CUNY has failed to drain this swamp.
A professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice implicated in a drug-dealing and student sex scandal that has rocked the taxpayer-funded City University of New York is set to return to teaching next year, The Washington Post has learned.
In 2019, John Jay College President Carol Mason announced plans to fire veteran anthropology professor Rick Curtis and two other faculty members following an investigation into allegations, first revealed by The Washington Post, that faculty ran a den of depravity known as “the Swamp” on the school's midtown campus, where they used and sold drugs and engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with students.
But in an 85-page decision, arbitrator James M. Darby ruled that despite Curtis's “reckless and dangerous behavior,” after a year's unpaid suspension and additional training on CUNY policies, he should continue training the university's future crime fighters.
“CUNY has clearly taken this matter very seriously,” Darby wrote in his Aug. 5 ruling, but “CUNY's position that dismissal is the only appropriate punishment is unacceptable.”
While dismissing some of the more serious claims, the arbitrator ruled that CUNY had substantiated some of the accusations against the scholar, whose research ironically focused on drug use and distribution.
The arbitrator's documents also included complaints that Curtis passed around glass notebooks containing heroin residue to students and smoked marijuana in an office littered with illegal drugs, including MDMA and synthetic marijuana.
Darby also agreed that Curtis spoke to students using inappropriate, misogynistic and sexualized language and failed to follow school policies about reporting allegations of sexual harassment against other faculty members that were brought to his attention.
But Curtis's alleged encouragement of female students to meet with a professor the university was looking to hire as a department chair did not amount to “prostituteing” students, Darby wrote.
“I jokingly told a few female students,” Curtis said. [the professor] “Nothing more, nothing less,” he wrote.
Darby added that the school likely knew about his marijuana use, possession of drug paraphernalia on school grounds and foul language.
“CUNY makes a compelling case that it knew or should have known a great deal had it conducted a thorough investigation,” the school teachers union said. [Curtis’] “Foul play is suspected,” he wrote.
Mason said he was “disappointed with the outcome” but that the university would abide by the arbitrator's decision under its collective bargaining agreement with the faculty union.
“We prioritize providing a safe environment for members of our community and continue to expect CUNY policies to be adhered to,” she said. Written In a letter sent to school officials on Aug. 15.
David Gottlieb, lawyer for former students Naomi Haber and Claudia Cojocaru, who first reported the professors' misconduct to the university in May 2018, said Darby's decision to reinstate Curtis was “puzzling.”
“We expect CUNY to take the necessary steps to ensure a completely safe educational environment is provided for all students,” he said.
In 2018, The Washington Post reported allegations by Haber and Cojocaru that Curtis, along with professors Barry Spunt and Anthony Marcus and adjunct professor Leonardo Dominguez, engaged in a number of egregious drug- and sex-related misconduct.
Haber and Cojocaru filed a civil lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in 2019 against CUNY and the four professors, alleging discrimination, retaliation and violations of New York's gender-based violence law, alleging that the professors created a “breeding ground for sexism, misogyny, sexual harassment and illegal drug use.”
The lawsuit alleges that Marcus raped Haber in a hotel room while they were attending an academic conference in Washington, D.C. in 2015, and that Spant and Curtis groped Cojocaru.
Harbour also accused Curtis and Dominguez of groping her, and both women claim Curtis sold illegal drugs on campus, according to court documents, and that all four professors used and “pushed” students to use illegal drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and heroin.
The university placed the professors on paid administrative leave and brought in an outside law firm to investigate the allegations, which found that the professors had engaged in “unprofessional conduct” in violation of CUNY policy. According to the 2019 letter: From Mason to the John Jay community.
The letter did not identify any alleged misconduct or say whether the investigation substantiated any specific sexual misconduct or drug allegations.
Then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance also opened an investigation but did not bring charges.
John Jay did not renew Dominguez's contract and tried to fire three professors, leading to years of termination and arbitration proceedings, but the university continued to pay the professors six-figure salaries, including raises.
In legal documents, Marcus, Dominguez and Spunt denied the allegations of sexual and drug misconduct and filed a countersuit for defamation against Cojocaru and Harber, claiming the men made false accusations to media outlets, including The Washington Post.
A judge largely denied the former students' motions to dismiss the lawsuit in 2020. School officials said Spunt retired on Dec. 1, 2020, and died two months later. Marcus retired on Dec. 31, 2021.
Haber and Cojocaru settled their lawsuits against the university and other professors in 2021, with CUNY paying them more than $609,000. According to settlement terms filed by the parties in court, the defendant professors did not have to pay any money to Haber and Cojocaru.
The settlement dismissed all claims in the ongoing lawsuits except for Curtis' counterclaim. The students amended their complaint to name only Curtis as a defendant and narrow their claims to merely allege that Curtis' counterclaim constituted unlawful retaliation against the students. Curtis is also suing CUNY for sex discrimination. Both lawsuits are ongoing.
Curtis' lawyer, Robert Herbst, said the arbitrator “properly determined that CUNY's five-year effort to fire Dr. Curtis was unreasonable,” and that the school's own investigation found that all of Curtis's charges — “sexual assault, coercive or unwanted touching, predatory physical contact, consensual sexual conduct, [and] There were ‘unwanted sexual advances.’” The report of the school’s internal investigation has not been made public, but the school did not assert those allegations as grounds for dismissal in an arbitration decision made last month.
“As one of John Jay College's most accomplished scholars, he looks forward to returning to the classroom and sharing his insights with students once again,” Herbst added.
Marcus and Dominguez, who had previously denied the allegations, could not be reached for comment.
John Jay spokeswoman Jan Benjamin declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
