Some Puzzles as New York Medical College Shifts Religious Affiliation Shlomo Machlis, left, a rabbinic supervisor, and Todd Kurtis, a manager, uphold New York Medical College's kosher rules. VALHALLA, N.Y. - New York Medical College was planning to change its affiliation to Jewish from Catholic when an employee approached Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka in the cafeteria, voice raised and finger wagging, and demanded, "When you take over, will I be able to eat my ham sandwich here?" A mezuza placed at the formerly Catholic New York Medical College. A nervous hush fell over the room on that day two years ago. Some students and workers had protested the impending takeover by Touro College, while others were just nervous, unsure what to expect. The college officials giving Rabbi Krupka his first tour were mortified by the confrontation, but curious about his answer. The rabbi, a senior vice president at Touro, cut the tension with a most rabbinic reply: "It depends." "On what?" the man asked. "On whether you like ham," the rabbi answered. Institutions of higher education switch religious affiliations, as New York Medical College did nine months ago, so rarely that there really is no playbook to follow. It has meant addressing countless wary questions as they arise, including where to install mezuzas in doorways - 108 so far - and where people may be allowed to carry a cup of coffee. Some teachers and students worried about a loss of identity; others said Touro lacked the prestige to be a suitable sponsor. But as Rabbi Krupka's reaction suggested in that cafeteria exchange, the shift has been subtle for most people. "There was a lot of speculating and worrying," said Matthew Pravetz, a Franciscan priest and a professor of anatomy who has been at the medical school since 1982. In reality, he said, the biggest change may be scheduling classes around Jewish holidays, "but I don't think anyone minds having more days off." Students wondered if they would find the library locked on the Jewish Sabbath, but it remains open - no one staffs it, but the lights work on timers, and the Internet connections stay on. When officials met to choose holidays, Rabbi Krupka said, "we got to Good Friday, and people assumed we would cross it off the list." But he added, "We decided there was no reason not to keep it." Ultimately, the change may be less profound for the medical school than for Touro, a move up in prestige with a well-known subsidiary and a new academic field. The medical school gained a prominent new dean late last month, with the appointment of Dr. Edward C. Halperin, previously the dean of the University of Louisville's medical school and a former vice dean at Duke's medical school. The medical school takeover continues Touro's aggressive expansion, from its start in 1971 as a 35-student college in Manhattan to one with dozens of campuses across the country and overseas, and with some 19,000 students. Since it was founded by Bernard Lander, an Orthodox rabbi and a sociologist who served as president until his death in 2010, Touro has identified itself as a Jewish institution engaged with worldly problems. It has long had a mostly non-Jewish student body, with particular appeal to older students and immigrants. In the past 15 years, Touro has opened a graduate school of business and three schools of osteopathic medicine, and it was a pioneer in online education, before selling that operation in 2007. Touro has been known for a bare-bones administration and for having low tuition costs for a private college - undergraduates pay about $25,000 a year in tuition, room and board. The relative lack of structure may have contributed to its occasionally being in the news for the wrong reasons, as in 2007, when two people, including an administrator, were indicted for falsifying transcripts in exchange for bribes. Dr. Alan H. Kadish, a noted cardiologist who became president of Touro two years ago, said that acquiring the medical school was a natural expansion for a college with osteopathic schools and popular undergraduate programs in medical science, and was not about raising Touro's profile. "It really was the logical next step," he said. He declined to be specific about future expansions, but said, "There are probably 10 proposals on my desk right now."