State withdraws Permission to Operate from Olivet

WINGDALE — On June 30, the New York Department of Education’s Board of Regents decided it would not renew Olivet University’s (OU) Permission to Operate (PTO) its New York City and Dover locations; the Dover school shut down on Saturday, July 2.

The move “ended a good, 10-year run in the state of New York with the conclusion of our temporary permission to operate,” according to a July 7 statement by the Evangelical university.

Aside from a location in New York City, Olivet has 1,000 acres in the Wingdale hamlet of Dover; it has other locations throughout the U.S.

Olivet Management purchased the former Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center on Route 22 in Wingdale in 2013; county records from the year of purchase valued it at $2.3 million. According to the Olivet website, which as of Monday, July 11, no longer had the Wingdale location listed online, the campus opened in 2016.

That year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Olivet for exposing workers in Wingdale to lead and asbestos. The case was settled. Olivet was given 10 years to pay $700,000 in fines — a fraction of the $2.3 million originally levied against the university.

Olivet has made $40 million  in renovations to the Wingdale campus thus far, creating what it describes as an “Evangelical Center.” The July 7 statement said it planned to pursue improvements prior to the Regent’s decision — regardless of whether the PTO was renewed.

“In order to prioritize the Evangelical Center for service to the global Church through its various elements, including a technology park, Christian innovation center, a hospital to serve the mission community, a ‘business as mission’ center, a sports center, an evangelical-themed museum, and an entertainment complex, among others, OU decided to put its full focus on those efforts at this point in time, while the charter application is being processed.”

Olivet claimed the New York State Education Department’s [NYSED] rational was “inappropriate and based on incorrect information,” and that it would therefore appeal the decision to revoke the PTO “to set the record straight.”

More than $70 million has been invested at Olivet in Dover, said OU President Matthias Gebhart in a July 10 Op-ed to The Christian Post, calling the revocation of the PTO “foul” in light of those numbers.

Olivet’s appeal laid out NYSED’s reasons, listed below:

1. “Olivet has operated with resources insufficient to accomplish the mission and purposes of its curricula;

2. “Olivet has failed to responsibly administer institutional policies and programs;

3. “Olivet has failed to establish, publish and enforce explicit policies with respect to working conditions.”

In its appeal, Olivet states “it has sufficiently remedied those deficiencies and should be evaluated based upon its current standards of operation and governance; not based on its performance in the past.” It  argues NYSED’s documents “are either incorrect, no longer timely and/or do not constitute the sort of violation warranting the extreme remedy proposed.”

NYSED Deputy Commissioner William P. Murphy reportedly said he supports the closure in a letter sent to Olivet’s president in its home base of California, pointing to how often it’s wound up in court.

Olivet has been sued in civil court, where it’s faced charges of defaulting on contractual payments; failing to pay workers comp insurance; and tax liens. It also pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in criminal court on Feb. 14, 2020. The original 2018 indictment charged the university conspired to fraudulently obtain $35 million in financing. The money, according to former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, was laundered to “obscure its origins and fund Olivet’s operations.” Others at Olivet were convicted in 2020 on counts ranging from falsifying business records to taking part in a conspiracy to fraud.

Olivet defended itself on July 7, stating, “The lawsuits that [NYSED’s] letter mentions took place over a time span of many years, often reflect multiple suits in the same cases… It is also important to note that the vast majority of the lawsuits… have been paid in full or settled.”

Murphy’s letter reportedly mentioned some of those settlements, though, led to Olivet defaulting again.