Columbia U. President Criticized for Supporting Colleague on N.Y. Fed Board

Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University and chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Board of Directors, is facing accusations of a conflict of interest over his support for the embattled chief executive of a bank that is among the university’s most generous backers, according to The Guardian. Mr. Bollinger told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that a fellow member of the New York Fed board, Jamie Dimon, should not step down from his board post, despite increasing criticism stemming from a multibillion-dollar trading loss at J.P. Morgan Chase, the bank Mr. Dimon leads.

A group of 53 Columbia students, alumni, and professors sent a letter to Mr. Bollinger a day later, calling on him to withdraw his support and press for Mr. Dimon’s resignation. “As an educator, you have a special responsibility to demonstrate moral and intellectual credibility, something you have failed to do in this situation,” they wrote. The university told The Guardian that J.P. Morgan was not one of its major donors, and that it would not comment on the conflict-of-interest allegations against Mr. Bollinger, The Guardian reported. In testimony before Congress on Wednesday, Mr. Dimon apologized for his bank’s losses but defended it against accusations that it had acted irresponsibly, according to The Washington Post.