John Jay College, a public college with the City University of New York, will still be footing a hefty bill while in the process of axing three professors for a sex and drugs scandal. The senior college for criminal justice located in midtown Manhattan decided last week to move forward with the firing of three professors accused of sexual harassment and selling and using drugs on campus. The cost to taxpayers is close to half a million dollars and growing.
As reported by the NY Post, in September two former female students alleged that professor Ric Curtis, who once chaired the anthropology and sociology departments, was the ringleader of a lewd, drug-abusing culture in an area of offices called “The Swamp.” Though Curtis denied all allegations, he along with professors Anthony Marcus and Barry Spunt were put on paid leave before the beginning of the school year. A fourth adjunct lecturer also implicated in the scandal, Leonardo Dominguez, did not have his contract with the school renewed.
Law firm Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila was hired in September to investigate the accusations. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office also investigated but “decided not to bring any criminal charges”. “The safety and well-being of our community is nonnegotiable,” wrote College president Karol Mason. “There is absolutely no place for sexual harassment or misconduct at John Jay. That’s why our community needs to know that I am taking actions to hold individuals accountable who have failed to live up to our standards of conduct.”
John Jay College signed an “engagement letter” with the law firm for $100,000. “But we have not received an invoice for the work and expect the final cost to be higher given the scope of the investigation,” said Richard Relkin, a John Jay spokesman. Further, the three teachers continue to receive their six-figure salaries, while the investigation is ongoing. They will likely continue to be paid till the termination process is complete, which may take another five months. As per the post, the salary in 2018 for Curtis was $156,685, Marcus made $126,301 and Spunt got $106,407.
Mason said earlier this week that the investigation is growing, with over 60 witnesses interviewed, along with the review of “an extensive number of documents and emails.”
Curtis’ lawyer, Robert Herbst, accused John Jay of denying him due process and vowed to “fight these unjust efforts” to fire him. Spunt’s lawyer, Carmen Jack Giordano, said the school was “bowing to political pressure and expedience, rather than being guided by fairness and truth.” He said Spunt was “looking forward to finally having a full hearing on [the] allegations made against him.”