I’m actually acquainted with John Sexton. While working on his PhD in religion at Fordham he taught a section of Frosh Theology, That was my section. he was a cool guy to have, being maybe five years older than us. When he was an undergrad he was suspended from his dorm for some satirical artwork he painted on the wall of his suite. He was a great debate coach and his girls from St. Brendans in Brooklyn consistently won national champioships. When I had him in the 60s, he was liberal, but most of us were. What he is now I couldn’t say, but he has a lot of respect from Fordham alums across the political spectrum. There has been a continuous movement to unseat him by the neighborhood community organizers and leftwing NYU profs because of his efforts to constantly expand NYU’s geographic footprint. I kind of oppose him on this as well. Urban colleges with large endowments and large hospital centers can spread across a community like a cancerous tumor. The building my mom grew up in on 18th street between 1st and 2nd avenues is now an NYU dorm. It’s 1.5 miles and a long walk or two buses from the Washington Square campus. So I understand the neighbor’s attitudes. Some of the revelations about Sexton are the result of efforts by his adversaries to dig up any dirt from his past. So here it’s a liberal being hunted by modern progs. For conservatives it’s a popcorn eating event.
I appreciate that insight. There’s still this: “During Sexton’s tenure as president, the university has come under fire for rewarding a select group of faculty and administrators with forgivable mortgage loans to buy multimillion-dollar vacation homes.”