NYU President John Sexton is having a very bad month.

Diane Whelton of Minding The Campus reports.

NYU: $72 million in Odd Loans, No Confidence Vote from Faculty

For John Sexton, president of New York University, March came in a like a lion. In one aggravating week Sexton found himself the subject of two biting stories in the press: a no-confidence vote from faculty and focus on $72 million in unexplained NYU loans to Jack Lew and many others. The first was merely embarrassing. The second could endanger Sexton’s powerhouse position at NYU.

Ironically, Sexton and his university may be victims of their own success. For decades NYU has steadily enlarged its huge footprint, and now plans to add two million more square feet to its campus in historic (and crowded) Greenwich Village. NYU has elbowed aside community protests and even tore down a house where Edgar Allen Poe once lived, despite loud objections from many of its own faculty.

One of the main complaints of last week’s faculty vote of no-confidence in Sexton is that he places financial objectives ahead of academic pursuits, while limiting faculty participation in shaping the university’s future. Sexton, who earns $1.5 million a year, with a $2.5 million bonus waiting in the wings, has been asked by Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) to hand over documents concerning loans and other fringe benefits it paid out over the last 10 years. Grassley also wants information on the university’s generous compensation packages and details on how they were calculated.

Here’s an interesting point…

 Also difficult to ascertain is why New York University is apparently functioning as a de facto hedge fund. Recently, NYU executive Martin Dorph confirmed that 168 people have received loans from the university totaling $72 million.

Read it all at the link below.