CEDU founded by Mel Wasserman
CEDU Educational Services, Inc., known simply as CEDU (pronounced see-doo), was a company founded in 1967 by Mel Wasserman and associated with the troubled teen industry. The company owned and operated several therapeutic boarding schools licensed as group homes, wilderness therapy programs, and behavior modification programs in California and Idaho. The company's schools have faced numerous allegations of abuse. CEDU went out of business in 2005, amid lawsuits and state regulatory crackdowns.Origins
CEDU originates from Synanon, a cult founded in Santa Monica, California in 1958 by Charles E. Dederich. Mel Wasserman, the founder of CEDU, was a former Synanon member. According to Maia Szalavitz, author of Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids, "Synanon sold itself as a cure for hardcore heroin addicts who could help each other by 'breaking' new initiates with isolation, humiliation, hard labor, and sleep deprivation."
The troubled teen industry has continued to be associated with Synanon and the various CEDU spin-offs. Former students have made the assertion that CEDU was an acronym for Charles E. Dederich University, while CEDU marketing materials claim, this stood for "See Yourself As You Are and Do Something About It".History
Original CEDU period (1967–1985)
CEDU was founded by Merle "Mel" Wassermann. Wasserman had been a furniture salesman and had been involved with sponsoring people undertaking the Synanon program. CEDU was initially based in Reche Canyon and was operating out of a ranch. In 1968 there were 28 people living on the ranch under the guidance of Wassermann, ranging from 13 to 24 years old. However, despite the fact that they were working on the ranch, they were not receiving any payment for their labor. CEDU had been given non-profit status.
In September 1968, CEDU faced a setback when county planners denied their ranch a permit for public use. This decision meant that the program would have to find a new location to continue its operations. CEDU would eventually move to Running Spring, California.
In 1969, CEDU bought a town house in San Bernardino and was also operating a gasoline station in Loma Linda. Contemporaneous newspaper reporting cited allegations of "sex orgies" and "brainwashing", claims that were at the time rebutted at length by CEDU. CEDU was later accused by a critic of telling problematic students that they may end up at California Youth Authority, Juvenile Hall or Patton state hospital if they left prior to completing the program. In a 1973 news article titled "Center a beacon light leading addicts out of world of drugs", it was reported that students were being assigned jobs such as construction, kitchen duties, landscaping, and plumbing.