N.Y. lawmaker calls for Malatras removal after SUNY board backs system chancellor

ALBANY, N.Y. — Even after the SUNY board of trustees issued a Friday evening statement backing SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras, a key New York lawmaker on Monday called for Malatras to resign.

In documents pertaining to the sexual-harassment probe of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, it was revealed that Malatras had conversations that included comments about Lindsey Boylan, a Cuomo accuser and a former Malatras co-worker that used language involving an expletive.

The New York State Attorney General’s office last week released the documents on the sexual-harassment probe of Cuomo.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick (D–Manhattan), who chairs the chamber’s higher education committee, on Monday issued a statement saying she believes it is “most appropriate” for Malatras to resign or the SUNY board of trustees to remove him from the role.

“It is all the more critical that students and their families have confidence that their college experience will be free of sexual harassment and bias of any kind. It is disturbing to learn that in the midst of managing the COVID crisis, Dr. Malatras is reported to have engaged in conduct meant to undermine serious allegations against former Governor Cuomo. I do not believe that recent revelations of the Chancellor’s involvement in defaming those who accused the former Governor of sexual harassment can in any way assure students and families that the commitment to a harassment free environment will be honored, especially in instances where a prominent member of the university faces credible charges,” said Glick, 70, who has served in the Assembly since 1991.

The Student Assembly of SUNY’s executive committee and the Faculty Council of Community Colleges of SUNY are also calling on Malatras to resign, per reports from several New York media outlets, including WHEC-TV in Rochester.

The groups said in statements Friday the documents demonstrate behavior that is unbecoming of a chancellor and that allowing him to remain in place damages SUNY’s reputation.

On Friday evening, the SUNY board of trustees issued a statement in support of Malatras, which included the following comments:

“Dr. Jim Malatras has been an outstanding leader of SUNY through one of the most trying times in our history and has the support of the SUNY Board of Trustees. He’s acknowledged he made a mistake, taken full responsibility for it, and apologized appropriately. He is fully focused on the critical work of keeping our facilities open and our students and faculty safe through the ongoing pandemic.”

In a letter to the SUNY community that the board of trustees included with its statement, Malatras wrote that he realizes in this instance, he “fell short.”

“Earlier this week, private text messages of mine from 2019 were made public in which I made disparaging and disrespectful remarks about a former colleague I served with in government prior to my time at SUNY. While my remarks were made more than a year before this colleague spoke out about the harassment she had been subjected to by the former Governor and were unrelated to those issues — that is not an excuse — my words were inappropriate, disrespectful and wrong. I not only owe Ms. Boylan an apology for my conduct, I owe an apology to the broader SUNY community for failing to live up to the standard that leadership of this institution entails and demands,” Malatras said