Allegations against former St. John's University Cecilia Chang dean keep coming -- initially charged with embezzling university funds, Chang has now been accused of offering up the students she supposedly treated like servants as companions to her male friends.
The New York Post reports that Chang was accused of directing one student to escort "an older man to a function unrelated to St. John's," and another to serve as housekeeper and nanny to a different male friend, Danny Lau.
There were no allegations of sexual relations between students and the men in question in either case.
Lau, the owner of a Queens investment and mortgage company, used to work full-time with Chang at St. John's University and was himself recently accused of criminal activity. About his interactions with Chang, Lau told Post that he hadn't spoken to her in years -- but some records suggest otherwise.
According to the IRS, Lau is the vice president of a nonprofit Chang founded in 2008. The organization, Global Development Initiative Foundation, is currently being used in a DA fraud probe against the now infamous ex-dean. Lau also just paid off a $300,000 mortgage on Chang's house.
Lau has not been charged, but investigators continue to look into his possible culpability.
Meanwhile, members of the St. John's University community are taking a stance by circulating a petition that asks the University to install a third-party arbitrator to deal with comparable incidents in the future. From the letter:
To clear St. John's University's name and make a public statement that these abuses are not acceptable, St. John's must ensure that a third-party, impartial arbitrator is installed for students to consult in the case of harassment and abuses of power. Such an arbitrator must be sufficiently publicized, and a process for reporting complaints in a confidential manner must be created.
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