SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras remained in his job Wednesday, despite new calls for him to resign over audio released by the Albany Times Union, where he can be heard shouting and using foul language as he berates a state university employee.
An audio recording published by the paper and recorded by a former employee of SUNY’s Rockefeller Institute of Government, which Malatras once headed, has led to even more calls for the chancellor to step down.
The 55-minute recording was made in 2017 by the employee at the instruction of her union, United University Professions, to document her interactions with Malatras. In it, he refers to the employee as “lady” until she asks him to call her by her name. He uses expletives as he tells her that she has a bad attitude, and that he finds her “impossible” to work with.
“You’re goddamn impossible all the time,” Malatras shouts.
The woman, according to the paper, had worked for the Institute for 22 years overseeing finances and grant requests. Malatras later tells her that she is “a misery.”
After the audio was published, new groups called for Malatras to leave. The University Faculty Senate is calling for an independent investigation into the chancellor’s leadership. The government reform group Common Cause also says Malatras should go. Previously, Assembly Higher Education Committee Chair Deborah Glick also called for his ouster, saying “Malatras’ involvement" in defaming those who accused the former governor of sexual harassment "is in direct opposition to SUNY’s commitment to a harassment free environment for students and employees."
Malatras already faces calls for his exit after he was named in transcripts released by Attorney General Tish James in connection with a report that found former Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women. Cuomo resigned in August.
Malatras is not accused of sexual harassment, but he did use an expletive to describe his feelings about alleged Cuomo victim Lindsay Boylan, a year before she publicly accused the former governor of harassing her and of overseeing a toxic workplace. The attorney general’s report also says Malatras suggested that the governor’s office retaliate against Boylan by publicly releasing what he characterized as her crazy emails.
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli became the first statewide elected official to urge the SUNY Board of Trustees to look into the incidents. He spoke on WAMC’s “The Capitol Connection.”
“It really is incumbent upon the board to do their own evaluation, perhaps their own investigation, and, you know, don't just fall back on what they initially did, and really decide what's in the best interest of the SUNY system," said DiNapoli. "So, you know, I think there's still more to come with how that saga plays out.”
The comptroller stopped short, though, of calling on the chancellor to leave.
Malatras, a Cuomo ally, was chosen for his job by the SUNY Board of Trustees, which is dominated by appointees of the former governor. DiNapoli says that has become a potential conflict.
“With many of the boards that we have across the state, they're largely populated by gubernatorial appointments, and especially when you have a very strong governor, as you had in Andrew Cuomo, the independence of those boards is compromised,” DiNapoli said. “And that's a problem.”
Fred Kowal, the president of UUP, said in a statement that while it is “inappropriate” for him to comment on the specifics of individual personnel matters, he says the incident detailed in the Times Union shows the need for improving workplace civility across the SUNY system. Kowal says his union is aware that some of its members work in toxic workplaces, and he is calling on SUNY to create a policy to change that.
In a statement, Malatras says the incident with the former Rockefeller Institute employee was “a difficult personnel matter,” and he says he “should have been more measured in this part of the conversation."
But Malatras says the previous chancellor’s human resources department backed him over the employee, ultimately deciding that his complaints about her work performance were valid and that she should be fired. He says the personnel office also rejected the woman’s complaints that he acted inappropriately in the matter.
