Nassau Community College threatens lawsuit after Maria Conzatti's nomination to lead the school is rejected
Nassau Community College in Uniondale. Credit: Howard Schnapp
The Nassau Community College board of trustees indicated they plan to sue after the state rejected their choice for president.
The NCC board unanimously approved a measure at a special meeting Sunday authorizing the board chairman, Jorge L. Gardyn, to file a lawsuit challenging the decision — made by the State University of New York's board of trustees — to disapprove Maria Conzatti’s nomination, said Jerry Kornbluth, the college's vice president for community and governmental relations. The measure passed 8-0, with one member absent, Kornbluth said.
The resolution states the board chair is “authorized to take any and all actions including but not limited to the commencement of an action or proceeding at law contesting the failure of the Chancellor to recommend, and the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York to approve, the appointment of Dr. Maria Conzatti as President of Nassau Community College.”
The SUNY trustees' resolution was approved earlier this month by a vote of 12-0, with three members absent. After the vote, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. urged NCC trustees “to restart the search process to identify the college's next president."
Under state law, community colleges’ boards of trustees appoint college presidents, subject to approval by the SUNY board of trustees.
A SUNY spokesperson said, “SUNY is committed to excellent leadership for all of our campuses and the success of our students, and we will vigorously defend ourselves against any frivolous lawsuit.”
Maria Conzatti is Nassau Community College's chief administrative officer. Credit: Nassau Community College
News of the Garden City college's threatened legal action came on the same day the school's student government waded into the dispute, voting Monday to urge the school to “conduct an equitable, transparent and expeditious search for a new permanent president.”
The measure passed with 14 students in favor and one abstaining, according to Maya Suzuki, president of the college’s Student Government Association. It had 33 co-sponsors, including members of the student government as well as other students, Suzuki said.
In the measure, members of the student government expressed “gratitude and appreciation” for Conzatti, according to a copy of the resolution provided by Suzuki.
But the measure also formally acknowledged the SUNY trustee vote.
In an interview before the students’ vote, Suzuki, 19, said she and other students have nothing against Conzatti, who has led the college on an interim or acting basis for almost four years, despite SUNY guidelines limiting temporary appointments to no more than six months.
“I respect her as a person,” Suzuki said. “It's nothing personal.”
Monday's vote, she said, is “just a recognition of what SUNY has done, what SUNY has passed.” She added, “All the systemic issues at Nassau Community College need to be addressed, and that is a long process. It's very multifaceted.”
Suzuki said students want the administration to be more responsive to their concerns, more investments in student clubs and activities, accessibility upgrades to campus facilities and a greater emphasis on liberal arts education, as well as workforce training programs.
The students’ vote was “politically motivated,” Kornbluth said.
Kornbluth said the student government members have been “manipulated” by the college's faculty union to make “negative and false statements” about Conzatti.
David Stern, president of the NCC faculty union, said the suggestion faculty had manipulated students was “an outright lie” and “libelous.”
The administration, he said, has directed faculty to avoid discussing campus issues with students.
“It’s just outrageous,” said Stern, an astronomy professor. “They’ve got the students petrified to even discuss any of this.”
The college's administration and its faculty union have been locked in a long-running dispute over matters such as the elimination of department chairs, consolidation of departments, alleged blocking of tenure appointments and a faculty union contract that expired in August.
The union sued the college a year ago, arguing the elimination of 15 academic department chairpersons violated state regulations. A judge dismissed the lawsuit; the union has appealed to the Appellate Division, New York’s mid-level court.
Conzatti and her administration have increased enrollment and stabilized the college’s finances without eliminating the jobs of tenured faculty members, Kornbluth said.
“These are the metrics that prove that Dr. Conzatti and the team have done an amazing job at the college,” he said.
Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.
