Rabbi Marc Golub, a former mental health counselor and spiritual leader who had sex with a female client while working for a Virginia mental health treatment center from 1996 to 1997, appeared on campus last week and asked students to participate in an interfaith text study not sanctioned by Brandeis Hillel or any regional Jewish organization. Golub told students the text study was sponsored by a Conservative Jewish outreach project, but officials in the New England region of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism say they know nothing of such a project, according to an e-mail sent to Hillel members Friday by Allan Lehmann, the University's Jewish chaplain.

Golub served as the rabbi of Virginia's Temple Sinai for 11 years before resigning a week after being disciplined by the Virginia Department of Health Professions, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported in 1998.

Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan sent a campus-wide e-mail Monday that asked students to contact the Department of Public Safety if they have seen anything suspicious.

"I'm still waiting to converse with students who have interacted with this person," Callahan said. "So I'm not trying to panic people, but we should initiate caution when we interact with people who aren't directly part of this community."

Golub signed a regulatory board order admitting to misconduct in February 1998, but later denied the acts in a published interview, according to the Times-Dispatch report.

The article also said that a Virginia Department of Health Professions investigation "concluded that Golub had sex with a woman he was counseling and broke other regulations while counseling three clients at the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board in 1996 and 1997."

Callahan said that an investigation is underway, and that he has banned Golub from entering campus property.

He has written Golub and will send an all-campus e-mail to serve as notification of this action.

"I'm concerned about this being a safe campus for our students and wanting our campus to be a place where people can study and interact safely," Lehmann said.