For those asking about the financial standing of the University, 2021 audited financials are here:
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_audit/848820211
Quick take: Audited by KPMG, clean audit. Revenues exceed expenses for the two fiscal years reports. Liquid with $65MM in cash. Positive cash from operations. $80MM bank line of credit (Note 6, P19), fully available. Well capitalized, $1.1B in Net Assets and $658MM in debt. Note $187MM in new debt issued in 2021. Moody's rates SJU debt "A3", which is medium investment grade.*
Post Covid, 2022 financials should look even better.
If SJU chooses to pay off CMA, they most certainly have financial wherewithal to do so. They do not need outside funds but of course will take your donation! However, often when someone makes a bad hire or bad contract extension, it's not easy to do a "mea culpa", eat that nasty crow and reverse course. The best thing students, fans and alumni could do would be send a very clear message to the Board of Trustees that change is needed.
https://www.stjohns.edu/about/leadership-and-administration/board-trustees
Challenge is how to best get the message to the Board? Maybe start with Change.org and show there is support? There are members on this forum who interact with the Board...
* In March 2022 Moody's wrote: "
The university's very good brand and strategic positioning as a large, urban, private Catholic university located on several campuses in the New York Metropolitan area. The university's prudent fiscal practices underpin good operating margins and healthy EBIDA margins with the achievement of better than budgeted outcomes in most years. Sizeable financial reserves and high levels of internal liquidity provide a sound cushion for operations"