NYU Fired One Prof for Being 'Too Hard' but Employed a Child Porn Offender for Years

Jonathan71, CC BY-SA 2.5 , via Wikimedia Commons

New York University fired a professor who was accused of being too hard a grader, but it kept a convicted child porn offender on its payroll for years.

NYU Prof. Robert Ginsberg, who works in real estate financing, was convicted in December 2015 of possessing child pornography, according to New York’s Sex Offender Registry. Ginsberg was convicted of “Actual, More Than Once Promoting/Possessing Sexual Performance by a Child” after his arrest by the Westchester County District Attorney. Ginsberg’s lawyer said the professor was sentenced to 10 years of probation in 2016 and completed his probation in March 2022, reports the New York Post.

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“A judge rejected claims by Ginsberg’s lawyer that he should be labeled a less serious Level 1 sex offender and gave him Level 2 status instead, meaning he is a medium risk of committing another offense,” the Post reports. Ginsberg confessed to viewing child pornography four or five times a week for some 10 or 12 years, an “extremely troubling and longstanding history of obsessive behavior regarding child pornography.” The professor began therapy before he was convicted.

NYU spokesman John Beckman said Thursday that the university had not been aware Ginsberg was a convicted sex offender. Beckman said Ginsberg was hired by NYU before he was placed on the sex offender registry, and the professor’s current assignment was to teach a graduate-level course in midtown rather than at NYU’s main Washington Square campus. “He has been suspended and will not be continuing his teaching duties while the matter is reviewed,” stated Beckman.

If NYU hired Ginsberg before he was placed on the registry, then he’s been working for the university as a convicted sex offender for at least five years. How did the university never discover his status?

Related: A University Professor Is Fighting Sanctions Over a Pronoun Mistake

Meanwhile, NYU fired Prof. Maitland Jones, Jr. this past week after students complained that his organic chemistry class was too hard and that “they were not given the grades that would allow them to get into medical school.” Jones, who wrote the class textbook and was previously a “star teacher” at Princeton University, countered, “[The students] weren’t watching the videos, and they weren’t able to answer the questions.” Noting recent poor performances from his pupils, he also said that “They weren’t coming to class, that’s for sure, because I can count the house.”

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But NYU fired Jones to ensure the unearned success of his students. Meanwhile, the university never figured out it was employing a sex offender with a “history of obsessive behavior” regarding kiddie porn. NYU might need to reevaluate its professorial standards.

Ginsberg claimed that he informed the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services, which maintains the state’s sex offender registry, that he works as a professor at NYU. He added that he “was not obligated” to inform his employer of his past conviction since his students are aged 20 and above.

The registry lists West 42nd Street as Ginsberg’s employment address, which the Post says is the address for NYU’s “satellite” location.

“I’ve been teaching there for 15 years and I’d like to be able to continue to teach there. I’ve done everything I can to try to make my amends,” Ginsberg reportedly said. “It’s understandable why someone doesn’t want to bring up their past when it’s not relevant to the job they’re performing.”

At the time of his arrest, Ginsberg reportedly had computer files at his Chappaqua home showing a rape of an 8-year-old Cambodian girl and a 6- to 8-year-old girl “engaging in sexual conduct.” He subsequently pleaded guilty to promotion of an obscene sexual performance by a child and possession of an obscene sexual performance by a child.

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