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Ten people were indicted yesterday for taking part in a cash-for-grades scheme at Touro College. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau explained that students - and even people who never even attended the school - would pay thousands of dollars to change their transcripts or to buy diplomas. The accused include a Touro admissions administrator, a Touro computer center head, and three city teachers who "bought" master's degrees.
One concern of the Manhattan DA's office is whether any physician-assistant degrees were sold, because investigators "found blank physician's-assistant certificates" in the home of Andrique Baron, a former admissions director. Baron made $68,000, but prosecutors found two Mercedes-Benz vehicles, flat-screen TVs and other "high-end" electronics in his home. Baron's lawyer denies the charges and says, "He is an absolute scapegoat," and blames other Touro officials.
Masters of education degrees help public school teachers with their certification (and certified teachers make more). The three city teachers who bought degrees and had been teaching special education in Brooklyn and Queens public schools have been suspended. The Department of Education told the Times that two of the teachers, Renee Rene and Florence Constant, were "tenured and could not be dismissed without a hearing."
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a diploma from "Touro" is actually worth anything?
The money Touro "college" raises goes directly towards zionist causes in Israel.
It's all a scam.
Mikhail Cherner is another person charged in this scheme. The article also mentions that fake medical doctor's degrees are floating out there.
Why isn't Morgenthau looking into that? Will it upset the zionist moneytrain?
Surprising? Not to me. This whole city is about making as much money as you can.
To the three commentors above, it seems very easy to speak from an ignorant point of view. It requires minimal effort, or brain activity. How about some basis for your hate statements befor you trash something you knwo nothing about?
uh, because my degree from NYU is barely worth anything and at least NYU has a name.
There are too many universities in existence today. Some of them, desperate to survive, try this type of thing.
It is sad. Maybe NY state will discredit them, the same way it went after Drake and Interboro..
Seems to me this was done by a few individual employees with access to grades, and other paperwork. This has minimal bearing on Touro as a general organization. Following some of the above comments, maybe we should get rid of CUNY for some of the individuals accused of fraud about a year and half ago (Hunter college)?
I personally think this is an act of one or two greedy individuals who just had access they should not have had. If you think NYU or other top schools are safe from this type of money-hungry behavior, you are greatly mistaken.
A lot of issues here, and not just those relating to the main topic.
Someone mentioned that Touro college provides financial support to Zionist causes? I didn't know that. I don't have anything against Israel but I'm just surprised to learn that.
The issue that concerns me is that there are people somewhere in this city working with children with Master's degrees in Ed that they did not earn to achieve, and people working as Physician Assistants in hospitals and medical offices with degrees they did not earn - these people are dealing with people's lives everyday!
Master of Ed candidates requires teaching experience prior to graduation. Do schools actually verify that students have actually fulfilled that requirement? How did the Dept. of Ed possibly have let that slip by? And maybe Touro should upgrade their hiring standards for clerical and administrative staff....?
I will agree that there are too many "colleges" out there, esp. in this city. that are just worthless diploma mills; the only people that benefit are union members and "professors" that provide nothing more than their opinions - some not all but still alot of them! IMHO, many CUNY schools should be vocational training schools.
Teachers were also involved! They were all in this together...
"We're all in this together, baby" as they like to say.
I wonder if it concerned the Continuing Ed division. Many continuing ed or adult ed divisions within unoversities are a major cash cow. Most do not offer scholarships, an if they do, it's only enough to cover books. Money raised from these divisions go toward grants to "traditional" college students at their more prestigious or main Arts & Science schools. Touro is not the only institution of "higher learning" that is guilty with respect to this controversy; just look at other universities in NYC.
As an a hiring manager, however, I will have doubts about hiring students from Touro in the future.
At the beginning of my graduate career I adjuncted in the South Brooklyn division of Touro. What I saw was pretty disturbing - Russian immigrants with very weak English were taking (at best) highschool-quality classes in order to get associates degrees. The busiest corner of the building was the financial aid office, and I wondered if they were using public money for this or just saddling these people with debt. It was a fun first experience to meet the students (who were very interesting), but I felt that whatever it was it was not a college.
(I'll just add that I'd leave CUNY out of it. Compared to Touro, the CUNY schools I've taught at are Harvardesque.)
Well, I graduated from a CUNY school and let me tell you that it was more *glorified* high school than "Harvardesque." (For the record, I didn't go to high school in New York.)
If the department of education respected the teachers who took the time to obtain degrees from known colleges...maybe people would be more likely to put the effort in for their further degrees....instead of going to the diploma mills...which seem so plentiful in NYC. Paying for a degree from Touro is like shoplifting from a dollar store!!
In my opinion, this is really a morality issue. I went to a "name" university for my undergraduate degree and witnessed a great amount cheating. Some students would not even show up to class as they would pay other students to do the work for them...I went to a "gin mill" school to get my masters and saw more hard working professionals trying to better their lives. I actually learned more in that environment. Cheating in education has become increasingly pervasive at all levels and instead of addressing the true cause we are all too quick to judge and blame the system.
I agree with you....people are very quick to judge. I am seeing that more and more people are questioning anyone who went to Touro. It is very disturbing that so many people who worked hard to earn a degree are becoming objects of questions. Even silly jokes....As for the quickness of judging people and blame the system...lets be real, that's just the norm for society today.
Gothamist leaves out an important point made in the D.A.'s official statement: Touro College itself discovered the corruption and notified the police and D.A. If systematic corruption were involved, Touro College would ignore or suppress such criminality.
For teachers, students and staff who work honestly, this betrayal by the two administrators is a punch in the gut. Touro, in fact, has raised entrance and exit standards and implemented many quality control methods: multiple measures of skills, departmental grading (to normalize standards), faculty development, and detailed reports to the state and regional accreditation bodies.
-a Touro teacher (and not an easy grader!)
I think you all must be youthful people. Agreed, as an "undergraduate," you should work for your credentials -- in any chosen field. Let's face facts, though. If you are NOT in the business of saving people's lives or biogenetic discovery, what the heck.
I am all for buying a degree. Most of the colleges that offer MA's in BS (and you know what that is) just overrate their courses, charge you an arm and a leg, put you in a mound of student loan debt and you get nothing for your troubles but a year and a half wait and a mounting debt.
Go for it. Wish someone could help me get a bogus MA in something like Political Science or Human Resources. Would pay decent money for it from an accredited college.
Hope there are MORE cash for diplomas out there.