Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

NYU Hires Lawyer To Investigate Steinhardt Sexual Harassment Accusations

(JTA) — New York University has hired a law firm to investigate whether Michael Steinhardt, a major donor, had inappropriate interactions with its students, faculty and staff.

Joan McPhee, who helped lead an investigation of Larry Nassar, the team doctor for the U.S. gymnastics team who last year was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing young women, will run the probe, the university announced Monday, The New York Times reported. McPhee, a partner at Ropes & Gray, also is formerly a federal prosecutor in Manhattan.

The university’s school of education — NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development — was named for the Jewish philanthropist after he and his wife donated $10 million to the school in 2001. The couple also gave $20 million to NYU between 2006 and 2014.

Some students have asked for the school to be renamed, according to The Times. Steinhardt is one of the university’s 61 voting board of trustee members.

In March, The New York Times published an investigation into allegations by seven women that Steinhardt had propositioned them or said sexually inappropriate remarks while they interacted with him in professional settings. Immediately after the article came out, NYU announced it would initiate such a review.

Steinhardt, 78, has admitted to “boorish, disrespectful and just plain dumb” behavior, but he denies harassment.

Steinhardt, a retired investor, is a supporter of numerous Jewish causes through The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. Its website lists Birthright Israel, which Steinhardt co-founded, OneTable, and two Hebrew language charter schools, among other programs. The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History opened in Tel Aviv in 2017.

Steinhardt also supports various New York City cultural and educational institutions, including the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.