You don’t have to be a Harvard professor to know this is one sweet apartment deal.
For years, New York University has leased a luxury flat in Chelsea to famous academic Henry Louis Gates Jr. at a deeply discounted rate despite the fact that Gates teaches at Harvard — not NYU.
The steep markdown on the posh faculty pad, likely worth thousands of dollars a month, was arranged by NYU President John Sexton, who has come under fire for helping the school’s star professors and administrators buy lavish vacation homes.
As reported by The Post, Sexton recently raised eyebrows for giving his son, an actor who was never affiliated with NYU, years of access to a faculty duplex at the law school, also at discounted rates.
Gates admitted to the The Post that he has long received his pricey housing perk even though he has never held a job at NYU. Instead, Gates said he has an informal “consultancy” with Sexton that is ungoverned by a written contract.
In addition to advising Sexton’s administration on affirmative action and minority faculty hiring, the African-American studies luminary said he has given three or four free talks at NYU over the years.
Gates also suggested that Sexton bestowed the apartment on him as part of an unconventional — and thus far unsuccessful — courting ritual that has dragged on for more than a decade.
“It isn’t exactly a secret that President Sexton would very much like to recruit me to the NYU faculty,” Gates said.
“Although I do not have an offer from NYU, and while I am very happy at Harvard, were I to move anywhere… no university would beckon to me more strongly than NYU,” he added.
Gates said he pays the “full faculty rate” to rent the two-bedroom flat, located in a sleek tower at 120 W. 15th St., but declined to be more specific about the price.
Insiders said two-bedroom apartments in the tower, which boasts a fitness center, outdoor terraces and a 24-hour doorman, are heavily subsidized for NYU faculty, renting for as little as $2,200 a month.
By comparison, a two-bedroom apartment in the adjacent building at 130 W. 15th St., developed in 2002 by Related Cos. in tandem with the NYU tower, is currently being offered at $9,195 a month.
“It’s a very interesting use of NYU property as a recruiting tool,” said Michael Rectenwald, a professor of liberal studies at the school. “It’s not even dangled. It’s given in advance.”
The real estate perks come as NYU students have been slapped with the some of the highest tuition fees and skimpiest financial aid in the country. Growing ranks of non-tenured NYU professors grumble of stingy housing options as Manhattan rents soar.
Asked for an explanation of the arrangement, NYU spokesman John Beckman said in an email that Gates “participates in a range of activities in the academic life of the NYU community.”
Beckman also said “NYU has made no secret of its longstanding desire to recruit Professor Gates.” He didn’t respond when asked whether NYU has given housing perks to other professors in an effort to recruit them.
Gates, whose primary residence is in Cambridge, Mass., said he often uses the Chelsea pied-a-terre to meet with PBS crew to produce his “Finding Your Roots” TV series.
The building was erected in 2002 on the site of the former New York State Armory to address a faculty housing shortage, according to NYU documents.
“The development of new faculty housing resources has been a major issue for us as more and more faculty are attracted not just to working at NYU but to living near NYU,” Robert Goldfel, university vice president, said at the time.