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Yeshiva University – arguably the most corrupt university in America –

— is once again on the receiving end of a spanking delivered by a Jewish newspaper. “Moral bankruptcy… exists at the institution… [Yeshiva] must immediately undertake an independent investigation which examines moral issues at the institution.”

The author reviews some – not all – of the scandals emanating from Yeshiva just over the last few years. He wonders why Yeshiva covers them up, denies them… UD has asked why Yeshiva refuses to respond to angry public letters from alumni, fails to change its incestuous form of governance…

Far from being willing to examine its structural corruption – a corruption which will continue to generate scandals – Yeshiva shows every sign of believing itself to be morally superior.

How long can a large complex organization remain delusional?

UD gives it another five years before it will be put in some form of receivership.

Margaret Soltan, January 28, 2013 6:39PM
Posted in: conflict of interest, forms of religious experience

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2 Responses to “Yeshiva University – arguably the most corrupt university in America –”

  1. Rita Says:

    Is there any inconsistency in your calling about 10 different universities (Yeshiva, Miami, UMDNJ, University of Toledo, Auburn…) the most corrupt in America in the past couple of years? I think it might dilute some of the prestige of the accusation to imply that it can be a shared honor.

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:

    Hi Rita: I’ve used superlatives in relation to a lot of universities, yes — I’ve called the University of Georgia, for instance, the worst university in America; and I’m pretty sure I’ve called any campus in Nevada among the stupidest in America.

    But of the list you provide, I don’t think I’ve called Toledo the most corrupt (that one, run by bizarre Lloyd Jacobs and his cronies, is certainly corrupt, but nowhere near as corrupt as some other schools), or Auburn, or Miami. Again, I think my adjectives for those places tend to be inept, hapless, negligent, clueless.

    UMDNJ is really the only contender for the most corrupt; but (I think I mentioned this in a post not long ago), while it remains hilariously corrupt, it is much less so now, since the federal government got majorly involved.

    Similarly, I’ve singled out South Carolina State University as a grotesque farce, so ill-run and corrupt that it should be shut down. But I don’t think I’ve said most corrupt.

    I should add a couple of other reasons Yeshiva really is arguably, at the moment, the most corrupt university in America. One is simply that it is far more high-profile than pathetic SCSU. It matters. Its trustees are New York City bigshots. The New York Times routinely writes about it. To find systemic corruption in a small obscure school that’s losing all of its students anyway (eventually SCSU will have to close due to lack of students) is much less worth talking about than to find corruption at a place with pretensions and with cultural importance, like Yeshiva.

    Finally, Yeshiva’s corruption is currently tops in the nation because it is not only a religious school – plenty of schools have some religious affiliation – but because it is an orthodox school that asks us to take it very seriously as a profoundly religious, profoundly ethical, institution. Obviously, this makes the misbehavior of its trustees, and all the rest of it, far more outrageous. Hence my having elevated it to – at the moment – America’s most corrupt university.

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