FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com MAY 9, 2013 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19 HARRINGTON TO STEP DOWN Scandal rocked St. John’s president’s tenure BY TERENCE M. CULLEN tcullen@queenscourier.com St. John’s University’s longtime president will retire this summer, according to an internal memo to the school. Father Donald J. Harrington said in a letter to the school’s community that he plans to end his tenure effective July 31. Harrington, who took over at St. John’s in 1989, has been embroiled in a series of investigations by both federal authorities and the university’s board of trustees. Federal complaints allege he received lavish gifts from Cecilia Chang, a former St. John’s dean. She was charged with stealing money from the school, but committed suicide during her trial. In his memo, Harrington made oblique reference to the probes. “Nonetheless, for quite a while, I have been thinking about when would be the best time to relinquish the leadership role to younger, perhaps more energetic, individuals,” he wrote. “The urgings of many members of the board of trustees and others persuaded me to remain longer than I had originally planned. But the diffi culties for everyone during the past year have convinced me, after much prayer and refl ection, that the time to leave the presidency has now come.” Harrington reportedly took expensive trips to the Caribbean along with his chief of staff, Robert Wile, and Wile’s current wife, who was his girlfriend and student at the time. Wile also reportedly took out thousands of dollars in loans from school trustees and is stepping down. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, who graduated from St. John’s Law School, issued a statement commending Harrington for his nearly 24 years of service to the school. “Over the last quarter of a century,” he said, “Farther Harrington transformed St. John’s from a really good university to a great one. As an alumnus of its law school, I’ve witnessed with pride as Father Harrington strengthened St. John’s academically and physically with new facilities and buildings, while holding fast to the Vincentian mission that has drawn so many of the University’s alumni to public service.” Peter D’Angelo, chair of the school’s board of trustees, issued a statement to the university praising the school’s growth under Harrington’s management. “The tenure of Father Harrington as president has been a period of unrivaled growth, expansion and achievement for our University,” he said. “He has been a transformative leader who guided this institution, nurtured its community, cultivated excellence and generated unprecedented levels of enthusiasm and support. At the same time, the University he departs has remained dedicated to service and education, prime components of our mission since St. John’s was founded 143 years ago.”
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