicants whether they have a criminal record, said Dowell. But, unless the applicant works on the seminary’s supplemental program for high school students, JTS does not follow up with a criminal background check, she said.
JTS hired the convicted man, Akiva Roth, to teach a summer program for post-college students preparing for rabbinical school from 2000 until 2003. Roth remained on criminal probation at the time, just three years after his 1997 conviction.
Roth, 42, was recently let go from his Yeshiva College position after the Forward published details of his conviction. The school said it had “erred” in hiring Roth by “permitting the new hire to begin teaching before the screening process had been completed.”
Yeshiva University faces a $380 million lawsuit for allegedly covering up decades of child sexual abuse by faculty at its Manhattan high school.
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