US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is facing fresh heat over a $685,000 golden parachute that NYU gave him in 2006.
Outraged by stagnant professor salaries and skimpy student financial aid, a faculty group filed a formal request yesterday with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, asking him to probe Lew’s lavish exit package of seven years ago.
“There is certainly an appearance that top administrators have turned NYU into a kind of ATM machine,” said sociology professor Jeff Goodwin.
Following an exclusive report by The Post, Lew got static in US Senate confirmation hearings last month over the $1.4 million loan he got from NYU when he took a top job at the school.
When Lew left NYU in 2006, the balance on the loan remained at $673,000, according to tax records. Forgiveness of the debt — a rare circumstance at NYU — accounted for a major chunk of Lew’s exit package.
While Lew called the bonus “severance” pay, NYU said he left the school voluntarily, leading critics to ask how both Lew and the school could be telling the truth.
“If we receive an inquiry about this matter — which was reviewed extensively prior to Jack Lew’s Senate confirmation — we’ll cooperate fully,” NYU spokesman John Beckman said.
Schneiderman’s office declined comment.
A key question is whether NYU’s board followed rules that govern nonprofits when it paid Lew’s bonus, said NYU professor Andrew Ross.
“Students and faculty have the right to know, and so does the public,” Ross said. “NYU gets grants from state and US governments, and a huge chunk of its revenue comes from federal student loans.”
When Lew left in 2006, NYU cut a settlement with the state AG over accusations that the school had been steering student loans to “preferred lenders” in exchange for “kickbacks” from Citigroup — which hired Lew after he left NYU.
Lew told senators he did “not believe” he approved the Citigroup scheme, and was confirmed late last month.
The petition for an AG probe comes as the faculty concludes today a weeklong no-confidence vote for NYU President John Sexton. The school’s boss has been blasted for collecting a $1.5 million salary — among the highest in the nation — despite NYU’s tight finances.
“Though we are a not-for-profit, NYU is a large, complex organization with a $3 billion budget,” said Beckman, the NYU spokesman.