Touro College Rocked By Cash For Grades Scandal

Touro College, which describes itself as a school operating under Jewish auspices, is in effect a haredi version of Yeshiva University, a few steps up from a degree mill but considerably weaker academically than YU. Late today a NY grand jury issued 10 indictments in a cash for grades and cash for transcripts scheme that began operating at least as far back as 2003.

The New York Times has some details, including a mention of the older fraud, but a more detailed report can be read here:

A New York City Grand Jury has indicted 10 individuals for their involvement in a scheme to create and sell fraudulent student transcripts at a local college based in Manhattan. Some of the defendants charged in the indictment include the former director of admissions and the former director of the computer center for Touro College, three students who attended Touro College, as well as three New York City Public School teachers. In February 2007, Touro College reported the case to the Computer Crimes Squad, New York Police Department, which referred the case to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The defendants are Andrique Baron, 34, of Hoffman Ave., Elmont;  Michael Cherner, 51, of Village Roade East, Brooklyn; Vladimir “Jimmy” Diaquoi, 38, of East 21 St., Brooklyn; Lasheen Tingling, 32, of Willoughby St., Brooklyn;  Florence Constant, 53, of 45th St., Flushing;  Uzi Azizov, 22, of West 6th St., Brooklyn;  Boris Yakubov, 25, of 63rd St., Forest Hills;  Renee Rene, 38, of 210 St., Queens Village;  Ghislene Julmice, 43, of Arlington Terrace, Queens; and Irene Zalivansky, 24, of Coyle St., Brooklyn.

Baron was the former director of admissions for Touro College, New York School of Career and Applied Studies in Manhattan (1994–2007) and Cherner was the former director of the Computer Center for Touro College, Kings Highway, Brooklyn campus (1990-2007).

The indictment charges that from approximately Jan. 8 to March 31, Baron and Cherner improperly altered, created, and deleted at least seven transcripts in a cash-for-grades scheme. At least three of the altered records belonged to current Touro students, whose existing records were enhanced with improved grades or additional or deleted courses.…

Prosecutors says Baron and Cherner also accepted bribes from at least four individuals who never attended Touro, but paid for fraudulent transcripts. Three of these individuals were New York City Department of Education  teachers who needed master’s degrees to obtain permanent certification.Prosecutors says Baron and Cherner also accepted bribes from at least four individuals who never attended Touro, but paid for fraudulent transcripts. Three of these individuals were New York City Department of Education  teachers who needed master’s degrees to obtain permanent certification.…

On the bright side, when Touro officials noticed the fraud, they called the police.

On the bad side, the New York Times reports that Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, said:

[T]he investigation was continuing, adding that he believed that hundreds, maybe even thousands, of transcripts may have been fabricated or altered.

Touro may be best known in the Jewish world for granting credit for yeshiva studies. Students studying in Aish HaTorah and other haredi ba'al teshuva yeshivas have received college credit through Touro for those studies, as have students of other, non-BT haredi yeshivot in Israel. It is also well-known as the place haredim go when they need a quick degree.

Comments

Touro is very fragmented so it's not quite accurate to describe it as Haredi.

The students in Flatbush are mostly black hat type. Midtown Manhattan caters to the modern orthodox. There are 2 locations in Queens, one being black hattish and the second is a mixture with moderns.

Touro's law school on Long Island is very fourth rate and is populated mostly by non-Jews.

There are other Touro outposts around the world that aren't Haredi by any stretch.

Touro offers PhDs online. I wonder what kind of standards they have.

[Neandershort]

As a NYC public school teacher who got his Ph.D. the old fashioned way (I earned it) I am incensed at the three public school teachers who bribed Touro officials for their masters degrees. It goes without saying that, if convicted, they will lose their jobs. I hope they do some jail time as well.

I taught a bio lab at Touro's Flatbush campus one semester. I expected my students to actually attend classes and do work if they expected a passing grade. It goes without saying that my students learned about evolution, some for the first time.

To their credit, when my sister got married on an evening when we had lab, I told my students beforehand that I'd be leaving right after the huppa, I would be a bit late and they should wait for me (I could have just canceled the lab but I believe in leading by example). Every one of them arranged to make up the lab in another section and I attended my sister's wedding from start to finish.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

Touro offers PhDs online. I wonder what kind of standards they have.

How much do you want to spend?

[DK]

You forgot to mention NCSY, a Touro recruiter. I wrote about that here: http://kvetcher.jewschool.com/category/touro/

[Dr Fred]

What's the problem? Touro has the best education money can buy.

[Anonymous]

Damm. And I just spent money on sending my kid to a charedi school. How come no one told me? Or my kid? Where were all the charedim hiding went I went to visit him? The Bais Medrash looked fairly normal. I guess there must be a secret location where they hide the charedim. Shmarya, just where do you get your information from that Touro is charedi?

[DK]

"Where were all the charedim hiding went I went to visit him?"

We told you, they don't actually have to come on campus or attend classes or take tests to get their degree.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

We told you, they don't actually have to come on campus or attend classes or take tests to get their degree.

Touché

[Shmendrik]

Ah, Good old Shmarya being a shmuck as usual. First of all, it looks like half of the people charged weren't Jewish. The Jewish ones may not even be frum.

And you neglected to quote the part of the article which mentioned that Touro College reported it to the police when they became aware of it, which is how the investigation began.

But what the hell, blame it on the "Haredim". Shmuck.

[Shmarya]

I guess your reading comprehension skills are low.

I closed the quote by noting:

On the bright side, when Touro officials noticed the fraud, they called the police.

And Touro was started to be a YU-lite, to allow haredim to get degrees without having to deal with objectionable things like occasional mixed classes, evolution, hard science, etc.

That Touro branched out (largely because of federal grants and other aid) into serving a more religiously diverse population is beside the point.

And, as a commenter noted above, Touro's "campuses" are largely segregated by religion.

[Garnel Ironheart]

Hot damn! I always wanted an MA in something. How much do they want?

[ShmaryaLoves2Hate]

WELCOME TO THE JACKASS EXPRESS

Touro is no degree mill. Its accounting graduates rate at the top of the nation on CPA exams. (I guess they must pay off the CPA administrators.)

Its graduates have attended Wharton, Columbia and the best medical and law schools in the nation. (I guess they must have paid for the GMAT LSAT and MCAT scores as well.)

It might surprise you that schools across the nation including Jesuit and public colleges all give credit for yeshiva studies, and why shouldn't they? I went to an out-of-state college and received 58 credits for my two years in yeshiva.

BTW, Cherner the computer director REPLACED a frum yid. Everything the school did was appropriate.

As to your claim that Touro is "well known as the place to get a quick degree"???? Barring malfeasance, you need to spend time to get a degree ANYPLACE. I got a BS in Accounting in two years of nights, weekends and summers. If you put in the time, you can do it anywhere.

Your innuendo is as unsupportable as Morgenthau's "belief" that perhaps thousands of degrees have been altered. If in three months of intense investigation they found seven altered transcripts, how does this translate into thousands of alterations over for four years??

On the bright side, you went through an entire post without drooling over Agudah, Rubashkin and molesters. Mazel Tov!!

[degree factory]

What about the 45 "yeshiva credits" they offer?

[df is bs]

I imagine you are ok with offering seminary credits at southern baptist university. if you put in the time, why can't you get credits at touro?

[Neandershort]

They seem to segregate the yeshiva and seminary alums from the rest of their diverse student body. Just this side of the civil rights laws I would say. And I had no trouble teaching evolution, but then I was hired for one semester as an adjunct, sight unseen, by a dep't head desperate for someone to take an overflow lab section.

[Lawrence M. Reisman]

"Touro is no degree mill. Its accounting graduates rate at the top of the nation on CPA exams." This means that it has bright, hard-working, motivated students. No surprise there. If it's the only place yeshivas and bais yaakovs will send transcripts, that's where the bright kids will go.

"Its graduates have attended Wharton, Columbia and the best medical and law schools in the nation." Again, if it attracts students who do well on the tests, it will get its students into the top schools.

The problem is that for those students who aren't going to score at the top of the LSATs, MCATs, REs, etc., the quality of a Touro education is much more of a factor, and for those students, Touro does a lousy job of educating them. (There are a few programs that are an exception. OT is pretty good, for example). I should know, I had a daughter in Touro who with good grades and 1250 on the GREs couldn't get into a grad progam in psych. Oh well.

[Touro Grad]

As a touro grad who went to med school afterwards, I will tell you that at least at the Manhattan campus, the academics are very good. Yes, they do offer credit for yeshiva, and there is a learning program in the morning that you can get credit for, but by and large, the people that I went to school with were people who worked in the morning, or people who wanted a jewish college environment, but did not want YU. Touro does have its detractors, and not without merit, but calling it Haredi is not merited. I often agree with this blog, but here you have it at least partially wrong. I say partially because I cannot personally speak for the Flatbush campus.

[Mafia Basher]

The biggest crook of them all is the known Mafia Thug and Gangster LOUIS a/k/a/ LEZER KESTENBAUM who is behind all this chillul hashem, here is a small example of the bribery that KESTENBAUM is involved:

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Real estate biz
boosts Yassky run
BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Thursday, May 11th, 2006

The real estate industry is pouring thousands into Councilman David Yassky’s congressional campaign - including two controversial developers, the Daily News has learned.
Joshua Guttman and the Kestenbaum family are just two of the land barons who have given more than $150,000 to Yassky, according to filings.

“Subliminally or subconsciously, these folks probably get more access [to Yassky] when the phone rings,” said Neal Rosenstein, a government reform coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

After Guttman’s Greenpoint Terminal Market went up in flames in a suspicious fire last week, Yassky returned a $500 contribution. Guttman has denied involvement in the fire, the city’s largest since 9/11.

Spokesman Evan Thies denied that developer Louis Kestenbaum's contributions influenced Yassky.

“There is absolutely no link between donations and David’s governing,” said Thies. “There are plenty of developers in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights who have given him money and are upset over his stance against their developments.”

Yassky helped create affordable housing in Brooklyn and was an opponent of DUMBO developer Jed Walentas’ 38 Water St. project, which threatened to block views of the Brooklyn Bridge, Thies said.

Guttman and Louis Kestenbaum also have contributed to other politicians - including Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, City Councilman Simcha Felder, former presidential candidate Al Gore and former vice presidential candidate Jospeh Lieberman.

Williamsburg preservationists also pointed to the Austin, Nichols & Co. warehouse at 184 Kent Ave., which the City Council voted not to give landmark status to in November. As representative of the district, Yassky was the force behind the nonlandmark vote.

The building is owned by brothers Louis and Moshe Kestenbaum - who in 1991 pleaded guilty to a scheme to sell cosmetics and groceries intended for the former Soviet Union.

Instead, the Kestenbaums and three others were convicted of illegally selling them in the U.S. for a $44 million profit.

In the last two years, Yassky has gotten a total $21,100 from Louis Kestenbaum’s son, Joel, and $30,000 from two Kestenbaum business associates.

Yassky officials said he was unaware of the Kestenbaums’ crimes.

“Experiences shows us that when a candidate is receiving hundreds if not thousands of contributions, it’s next to impossible to know what each contributor has done years and years ago that might raise a question,” said Yassky election lawyer Jerry Goldfeder. “We look at all the contribution checks, and we scrutinize them as best we can.”

[Neandershort]

If it's the only place yeshivas and bais yaakovs will send transcripts, that's where the bright kids will go.

If it's the only place they send transcripts to, they are probably violating the law and I would be on the phone with authorities (secular ones, not weakass batei din) faster than the principal can say "apikoirus." But then again, I wouldn't have been caught dead sending a child to a school that won't send transcripts to the colleges of my child's choice. Thank God I and my wallet are now out of that parsha :)

BTW, Lawrence M. Reisman, are you related to the Rabbi Reisman of the Aguda shul on Ave. S and E. 22 St. in Brooklyn?

[Lawrence M. Reisman]

Dear Neandershort:

With regard to the transcript messs, I'm out of those schools myself. However, several years ago, Prospect Park Yeshiva was hit with a court injunction ordering them to send transcripts to colleges. Interesting story about what goes around comes around, the RW yeshivas started this transcript shtuss 20-30 years ago. In the 1980s, Maimonides school in Boston copied it in reverse, when they refused to cooperate with "black hat" yeshivas and seminiaries in Israel by sending them transcripts. Oh well.

No, as fard as I know, I am not related to Rabbi Yisroel Reisman; he is a Levi and I'm a Yisroel. However, our families hail from within 30 miles of each other in Europe, and given the elasticity of surnames in Europe, anything is possible.

[Gil]

Neandershort: Although I never went to a Charedi Yeshiva properly speaking - I went to one for Americans in Israel which was run by Charedim. They tried to get me to not go to a regular college and they stalled on my transcript enough that I was not admitted into the college until the following year.

[Yochanan Lavie]

I am a graduate of Touro College in Manhattan (back when they had a Modern Orthodox men's division there, in the 1980's). Yes, there were yeshiva students who tried to fake a BA by getting a zillion credits for their studies. But those of us who went the regular route received a good education. Our professors were not academic superstars, but they cared about their students and were good pedagogues. (My professors at NYU were famous, but were self-absorbed a-holes). I majored in English and Philosophy, and minored in History.

When I graduated, I went to NYU, and received my MA and PhD in English Literature the old fashioned way (like Neadershort)- by busting my ass by working fulltime and going to school fulltime. I went to school with kids from name brand colleges, and I knew more than most of them. Some of that could be attributed to my extracurricular reading, but most of it was due to the stringent Humanities requirement (modeled on Columbia's program) that us non-yeshiva types took.

Be cynical if you like, but Shakespeare, Plato, Maimonides, and Wordsworth are the same wherever you learn them.

For about 10 years, I have been adjuncting at Touro, at its Flatbush women's division. I can't speak for the other professors, but I know my students get a solid education from me (they tell me so). I try to open up their minds, while maintaining respect for the Torah (it can be done). If Touro didn't exist, I would not have the oppurtunity to do so, and my students would probably not go to college at all.

Even when I was an undergrad, I was aware of the scandals surrounding Touro. But I never regretted going there. I learned a lot, met wonderful people, and had a great time. Not everybody in that institution is a criminal or a bum. What a shame that those who are make the entire school a laughingstock.

[Anon]

Shmarya, once again your biases are showing through as has been noted by many above.

First of all, Touro College does not describe itself as a school operating under Jewish auspices. In fact it goes to great pains to paint itself as a secular institution (which it is) because it is run by orthodox jews.

Yes, you did mention that Touro reported this to the police but buried toward the end of your post and after it was clear to all that you were turning this into an anti-chareidi post. The fact that they reported this seems to make it clear that this has nothing to do with the higher ups at Touro and was some employees (who don't even seem to be jewish) committing fraud. At best, you can accuse them of having sloppy controls.

As noted by many above, almost every college accepts yeshivah credits so there is nothing unique about Touro in this regard. The only differences is the number of credits they accept and I think Touro will accept more than some other schools but for the most part this is an academic issue. The majority of yeshivah graduates who attend Touro go for degrees such as accounting or other degrees that require a high number of core credits. You can have a gazillion credits from a yeshivah you still need to complete all your core requirements. Political science majors may ahve it good but you don't find many yeshivah graduates going for a political science degree.

[Anon]

--To their credit, when my sister got married on an evening when we had lab, I told my students beforehand that I'd be leaving right after the huppa, I would be a bit late and they should wait for me (I could have just canceled the lab but I believe in leading by example). Every one of them arranged to make up the lab in another section and I attended my sister's wedding from start to finish.
Posted by: Neandershort | July 16, 2007 at 11:40 PM--

Glad to see you give credit where do but you are one sick dude. Does your sister know that you were planning on leaving after the huppa? Does she still speak to you?

[Shmarya]

First of all, Touro College does not describe itself as a school operating under Jewish auspices. Then the NY Times and several other news sources erred. Each story I linked says "Jewish auspices."

Yes, you did mention that Touro reported this to the police but buried toward the end of your post and after it was clear to all that you were turning this into an anti-chareidi post. The fact that they reported this seems to make it clear that this has nothing to do with the higher ups at Touro and was some employees (who don't even seem to be jewish) committing fraud. At best, you can accuse them of having sloppy controls.

Noted clearly and more prominently that any major news source did.

What you seem to miss is the idea that there was probable collusion higher up in Touro management.

Was it simply sloppy controls? Even if it was, that sys volumes about who Touro hires and how Touro manages.

As noted by many above, almost every college accepts yeshivah credits so there is nothing unique about Touro in this regard. The only differences is the number of credits they accept…

Touro gives, I'm told, 45 credits for 2 zemanim (Fall and spring semisters, so to speak) of yeshiva. No normal school will give more than perhaps 20 for this, most even much lower than that.

[Anon]

--Touro gives, I'm told, 45 credits for 2 zemanim (Fall and spring semisters, so to speak) of yeshiva. No normal school will give more than perhaps 20 for this, most even much lower than that.--

According to a friend of mine who attended Touro a couple of years back (can't guarantee things haven't changed), Touro grants up to 6 yeshiva credits per semester and up to a maximum of 48 in total. You need 120 credits to graduate plus you need to complete all the core requirements of your major. My friend says that between his core major plus some required English and Math related courses his total required credits exceeded 72 so he was not able to use the full 48 yeshiva credits even though he had it. According to my friend, Brooklyn College was offering the same amount of yeshiva credits per semester except that their total cap was a bit less than 48 (he doesn't know that exact number).

BTW, I have an advanced degree from an IVY league school and had some classmates that were admitted directly into the graudate school with yeshiva undergraduate degrees. So it is not just the Touros and Brooklyns of the academic world that are accepting yeshiva credits.

As far as sloppy controls, I don't think anyone considers them a super high class operations so I don't consider this too newsorthy. Frauds like this have happened at much more prestigious schools.

[Shmarya]

The 1 year in Israel yeshiva and seminary programs were getting 45 trimester or 30 semester credits at one point. I'm not sure if that is still true.

[Anon]

--The 1 year in Israel yeshiva and seminary programs were getting 45 trimester or 30 semester credits at one point. I'm not sure if that is still true.--

need to qualify my earlier statement. The 6 per semester limit was if you were also getting 12 Touro credits for that semester - the maximum allowable was 18 per semester. For years someone attended yeshivah full time and didn't receive any other credits, Touro allowed 12 yeshiva credits per semester. Don't know about the Israel yeshiva program you refer to. Maybe its for those that attend yeshivah in Israel while at the same time attending Touro in Israel? If you figure 12 Touro credits + 6 yeshivah credits plust same credits for a summer program (or two) you might get to the 45 range in one year though you don't need to go to Israel for that.

[Neandershort]

Gil - How much legal recourse would you have had against an Israeli school stalling transcripts? I recall that in my senior year of HS the school tried to raise my parents' tuition mid-year. When they refused to fork over the extra $$ the yeshiva threatened to withhold my diploma. My mother called state officials and was informed that it would be against the law for a school to withhold an academic diploma duly earned over a tuition dispute. I received my diploma on time and the tuition increase remains unpaid.

Anon - My sister thought I was nuts but we still speak. It was a second marriage for both, not expected to produce children, and to my way of thinking they were making a bigger hullabaloo than warranted, but then it was their money to do what they want with. The point (leadership by example) is that my students, all female, came from large families and bli ayin hara they have plenty of family smahot to attend. One of them told me she'd be missing lab for her brother's bar mitzva party (the party on a weeknight, not the aliya to the Torah, which took place the previous Shabbat). The absence would have put her over the quota of missed labs, which would have resulted in failure for the semester. I tried to get her to understand the concept of academic (and later professional) obligations that might conflict with family and social obligations, and that she had to make a choice and would land in hot water either way. If I recall correctly, she was able to make up the lab in another section, so no harm done, but if not for my lecture she would have remained in her fantasy world where academic requirements are mere suggestions. A few evenings later, I faced the same dilemma. The huppa was the essence of the wedding; the party afterward was - a party. Professional obligations trump a party - and people making a simha during the week should know that there will be people unable to attend due to professional obligations. Leadership by example - not like my principal (male and six months pregnant) who tells students to take the stairs but he takes the elevator with nothing to carry.

[Anon]

--Leadership by example - not like my principal (male and six months pregnant) who tells students to take the stairs but he takes the elevator with nothing to carry.--

Your principal is male and six months pregnant? I'd like to meet this guy.