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After Damning Probe, NJ Fed Exec Urges Board Purge At NJY Camps

Hannah Dreyfus

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An independent investigation undertaken by NJY Camps last spring found that at least 11 women accused Len Robinson of sexual harassment or assault, according to an internal memo. Via NJYcamps.org

Editor’s Note: Hours after this report came out, Peter Horowitz, the current president of NJY Camps reportedly resigned. Read the follow up report here.

In a stinging rebuke of one of his constituent agencies, the chief executive of a New Jersey Jewish federation has called for the resignation of the entire 60-member board of NJY Camps, the largest Jewish camp complex in North America. The action came after the results of an independent investigation found that board members knew for years about the predatory behavior of former executive director, Len Robinson, but failed to act.

“The investigators’ report … is a shameful, damning, heart-breaking and miserable study in leadership failure,” wrote Dov Ben-Shimon, executive vice president and CEO of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, NJ, in a letter to his board of trustees and senior management last week.

Debbie Findling

The letter, obtained by The Jewish Week, refers to a full investigative report commissioned by NJY Camps’ leadership in April after this paper published allegations of sexual misconduct against Robinson going back decades. Robinson was forced to resign from his position as executive director the day before The Jewish Week’s first report was published. His resignation came less than a month after Debbie Findling, a philanthropic adviser in the San Francisco Bay Area, wrote an op-ed in The Jewish Week detailing how she had been sexually harassed and propositioned for sex by a communal leader she later identified as Robinson.

Ben-Shimon confirmed that he had sent the memo to his board and senior management, though he said he was unable to comment further on the “internal matter.”

https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/after-damning-probe-nj-fed-exec-urges-board-purge-at-njy-camps/

“I believe that all people of good will share a common concern for the welfare of our children — as campers and as counselors,” Ben-Shimon told The Jewish Week in an email. “It is our communal obligation to provide for their safety and security.” He confirmed that MetroWest federation “supports NJY Camps through a variety of financial and service partnerships.”

CEO Dov Ben-Shimon

When asked if his federation will continue to support the camp financially as a result of the report’s findings, Ben-Shimon wrote, “We can only hope that the NJY leadership moves swiftly and appropriately.”

The investigators’ report … is a shameful, damning, heart-breaking and miserable study in leadership failure.

Last April, Peter Horowitz, president of the NJY board, stated that no allegations had arisen against Robinson during his tenure at NJY Camps. “It is clear from the results of the investigation that my initial understanding was incomplete,” he told The Jewish Week in an email. “I now believe that Robinson engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior during his tenure at NJY Camps.”

Without question the independent investigation points to a failure of oversight of Len Robinson by the NJY Camps board over a long period of time.

As of yet, no board members have been replaced, according to current board members contacted by The Jewish Week.

When asked if his children knew Robinson, he responded emphatically: “Of course they knew Len! All the kids knew Len — he was ‘Big Len,’ riding around the camp grounds on his golf-cart — you couldn’t miss him.”

“Camp — you know, the actual experience of camp — is separate from all of this,” Shames said. “It has to be.”