Cecilia Chang- NY Mag

BOT meets Wednesday night. I'm not hopeful, especially since appointing Maher to Niagara in the midst of a storm swirling around Harrington may be a pretty good indication that the Vincentians are not going to take their heads out of the sand and act decisively in this matter.
 
Although my comments here have been pretty pointed against both Father Harrington and also the appointment, salary, and spending habits of
Rob Wile, I guess what has irked me the most about FH is his self depiction as a "CEO" of St. John's. Of course, the more you are in an executive position, like leading a university, the further you can stray from your oradined vocation. I stumbled upon the resignation announcement of Father James, the President of Chaminade, who by the way, has amassed an endowment that is commensurate with the total endowment of St. John's University. The press release:

Father James Williams steps down from Chaminade H.S. presidency

August 10, 2011 | Vol. 50, No. 16

Father James Williams announced last week that he is stepping down after 12 years as Chaminade’s president.

“I have found myself at a unique personal intersection, where my responsibility to address the needs of Chaminade High School as President and my vocation to respond to the needs of God’s people as a priest compete with each other for time,” he explained in an undated letter to the Chaminade community. “I believe I am being called by God to devote more energy to priestly ministry.” He will stay on at Chaminade as a teacher and counselor.

The new president is Marianist Brother Thomas Cleary, currently Chaminade’s dean of students and provincial of the Marianist province of Meribah which
operates the school. Father James and Brother Thomas are Chaminade alumni.

I guess that I like priests to be pastoral and CEO to be high level executives. Not that a priest can't be a CEO, but then he has a heck of a lot less time to be pastoral. Long tenures in an executive capacity, even at a Catholic University can distort a person in terms of his vocation.

Even if there wasn't scandalous activity it's time for FH to return to ministry, and escape from the corporate chains of running a university, along with all the trappings.
 
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2011/111/630/2011-111630830-083f6a13-9.pdf. Otis try the link above to read the 2011 IRS 990 form for SJU. Guide star provides tax return info for various non profits Dr Jim Pellow total comp fiscal year 7/1/10 till 6/30/11 was $752,507
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1984ever

I admit that when you posted that Dr. Pellow's compensation was $700K per year I did not believe you. Now you have posted a link that is was $752K for the reported year.

The St.John's website list's Pellow's title as "Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer". Does anyone know whether the $752K compensation for the subject year is in line with what other individuals with like titles have at other Catholic colleges are paid?

Also, wasn't there another individual with the last name "Pellow" that was associated with St.John's a few years back?

Thanks.
 
I can tell you this 400K+ another 100K in benefits is what is causing studen unrest in the California State System and that for the university presidents
 
Otis the only Pellow at SJU for the late 1990s and 2000s that I ever heard of as a student and active alum is Jim Pellow
 
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http://chronicle.com/article/Outrage-Over-Lavish-Spending/138097/
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Harrington has a hard time differentiating the concepts of criminally charged, unethical, illegal, and immoral. Just because there are no criminal charges against him doesn't mean he wasn't complicit in receiving Changs illicit gifts, and allowing her to operate the way she did just so long as she brought in barrels of cash for the University. It doesn't mean his promotions of Rob Wile, the incredible salary for someone who didn't possess the resume or career accomplishments for the job, and trips to the Caribbean, stopover in Hawaii, and lavish digs in Asia weren't unethical. It doesn't mean that his failure to report cash given to him by hang to the IRS isn't illegal. And it doesn't mean that what Harrington did was immoral.

What's worse about all of this is that Harrington is ordained a priest, not a CEO. A CEO who does these sort of things that have been alleged, would simply be fired and dismissed as a low life (see Adelphi's crisis of 15 years ago or so.) When a priest, ordained to be a religious leader, a pastor, a shepherd, acts in this fashion, it turns more and more people away from the church.

The poster Joe3went to great lengths to state the SJU isn't really a Catholic school. Based on Harrington's alleged behaviors, maybe Joe3 was right after all.
 
I read the article in full discusses the faculty outrage also mentions that the nys board of regents could step in and force the entire board to change over. If any SJU faculty goes on here feel free to contact me as I would like to read and perhaps post on here the faculty letter that is being distributed.

However I have a feeling that the Vincentians plan is to have Father Harrington stay on as President for the next 4 years and then Fr. Maher after doing a 4 year stint in Niagara will get the St. John's job. Cahill and Harrington both did relative short stints at Niagara before getting the SJU presidency. However if the pressure continues fr Harrington may have to go sooner than 4 years
 
For a variety of reasons, I have not been aware of this situation. I just now read the entire NY Magazine article and I am absolutely outraged. This is a huge embarrassment to the University and to alumni everywhere, including me. What astounds me most of all is that Harrington and Wile are still in their current roles. They both should be suspended immediately, and Wile without pay, until this latest investigation is over.

I am not a major donor to the University, but if I were, my donations would stop immediately. And if I had made a pledge, that would not take place until all involved are held accountable.

It's only a matter of time before this becomes a major news event in the tr-state area, and even a major national news event. This is a scandal and an example of corruption rarely seen at a University level.

I know I'm late to this discussion, and I'm sure a lot of what I've said has already been said, but I am angry and upset about this. What will be worse is if this outside investigator determines that technically, St. John's did nothing illegal. People need to be held accountable. And now.
 
For a variety of reasons, I have not been aware of this situation. I just now read the entire NY Magazine article and I am absolutely outraged. This is a huge embarrassment to the University and to alumni everywhere, including me. What astounds me most of all is that Harrington and Wile are still in their current roles. They both should be suspended immediately, and Wile without pay, until this latest investigation is over.

I am not a major donor to the University, but if I were, my donations would stop immediately. And if I had made a pledge, that would not take place until all involved are held accountable.

It's only a matter of time before this becomes a major news event in the tr-state area, and even a major national news event. This is a scandal and an example of corruption rarely seen at a University level.

I know I'm late to this discussion, and I'm sure a lot of what I've said has already been said, but I am angry and upset about this. What will be worse is if this outside investigator determines that technically, St. John's did nothing illegal. People need to be held accountable. And now.
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The inaccurate part of recent articles say that there is a new investigation into Harrington and Wile's behavior. There is NOT new investigation, but there is a review of what was already discovered and testimony presented.

The 28 board of trustee members (except for clergy) were appointed to the board because of their extraordinary generosity to the university regarding cash donations. BOT positions are prestigious, but also tenuous, since Harrington can replace any member at any point in time. Even if every board member wanted Harrington out, he likely could dissolve the board and appoint new members, so long as Vincentian leadership didn't remove him.

If there was a single issue regarding FH's behavior, it could be chalked up to a single instance of bad judgment. Let's say not reporting the envelopes filled with cash, but still being able to show a record of charitable acts done with the cash, I'd be okay with it. Let's say he brought Wile up through the ranks agressively, but showed a ton of success along the way, then acquired the academic credentials that would be expected of such a position. I'd be okay with that. Let's say Harrington accepted a watch in order not to embarrass a donor from a culture where gift giving is expected, then gave the proceeds of the sale of the watch to Bread and Life. I'd be okay with that. Let's say Wile and Harrington entered a private real estate venture together against FHs vow of poverty, but donated the proceeds to SJu students with extraordinary financial needs. I'd be fine with that.

Some of the other stuff - like a beach vacation taken by a 58 year old priest with a 25 year old male subordinate, is too bizarre for words, girlfriend present or not.. The excuse that FH was greiving the loss of his father is jsut too lame for words.

Like most scandals in the Catholic Church, clergy just sticks their heads in the sand, and hopes that when they come up for air, all is forgotten. In this case, they may be right, but I hope not.
 
For a variety of reasons, I have not been aware of this situation. I just now read the entire NY Magazine article and I am absolutely outraged. This is a huge embarrassment to the University and to alumni everywhere, including me. What astounds me most of all is that Harrington and Wile are still in their current roles. They both should be suspended immediately, and Wile without pay, until this latest investigation is over.

I am not a major donor to the University, but if I were, my donations would stop immediately. And if I had made a pledge, that would not take place until all involved are held accountable.

It's only a matter of time before this becomes a major news event in the tr-state area, and even a major national news event. This is a scandal and an example of corruption rarely seen at a University level.

I know I'm late to this discussion, and I'm sure a lot of what I've said has already been said, but I am angry and upset about this. What will be worse is if this outside investigator determines that technically, St. John's did nothing illegal. People need to be held accountable. And now.
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The inaccurate part of recent articles say that there is a new investigation into Harrington and Wile's behavior. There is NOT new investigation, but there is a review of what was already discovered and testimony presented.

The 28 board of trustee members (except for clergy) were appointed to the board because of their extraordinary generosity to the university regarding cash donations. BOT positions are prestigious, but also tenuous, since Harrington can replace any member at any point in time. Even if every board member wanted Harrington out, he likely could dissolve the board and appoint new members, so long as Vincentian leadership didn't remove him.

If there was a single issue regarding FH's behavior, it could be chalked up to a single instance of bad judgment. Let's say not reporting the envelopes filled with cash, but still being able to show a record of charitable acts done with the cash, I'd be okay with it. Let's say he brought Wile up through the ranks agressively, but showed a ton of success along the way, then acquired the academic credentials that would be expected of such a position. I'd be okay with that. Let's say Harrington accepted a watch in order not to embarrass a donor from a culture where gift giving is expected, then gave the proceeds of the sale of the watch to Bread and Life. I'd be okay with that. Let's say Wile and Harrington entered a private real estate venture together against FHs vow of poverty, but donated the proceeds to SJu students with extraordinary financial needs. I'd be fine with that.

Some of the other stuff - like a beach vacation taken by a 58 year old priest with a 25 year old male subordinate, is too bizarre for words, girlfriend present or not.. The excuse that FH was greiving the loss of his father is jsut too lame for words.

Like most scandals in the Catholic Church, clergy just sticks their heads in the sand, and hopes that when they come up for air, all is forgotten. In this case, they may be right, but I hope not.
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Beast, I couldn't agree more with everything you said. And as I'm sure we will see with this scandal, the cover-up is always much worse than the actual crime. And you would think that of all institutions, the Catholic Church would have learned it's lesson about cover-ups from the way it handled the child abuse cases.
 
Looks like the media is going to let this story die. Without the help of the media keeping the outcry for Harrington's dismissal going, he is not going to be ousted.

Does anyone know if the internal investigation has been completed yet? and if they will release the findings?
 
There is a rumor on the STJ campus that the university administration has hired an outside PR firm to contact local media and try to squelch stories. Anyone know anything about that? New York Magazine will almost surely print more stories. An open letter to the Board of Trustees from concerned faculty is going forward and will be presented soon. The Torch will also print more stories. It has performed heroically, in a real turnaround. Copies of last week's paper somehow disappeared on campus, but The Torch remains available online. Several faculty have commented, "There's only one way this can end." Actually, there are different possible endings, one of which is that the university will go on bleeding, indefinitely. Some of us didn't realize how badly the university was hemorrhaging internally. The C. M. has a fundamental problem: lack of academically qualified people to be university president. This is a university whose president, provost (nice guy, to be sure), and vice provost all lack the Ph.D. Wow!! Is that unprecedented or not? Hmm, I wonder if the Board of Trustees has considered going to the Philippines, to get a candidate from Adamson University or some other C.M.-affiliated place.
 
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