Ex STJ Dean on Trial For Stealing From University

...... yet another proud moment for Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M.
 
 http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/st-john-president-testify-disgraced-dean-article-1.1185603

looks like Harrington is being subpenaed for this case
 
The news article linked above illustrates just how out of touch Rev. Harrington is.
 
Well the buck stops with Harrington but whomever in Accounts Payable / Internal Audit paid all her bills without raising questions is definitely complicit. Sounds like internal controls are vey lax.
 
When I was with the radio station a fellow student ordered a box of pens that said WSJU 25th anniversary unfortunately the student did not know how the A/P process worked at SJU but I remember being hounded by someone in the A/P office eventually we settled the bill and it was taken out of the clubs budget.

That was 1997, A/P does do there job at SJU or at least did(maybe other alums on here can tell a similiar story).

FH took wine from this woman as gifts and let her run amok because he did not know the Asian culture !!!



At some point hopefully sooner(next 18 months) rather than later our aloof arrogant President will retire and Fr. James Maher or someone else will take over and bring back a sense of transparency, responsibilty and accountability back to our beloved alma mater.

Like him or hate him Ms. Chang's exploits would never have happened under Fr. Cahill's leadership 
 
She used the money to pay for subscriptions to online dating sites...I hope that included professional photoshop service for her face. 
 
JSJ

Thanks for posting see below from FH's testimony:



 Harrington said Chang gave him cash to give to the poor, but he had not kept records of the amounts.

“The first time she gave it to me it was $2,000,” he said. “I have a drawer in my office which I keep locked when people give me money for the poor.”

It sounds like FH was complicit in Ms. Chang's theft, and supported this evil dean who enslaved students.

The Board of Trustees need to force FH out now.

Fr. James Maher is nearly 50 years old and is more than capable of turning around SJU.
 
This is the last straw under this :LOSER CEO rev.don harrington has to go!

It explains what I felt all along a teflon priest thats power does not match his wisdom.
If this man has any true love for st.j's he should retire asap.

His incompetance in letting Dean Wang keep her job after rewarding her son a law school scholarship :blink:
Accepting expensive gifts makes him look demented about conartist thiefs.
How about doing some research on china before u travel there as the ceo of st.j's :silly: clueless see{ rossetta stone}
Harry hires smooth talkers like Jarvis,Roberts,& WANG to rob st.j's of millions.
Wonder How much harry invested with bernie madoff ??? 

It all starts & ends at the top of this crumbling pyramid 
 
I have been told by St.John's students that Harrington rarely mixes with students and avoids student activities.

While other Carholic colleges and Universities have raised their academic image over the past 25 years St. john's academic image has at best remained stagnet. Harrington has seemingly set low goals for academic recognition and has sometimes failed to meet even his low goals.

Harrington has embarrassed himself and St. John's University.
 
I have been told by St.John's students that Harrington rarely mixes with students and avoids student activities.

While other Catholic colleges and Universities have raised their academic image over the past 25 years St. john's academic image has at best remained stagnet. Harrington has seemingly set low goals for academic recognition and has sometimes failed to meet even his low goals.

Harrington has embarrassed himself and St. John's University.
Click to expand...

In fairness, arguably 2 of the biggest factors that act as a drag in our U.S. News ranking are: Retention (now a tad under 80%) and 6 yr. graduation rate.

Since a very healthy percent of students are Pell Grant eligible, a fair number find they don't have the money to continue their St. John's education at some point after they matriculate at the university.

If St. John's had sufficient grants and/or scholarships to keep these young men and women in school our rankings would rise and rise dramatically, by definition.

That is why it is so important that we, as alumni, contribute to the annual fund and capital campaigns.

Right now, I believe, alumni contributions are about 14% (give or take).

Years ago (mid-70's) our competition was Fordham, BC and/or Villanova.

Fast forward 40 years and it's arguably a school like SUNY Stony Brook because of the cost of the education.

As I mentioned before, and this is no news bulletin to any of us by any stretch, we have a very large freshman class.

Our top kids could be admitted to a higher ranked private school if they could afford to go away.

For the bottom third, it may be problematic.

SAT scores, now around 1100 (sans writing section), are where they were 40 yrs. ago.

HOWEVER, the size of the freshman class today is TWICE as large.

I think we all agree that the programs on the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions are solid and enhance the reputation of the university, for example.

Others can add programs of choice, such as Accounting and Education, that are also well regarded.

Do some programs need work? Sure they do as we are only going to be as strong as our weakest link. Those programs and their shortcomings obviously need to be addressed.  
 
I have been told by St.John's students that Harrington rarely mixes with students and avoids student activities.

While other Carholic colleges and Universities have raised their academic image over the past 25 years St. john's academic image has at best remained stagnet. Harrington has seemingly set low goals for academic recognition and has sometimes failed to meet even his low goals.

Harrington has embarrassed himself and St. John's University.
Click to expand...
 

I've heard from a priest I know in CM that FH is aloof and not close with fellow Vincentians. He sees himself as more of a businessman than being pastoral, and it shows in his leadership of the University, growing the student body, but becoming a non-Catholic entity.

The poor instrastructure at St John's, who has cared to attract and pay qualified administrators and support staff, and instead filled the school offices with Moms and Dads of current and future SJU students (for low salary and free tuition). I'm certain the school was ripe for this type of scandal.

It sounds very sketchy that FH would take cash intended for the poor, and lock it in his drawer with no accounting of it. Since the man interacts little with laity in our communities, it sounds more like a slush fund for pocket money than contributions that were funneled to the poor since it apparently lacked any recordkeeping whatsoever.
 
 Harrington admitted to buying a cape cod home waterfront home for 350.ooo split With the univ.'s former
cheif operating officer :huh: Any guess who his buddy to vacation with is????
Maybe this is where all the cash donations in his desk draw went towards :furious:

Harry Accepted a patek phillpe watch from dean Wang which later cost $1,600 to reapair
Stayed 5 days in hawaii to ease his jetlag from hong kong =vacation in 5star hotel :pirate:  
 
Harrington ...... acknowledged ..... the gifts he and school officials received on trips to Asia (from Chang) , where Chang arranged for (Harrington) to stay in posh hotels...... Harrington said a tailor-measured him for a suit during a trip to Hong Kong. Chang secretly billed that to the university as a “hotel expense,” according to court records.

Read more:http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...isgraced-dean-article-1.1185603#ixzz29thNWWov   
 
The whole cash/slush fund in desk with no accounting of it whatsoever leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I mean its just common sense to have extra detailed records in that case 
 
This seems like something that would result in FH having to leave if he were the president of a lot of other schools. 
 
I have been told by St.John's students that Harrington rarely mixes with students and avoids student activities.

While other Catholic colleges and Universities have raised their academic image over the past 25 years St. john's academic image has at best remained stagnet. Harrington has seemingly set low goals for academic recognition and has sometimes failed to meet even his low goals.

Harrington has embarrassed himself and St. John's University.
Click to expand...

In fairness, arguably 2 of the biggest factors that act as a drag in our U.S. News ranking are: Retention (now a tad under 80%) and 6 yr. graduation rate.

Since a very healthy percent of students are Pell Grant eligible, a fair number find they don't have the money to continue their St. John's education at some point after they matriculate at the university.

 
Click to expand...
 

The exception I take in your hypothesis is that approximately 40% of current SJU students are Pell eligible. This has also contributed mightily to the decline in Catholic students. I take little issue with Pell grants, but I think that better universities who have Pell recipients among their students have better qualified students than we do.

When 40% of your student body come from poorer areas in NYC, the campus is going to be radically changed, and it has. I guarantee you that FH understands that the school can turn a profit on these kids who recieve about $7000 per year in grants.
 
JSJ and/or Beast of the East,

Based on this scandal and Father Harrington's well earned reputation as being both arrogant and aloof is there enough evidence for his Vincentian superiors
in North America to force Harrington to retire within the next 12 months?

Or does FH's power within the Vincentian community enough to survive as President of SJU for the next 5-10 years,
at which point he will become too old or disinterested to run St. John's?

I did speak with a few folks who are not SJU people they were shocked by the scandal from their outside view always respected FH.
I wonder if this hurts fundraising at all?

Thanks,

19854ever
 
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