Yeshiva University, which faced heavy criticism for hiring Akiva Roth, has corrected its mistake by terminating the 42-year-old Hebrew professor from its faculty panel.
"Mr. Roth is no longer employed by the University," said a statement released Friday, JTA reports.
In the statement, Yeshiva said it had conducted "an extensive review of this matter" and found no evidence that Mr. Roth had "engaged in any inappropriate conduct during his time at YU," NYTimes reports.
The university confessed that it had made a mistake by hiring the professor even before the background checks were completed.
"While all appointments are subject to thorough background checks, the University erred in this case, permitting the new hire to begin teaching before the screening process had been completed. Yeshiva University will continue to re-evaluate its hiring processes and work to close any gaps in our procedure," the statement said.
Roth began his tenure at the college in Upper Manhattan, this semester. Critics questioned the university's timing in hiring the convicted sex offender at a time when the school was attempting to regain lost support and public image following sex abuse allegations.
Roth was previously convicted of lewdness with minors. He had pleaded guilty in 1997 to four counts of lewdness against several male students, aged 11 and 12.
Roth engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour with the boys while working as a private bar mitzvah tutor at a Jewish day school in West Orange, N.J. He eventually received ten years of probation.
These revelations were brought forward by The Jewish Daily Forward.
