Cecilia Chang- NY Mag

I hear that Harrington has notified school employees that the University has hired a lawyer for him and he is not at liberty to discuss the matter.
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That is correct
 
While Fr. Harrington is by no means free from tarnish, this Chang situation started under Fr. Cahill. It includes a romantic relationship with Ms. Chang, on top of the financial improprieties. Ms. Chang continued it under Harrington, who was reluctant at first but soon bought in.

The Wile part of the story is puzzling. Apparently he was a student athlete at SJU. How the relationship starte,d and what its nature is, we can only speculate about (for now).

This whole thing is really ugly---and it is only beginning.
 
I hear that Harrington has notified school employees that the University has hired a lawyer for him and he is not at liberty to discuss the matter.
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If the president of SJU was a layman, would the university be hiring an attorney for him, or pressing criminal charges?

You have to wonder if Harrington is now regretting going to authorities to prosecute Chang, gambling that his own indiscretions would go unnoticed. If the story is correct, Harrington reacted with arrogance when improper loans to Wile were uncovered, saying "I'll think about it.". Somewhere, Chang is smiling as her charges of a complicit Harrington (and Wile) are being proved out.

With the gene pool getting very shallow in the Vincentian community, you have to seriously wonder if a much more qualified and competent President could be found among the laity. Of course, this is presuming that a resignation/dismissal is a fait accompli. This is after all, St. Johns, and as we know, what you might expect to happen, more often than not, never does.
 
Wow. Did you guys see this?

Statement from Father Harrington Concerning Cecilia Chang Update
To:
University Community
From:
Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M., President
Re:
Statement from Father Harrington Concerning
Cecilia Chang Update
Date:
Friday, March 8, 2013
I understand that many of you rightfully have questions regarding recent reports stemming from the Cecilia Chang matter.

There is a lot that I would like to say in connection with the issues that have been raised. However, in response to the new reports, the Board of Trustees, with my full support, has engaged Frank Wohl of the law firm Lankler Siffert & Wohl to review certain issues and provide advice going forward. Mr. Wohl is a highly qualified attorney who specializes in this type of review.

At this time, therefore, in order to maintain the integrity of the ongoing review process, it is appropriate that I refrain from any further discussion of these matters until that review is complete.

As some of you may recall, when concerns of fraud surrounding Cecilia Chang's travel reimbursement requests first surfaced in 2010, the University undertook an independent investigation through FTI Consulting LLP, a nationally respected forensic investigation firm. That investigation was directed and overseen by the Board of Trustees with the cooperation of University administration. The results of that investigation raised significant concerns that Cecilia Chang had engaged in fraud. At that time, we unanimously agreed to refer the investigation findings to appropriate law enforcement agencies. The University pledged its full cooperation and support to the various investigators including the Queens District Attorney, the US Attorney, the FBI and the IRS. We have full confidence in the comprehensive investigations that were done by each of those law enforcement agencies, which found that the wrongdoing was limited to Cecilia Chang.

I ask the University community to respect the review that is underway. I expect that at the end of this process, I will be able to say more about these issues. I greatly appreciate your patience as we remain focused on serving our students.
 
On another Board, years ago, Father Harry was often pillored , rightly so, about his inept Executive Management of the University but, especially his inept meddling in the BB PROGRAM..

Now, to little surprise, we're emeshed in a scandal that can damage whatever credibility this University once had...

For most of his tenure as President, this Priest(for now) has been disliked by many alum, been involved in controversies of his own making and, generally run a good University into a lowered status Academically and ,even, demeaning it's Catholic
orientation.

He needs to be gone immediately..
 
Not sure if people have seen this but there is a petition started calling for Father Harringtons resignation, please read and sign the below if you agree.



Also if the university is hiring a lawyer for the president, would alumni be able to enter into a class action suit against Harrington? im not a lawyer but im sure someone here can inform us if there is any legal action that alumni and current students can pursue against Harrington and his administration, or should we call it his mob family?

It would be interesting to see if we could get the law school professors and students taking the case against Harrington, it would be a great learning experience and have endless amount of man hours and resources.
 
Fr. Harrington was at the game today.
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It would be interesting to know how many games FH attended in his nearly 25 year career at St John's?

I have a feeling I have enough fingers to count them.

OK, throw the toes in , just in case.
 
Harrington was asked by board of directors to resign. I assume same will happen with R. Wile.
There is also another big scandal that will be all over within few days.

Dark clouds over St.Johns

Hopefully new administration will make drastic changes to level of academics and pump more money to our basketball team.
 
Fr. Harrington was at the game today.
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It would be interesting to know how many games FH attended in his nearly 25 year career at St John's?

I have a feeling I have enough fingers to count them.

OK, throw the toes in , just in case.
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It certainly hasn't been frequently, and when he does show, it's often because some important alumnus is also present. He's just not that big a fan, I suspect. It brings up a kind of fond memory of Father Cahill patrolling the western basket near the entrance where RW receptions are held - he was a fixture at all games. FH did come to Denver for the NCAA tourney two years ago, and that was nice.

I suspect that after coming back from Rome on Friday, he had every reason not to attend yesterday, unless clergy from Marquette was present. I am also thinking for him, his attendnace could signal a swan song appearance.

His letter on Friday seemed so delusional in light of the facts, I have a hard time believing he is ready to resign. He did have some close friends on the BOT that could be advising him otherwise.
 
... from New York Post's Pete Vecsey:

RT @PeterVecsey1: Big scandal about to rock St. John's. Nothing to do with sports, a valued source insists. Head will, er, has rolled. about 1 day ago.
 
Why at this point is rob wile still an employee of St. John's ? If there is more dirt coming out why not get in front of the problem and fire wile and retire Harrington ?
 
Why at this point is rob wile still an employee of St. John's ? If there is more dirt coming out why not get in front of the problem and fire wile and retire Harrington ?
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Now that it is clear that all of the gifts were expensed to St. John's, Rob Wile and FH should return the watch, and pay the credit cards bill for all of their extravagant gifts and trips, and repay the university for his beach frolic with his gf and FH. The Philippe Patek watches are worth something like $40,000, and should immediately become property of SJU, since they paid for them. The credit card bills to Prada et al is pure thievery. The qualifications required and subsequent for a "chief of staff" should be compared to similar Catholic universities, and a summary judgment against FH and Wile should ensue.

I'd love to know the real reasons FH hired Wile and elevated him so quickly, but we probably can only guess.
 
I had a long, thought out post based on reading about this situation throughout the weekend (my daughter is sick and we're homebound) but I decided to erase it.

As a non-alum who's only tie to the University is that I'm a fan of the men's basketball team, and as a person who respects the board, Paul, and the mods who have a hard enough time with the emotions of our fans, I decided its not worth it out of respect.
 
Agree with all you said but to be fair, the 41% grad rate is NOT that low giving the socio-economic status of the students they bring in (over 50% Pell eligible). Also, the University's largest major is a six year program.
 
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