New School touched by Hsu scandal

Until recently, Norman Hsu was a trustee of good standing at New York’s New School.

University president Bob Kerrey defended Hsu against the early criticism. But first it was revealed that Hsu had an outstanding arrest warrant for a 1991 fraud charge and then Hsu skipped a court date in California.

“I thought that I knew him,” Kerrey told the New York Times. “But obviously I didn’t.”

Hsu resigned from the university board on Aug. 31. Like a number of the school’s trustees, he was a major donor to Democratic committees and candidates, and was recruited by Kerrey, a former senator from Nebraska who is considering another run for the Senate.

Other party supporters on the board include investor George Haywood, former Loral Corporation CEO Bernard L. Schwartz, Cheryl Cohen Effron and media executive Leo Hindery Jr..

Kerrey told the Times that 10 of the 56 trustees were major campaign donors, but he said board membership was not limited to active Democrats. “If you look at the people I’ve recruited,” he said, “well over half have no political involvement.”

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