Exclusive | CUNY professor in alleged drug-dealing, student-sex scandal at John Jay College will shockingly return to classroom

Under the negotiation, all of the insurance claims in the recurring instance were rejected other than for Curtis’ counterclaims. The pupils changed their complaint to call just Curtis as an offender, and tightened their insurance claims to assert just that Curtis’ counterclaims amounted to illegal retaliation versus them. Curtis also has sued CUNY for gender discrimination. Both of those situations are ongoing.

The report of the school’s inner investigation is not openly offered, however those claims were not pushed by the institution as premises for discontinuation in the adjudication decided last month.

The John Jay College of Wrongdoer Justice teacher who was implicated in an alleged drug-dealing, student-sex scandal that rocked the taxpayer-financed City College of New York college amazingly will return to the classroom next year, The Blog post has actually learned.

Former John Jay pupils Naomi Haber and Claudia Cojocaru declared in a government suit that professors at the college engaged in a variety of heinous drug- and sex-related misdeeds, which the academics refuted. Helayne Seidman

While rejecting some of the extra severe insurance claims, the mediator figured out CUNY corroborated a variety of the claims versus the academic, whose research, actually, focused on drug use and circulation.

In 2020, the court greatly refuted the former students’ motion to dismiss the counterclaims. Spunt retired on December 1, 2020 and died 2 months later on; Marcus retired on Dec. 31, 2021, according to school authorities.

In 2018, The Message reported accusations by Haber and Cojocaru that Curtis, together with teachers Barry Spunt and Anthony Marcus in addition to adjunct professor Leonardo Dominguez, engaged in a slew of heinous medication- and sex-related transgressions.

Haber and Cojocaru settled their suit versus the university and the other professors in 2021, with CUNY paying out over $609,000. According to the regards to the settlement, which the celebrations filed in court, the implicated teachers were not required to pay any type of money to Haber and Cojocaru.

Haber and Cojocaru filed a civil lawsuit against CUNY and the 4 academics in 2019 in Manhattan federal court, alleging the professors had actually developed “a cesspool of sexism, misogyny, sexual harassment and illegal drug use,” and insisting cases for discrimination, revenge, and violation of New york city’s Sex Inspired Violence Act.

“CUNY– in no uncertain terms– was justified in taking this issue very seriously,” Darby wrote in the Aug. 5 choice. But “I can decline CUNY’s setting that termination is the only proper charge right here.”

Yet in an 85-page decision, mediator James M. Darby discovered that in spite of Curtis’ “careless and dangerous behavior,” the prof must continue to shape the minds of future crime-fighters at the university complying with a year-long, unsettled suspension and extra training on CUNY’s policies.

Haber additionally accused Curtis and Dominguez of groping her, and both women affirmed Curtis sold illegal drugs on school, according to legal papers. They additionally claimed all four teachers used and “thrust” illegal narcotics, including pot, heroin and cocaine, onto students.

Former John Jay trainees Naomi Haber and Claudia Cojocaru affirmed in a federal lawsuit that professors at the college participated in a variety of abhorrent drug- and sex-related transgressions, which the academics rejected. Helayne Seidman

The report of the school’s interior examination is not openly offered, however those cases were not pushed by the school as premises for termination in the mediation made a decision last month.

Under the settlement, all of the insurance claims in the ongoing case were disregarded besides Curtis’ counterclaims. The pupils amended their problem to name only Curtis as a defendant, and narrowed their cases to assert only that Curtis’ counterclaims totaled up to unlawful revenge versus them. Curtis additionally has filed a claim against CUNY for gender discrimination. Both of those instances are ongoing.

In 2019, John Jay head of state Karol Mason revealed plans to ax expert anthropology teacher Ric Curtis and two various other academics following an investigation right into accusations– very first exposed by The Post– that the professor ran a den of viciousness referred to as “The Swamp” at the school’s Downtown school, where they utilized and offered medications, and engaged in unacceptable sexual conduct including trainees.

These included grievances that Curtis circulated glassines to students having heroin residue and smoked pot in his office, which was littered with immoral medicines such as MDMA and synthetic cannabis, the arbitrator wrote.

John Jay did not restore Dominguez’s contract and moved to discharge the 3 teachers, prompting years-long termination and settlement procedures– where the institution remained to pay their six-figure salaries, consisting of raises.

“We will certainly continue to prioritize giving a risk-free environment for our neighborhood members and we will continue to expect that CUNY policies are followed,” she wrote in an Aug. 15 letter to the college area.

Amongst the complaints in the fit were that Marcus allegedly raped Haber in a Washington, DC, hotel area while they were participating in an academic meeting there in 2015, which Spunt and Curtis searched Cojocaru.

In lawful papers, Marcus, Dominguez and Spunt refuted the allegations of sex-related and medicine misconduct, and submitted counterclaims versus Cojocaru and Haber for disparagement, affirming that the pair had made incorrect claims versus them, consisting of to the Message.

David Gottlieb, an attorney for a pair of former students, Naomi Haber and Claudia Cojocaru, who initially notified the institution to the teachers’ transgression in May 2018, said it was “confounding” that Darby would certainly permit Curtis to go back to his blog post.

Darby additionally concurred that Curtis talked with a trainee utilizing sexual and misogynistic language that was improper, and did not follow college plan concerning reporting issues of supposed sexual harassment against other professors that were brought to his interest.