The chancellor of Yeshiva University reportedly has acknowledged that two rabbis assigned to its all-boys high school were allowed to leave quietly after students accused them of sexual abuse.
The Jewish newspaper The Forward yesterday quoted Norman Lamm as saying, “This was before things of this sort had attained a certain notoriety.’’
Lamm was president of the prestigious university in Washington Heights when the alleged molestations occurred in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
The school’s current president, Richard Joel, first told the paper the school was “looking with concern’’ into the allegations.
Then, days later, he issued a statement expressing “my deepest, most profound apology’’ for the “heinous and inexcusable acts.’’
Former students had long asked the school to look into their claims of abuse by a former principal, Rabbi George Finkelstein, and a staffer, Rabbi Macy Gordon.
One accuser said Gordon had sodomized him, The Forward said.
Both men, who now live in Israel, told The Forward the allegations are not true.
Lamm admitted he never notified police about the alleged abuse of minors, saying, “My question was not whether to report to police but to ask the person to leave the job.’’
One suspected abuser, The Forward said, was allowed to leave for a job as dean of a Florida school.
Lamm admitted charges of molestation came not only from students at the high school — which is on the university campus — but also undergraduates and grad students.