Report of 'Secret Loans' at St. John's

An article in New York Magazine explores business relationships between Rob Wile, chief of staff to Rev. Donald Harrington, president of St. John's University (New York), Father Harrington, and the former chair of the university's board. Wile received a loan from the former board chair for a real estate venture he was pursuing with Father Harrington. The magazine said that the loan was not reported to the board, even as the board was approving a bonus recommended by Father Harrington for Wile. A university spokesman told the magazine that the real estate venture "has nothing to do with St. John’s." The article quoted Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a dean at the Yale University School of Management, as calling the loan arrangement "unprecedented" and "unethical."