Please send an email to SUNY that the presidential search was a farce and dismissed good talent, and that Maria Conzatti is not suited to be NCC’s next president. The more letters, the better.
Last week saw the final day of Dr. W. Hubert Keen’s three year tenure at NCC. Dr. Keen was recruited by SUNY to save the college from it’s Board of Trustees and Administration. Some jokingly referred to Keen as “The Great White Hope” as he was essentially brought in to save the college by ending Kenneth Saunder’s reign.
When Dr. Keen arrived, the college had failed 7 of 14 Middle States Standards. With the exception of the assessment of learning standard, all of the failures were administrative. Keen immediately brought in a Vice President of Academic Affairs and put teams together to address the college’s shortcomings.
So how did he do during his 3 years?
Accessibility: B
Dr. Keen attended Senate meetings and was seen briefly at campus events but not much more. We have heard that he was responsive to emails (except to ours, of course).
Transparency: D
Did you find out why Dean Kevlin was fired here or from Dr. Keen? How many audits did NCC go through during his term? What happened with the Center for Excellence that the director was removed? Did Dr. Keen let us know that SUNY investigated the searches of Kate Murray, Deborah Spiro, and Shawn Novatt? What was the conclusion? What was the FBI allegedly doing on campus taking away boxes of files?
Personnel: D-
Had Dr. Keen not forced Ken Saunders to resign, he would have earned an F in this category. Dr. Keen left the same incompetent crew in place even after faculty members and other administrators pleaded with him to “clean house.” Dr. Keen was allegedly quoted as saying that he was sent to NCC to get us through Middle States, not make drastic changes. He stated that those actions were reserved for his successor.
Middle States: D+
While Dr. Keen did put teams together, he notoriously placed the same administrators who got us in trouble in the first place on the same committees, many times as the chairs. The good part was that he also placed very competent faculty members to those committees to act, intentionally or not, as a counter balance.
The most destructive act by Dr. Keen was his apparent desire to remove our system of shared governance. He twisted Middle State’s references to the inadequacies in “governance”- meaning the Board of Trustees- by applying it to “shared governance” instead. This eventually led to the BOT nullifying the system. The college has been unable to function properly without the Senate. Just look at enrollment, the bookstore, the implementation of Quantway, and, of course, the many rigged searches.
Last Act: A
According to reliable sources, Dr. Keen communicated with SUNY leadership and the SUNY Board of Trustees about his concerns during the Presidential Search, . While we do not know the exact content of the communication, we do know that it was critical of the search and of Maria’s ability to lead. Dr. Keen’s letter, combined with the letter writing campaign organized here, led to SUNY’s rejection of Maria Conzatti as president of Nassau Community College. So Kudos to you, Dr. Keen, for showing a backbone and finally doing the right thing near the end!
I am pleased to announce that Genette Alvarez-Ortiz has been appointed Dean of General Education and Social Sciences. She assumes the position immediately. Her appointment follows an extensive open search from which Genette received the strong support of the search committee and of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Genette has served for two years as the Acting Dean of General Education and Social Sciences. This unit and Deanship was established to support students not enrolled in major programs, comprising those pursuing the Associate of Arts degree. This group makes up a majority of the College’s enrollment. Genette has demonstrated strong dedication to serving students in the development of their personal, interpersonal and academic skills to enable success. Her interests and dedication to student success are an excellent fit with this Dean position.
Genette joined Nassau Community College in 1994 as a Financial Aid Counselor, and served from 2011 to 2017 as Chair of the Student Personnel Services Department. She has also taught the courses NCC 101 and SPS 093 as Instructor. She earned B.A. and M.A. Degrees from New York University and is a candidate for the Ed.D. in Instructional Leadership at St. John’s University.
Join me in congratulating and in wishing Genette success in her continuing role as Dean.
Thank you.
Hubert Keen
There is nothing to say that “Genette” isn’t qualified or deserving of the position. After all she was Dr. Collin’s hand-picked choice when she created the Dean position in the first place. But was the search really done fairly? Did the other candidates have a choice, or were they just ultimately wasting their time? This is also someone who is very close to Maria Conzatti, the rumored next, next president of the college.
There are currently two more Dean searches in progress. The first one is for the Dean of Math and Sciences. Acting (for 8 years) Dean Thomas Fernandez is applying for the position and, if history is an indicator, will probably get the position. A recent tip sent in to us revealed that Fernandez’s family business, Fire Island Beer Co., has gone under and he allegedly needs the money now more than ever. His son Robert (referred to as Bert on in the above linked article) was recently hired to work for the college in the Design and Construction department. More blatant Nepotism. But hey, welcome back.
The final search is for the Dean of Professional Studies. That position is currently occupied by the felon Jerry Kornbluth. Jerry Kornbluth is a frequent target of this blog for the simple fact that it boggles our minds that this man is still employed at the college (or anywhere) considering all of the problems he has caused and continues to cause. Jerry’s friendship with BOT members gives him more power and influence at NCC than the president. Many of our Middle States woes can be traced back to his constant meddling. Even with that being said, Jerry will still most likely be chosen as Dean of Professional Studies. Why? Because Kornbluth has been very good to his chairs and a disproportional amount of new faculty lines have been to his area. Jerry is so powerful that all of a sudden, the college has “forgotten” about his interim status and how that status meant that he was ineligible to seek the position permanently. We guess Gardyn and DeGrace just can’t let him go.
Rigged searches are unfair to everyone involved and really stifle the progress of the institution. Furthermore, perhaps it is time for the President to reevaluate the Deans and what they mean or what they do for the institution. The college survived many decades with only one Dean of Instruction. In fact, many of our problems began with the initiation of the area deans. Perhaps the old adage of “too many chefs…” is applicable.
“Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas is reviewing $350,000 in termination payments made to five employees of the county’s Industrial Development Agency while all were still employed there in early 2018, according to the district attorney’s office.
Other staff members and their payments are: administrative director Colleen Pereira, $73,324; chief financial officer Joseph Foarile, $66,123; business development director Nicholas Terzulli, $60,923, and secretary Cecelia J. Muscarella, $12,898.
…Terzulli joined a law firm in March 2018 and represents IDA clients. He declined to comment…”
We have no idea who the NCC Board of Trustees chose to recommend to SUNY. As it stands right now, we may only first find out on March 19th, when the SUNY Board of Trustees have their scheduled meeting.
However, there are rumors.
Rumor #1: The Vice Chancellor attended the Board of Trustees meeting on March 4th and warned that if they choose Maria Conzatti, the Chancellor and/or the SUNY BOT may reject her.
Supporting Evidence: People witnessed the Vice Chancellor in the Tower. Later, Gardyn posted an email stating that no candidate was chosen. Based on the minutes from that meeting, it appears that Linda Green left at some point and therefore Conzatti was short 1 vote.
Rumor #2: On March 8th, the Mangano 5 and John Durso approved Maria Conzatti as the finalist to be sent to SUNY.
Supporting Evidence: none
Rumor #3: On March 8th, John Durso and the Mangano 5 wised up and heeded the warning and chose one of the other two candidates.
Supporting Evidence: Reports from the public session of the board meeting state that Weiss and Jackson were in relatively good moods after the meeting while DeGrace appeared angry and Gardyn appeared defeated.
Rumor #4: Related to Rumor #2, on Monday March 11th, the SUNY BOT called an ad-hoc personnel meeting. The rumor continues that SUNY rejected Conzatti and asked the NCC Board to choose another candidate or redo the search.
Supporting Evidence: The meeting was quite long. Other than that, none. Also, would the Mangano 5 be so vindictive as to cancel the March 12th meeting in protest?
Rumor #5: Relating to #2 and #4, the ad-hoc personnel committee took no action relating to the NCC BOT’s choice of Maria Conzatti.
Rumor #6: The ad-hoc personnel committee took no action relating to the NCC BOT’s choice of one of the other candidates.
(*It should be noted that not only are Genette Alvarez-Ortiz and Demetrius Watkins in the cohort, but they are supervised at NCC by Maria Conzatti, AND they are on the NCC Presidential Search Committee.)
Currently there are three major issues with this situation:
1) Maria Conzatti potentially took an income generating property offline for her own personal endeavor. While the possibility exists that St. John’s is paying rent for the Study House, it hasn’t been noted at a Board of Trustees meeting.
2) The Cohort meets at 4 PM. That means that much of the cohort are using their workday hours for this personal endeavor. That could be theft of services.
3). It appears that Dr. Dolan violated Nassau County Ethics rules. In the plain language brochure, it is explained as:
Not only has Dr. Dolan communicated with Nassau Community College on behalf of St. John’s, but he has successfully earned them tuition from the above 13 faculty and administrators now enrolled at St; John’s University for their doctorate.
The author, John LeBoutillier was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981-1983 (R-NY’s 6th District) and a member of the NCC Board of Trustees from 2002-2010, serving as Vice Chairman of the Board from 2008-2010.
He had this to write about NCC:
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”, said the character of Marcellus in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. And, sad to say, something is very rotten indeed at Nassau Community College these days.
In January of 2016, the position of program director at WHPC Radio – the on-campus radio station at Nassau Community College (NCC) – opened up and the procedure proscribed by the State University of New York (SUNY) for filling such an opening was followed. A search committee was formed; requirements were posted; applications were received; interviews were conducted; and a final decision was made.
My term as Vice Chairman of the NCC Board of Trustees had expired by this time, but I retained many good friends in the office of the president and among the senior administrators of the college and at WHPC, where I often hosted radio programs.
One of those friends – a fellow Harvard University graduate who was an employee at WHPC who did not seek the program director position – contacted me in early July of 2016 about the recent hiring of the new program director, Shawn Novatt. “The search was rigged,” he told me.
Subsequent research discovered that the head of the Search Committee, Joy Cavalieri DeDonato, the Executive Director of the Nassau Community College Foundation, had been a high school friend and 1995 classmate of Novatt at Plainvew-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School. Novatt’s future wife, Jaclyn Tetenbaum, was the assistant director of the school play in which both Cavalieri DeDonato and Novatt were castmates and Cavalieri DeDonato and Tetenbaum were in the school orchestra together.
Joy Cavalieri DeDonato never once revealed to her fellow Search Committee members that she and Novatt had been friends and classmates. At the in-person interview, she and Novatt acted like they had never met before.
This was a deliberate effort to hide their friendship from the other members of the Search Committee.
On their Facebook pages, Cavalieri DeDonato and Novatt and Tetenbaum had been communicating with each other going back to before the search had even been announced. But after Novatt was hired in late June of 2016, these Facebook messages were suddenly deleted.
However, screen shots of these messages were captured by suspicious WHPC employees who smelled a cover-up in the making.
Both Cavalieri DeDonato and Novatt repeatedly denied having known one another prior to the job search when they were questioned about it after Novatt’s hiring.
Cavalieri DeDonato also helped Novatt get the position by eliminating from consideration two in-house candidates, each with more than 20 years of experience at WHPC, without even granting them an interview and then perfunctorily conducting the other finalist’s interview on the telephone from Chicago.
Meanwhile, my friend at WHPC was suddenly fired after working at the station for 10 years. The NCC administrator who supervised the station terminated him because he reported the fraudulent job search and hiring with irrefutable evidence to interim NCC President Thomas P. Dolan and other administrators. The cover-up was being exposed and they had to get rid of him.
Other WHPC employees were also threatened with termination if they dared to speak about the scandal.
Nassau Community College violated Section 75-B of the New York State Civil Service laws (which prohibits retaliatory action by a public employer against whistleblowers) as well as SUNY’s Fraud and Irregularities Policies and NCC’s own Policy 6100 which are designed to protect whistleblowers.
When I began asking questions of current NCC President Hubert Keen, he refused to meet with me. Other senior administrators suddenly claimed, “I know nothing about that.” The Chair and Vice Chair of the NCC Board of Trustees also ran from the issue.
I then contacted the SUNY Chancellor’s office in Albany and informed the SUNY deputy general counsel of the fraud and the NCC administration’s coordinated cover-up and intimidation of whistleblowers and she referred the matter to the SUNY Fraud Committee which sent two auditors down to NCC to investigate.
The witnesses interviewed by the two SUNY auditors were all hand-picked by the very NCC administrators I was complaining about and the fired WHPC employee and I were not even included on the list of people to be interviewed. The SUNY Fraud Committee subsequently issued a report which has been kept secret by NCC administrators and SUNY, but which is reportedly a total whitewash of the scandal.
Two WHPC employees and I then went to the New York State Office of the Inspector General’s offices in Hauppauge. The Inspector General immediately launched an investigation and subpoenas were issued to NCC and SUNY. One of the investigators told me two weeks ago, “Our subpoenas are causing waves at Nassau Community College. And we are now going through a bird’s nest of paperwork from the college.”
Why would NCC and SUNY cover up a crooked job search?
At the exact same time in 2016 that the WHPC job search was being conducted, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education issued a devastating preliminary accreditation review of Nassau Community College that found the college was not in compliance in 7 of 14 essential standards including “integrity, administration, institutional assessment, and leadership.”
Had the Middle States commission discovered the dishonest WHPC job search and subsequent deception and retaliation against whistleblowers, it is possible that NCC could have lost its accreditation, fatally crippling the college and rendering the degrees of over 22,000 students worthless.
NCC has a culture of corruption. It became a $151,000-a-year landing spot for a failed GOP politician who lost an election; a place for milking the NCC Foundation for expense-paid “employee development” trips; a place with other similarly troubled job searches and covered-up misconduct; and a Board of Trustees that recently had featured the likes of restaurateur Harendra Singh, he of the Nassau County GOP scandal that brought down County Executive Ed Mangano and the Town of Oyster Bay leadership.
A spotlight on this blatant and pervasive corruption is long overdue. It is not too late for this situation to be resolved. Corrupted job searches can and should be reversed. Those involved at NCC and SUNY should be held accountable and face possible termination. A new job search for the program director should be conducted. The fired whistleblower should be made whole and he and the entire NCC community should receive a formal public apology from the college.
Nassau Community College was once considered the finest community college in New York State and had earned a sterling national reputation. Admitting mistakes, punishing the wrongdoers, thanking the whistleblowers, and trying not to repeat those mistakes is the first step towards repairing this once-excellent college.
On August 23, 2018, NCC announced its newest member of the Board of Trustees, George Siberon. Siberon, an advocate for Hispanics in the Hempstead area, was appointed by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. On the NCC press release, it was noted that Siberon received the following honors for his advocacy work:
Over a distinguished career, Siberón has received many honors, including the Martin Luther King “Keeper of the Dream” Award from the Economic Opportunity Commission of Nassau County; the Top Advocate for Latino Empowerment award from The Hispanic Network, LLC; and the Long Islander Who Made a Difference Award from the Long Island Progressive Coalition.
A year prior, in May 2017, Siberon announced his candidacy for county office in the 5th legislative district. Backed by George Maragos, they both ultimately lost in their respective primaries. The press release for Siberon’s candidacy noted the following:
“George has received numerous honors; top advocate for Latino empowerment, community service award, NAACP-Freeport/Roosevelt branch, the Long Island Progressive Coalition, the Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre and from the Circulo De La Hispanidad.”
Similar to the NCC press release, Siberon proudly and justifiably highlighted his honors. However, the NCC press release curiously left out some honors specifically those from the NAACP-Freeport/Roosevelt branch and the Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre. Why?
Perhaps it was to hide his connection to Jerry Kornbluth. Readers of this blog are well aware that Kornbluth has exerted influence and control over many aspects of the college; from individual departments to the office of the president to the Board of Trustees. According to Kornbluth’s Bio on the New York State Economic Development Council website, Kornbluth:
“…has been an active member of the Freeport-Roosevelt Branch of the NAACP. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre.”
Perhaps it is all coincidence. Perhaps Kornbluth had nothing to do with Siberon coming onto the Board of Trustees. Perhaps they do not in fact know each other.
Nah, it’s Jerry Kornbluth after all [second from the left]:
In March 2016, after a joint SUNY, State and County DA investigation into the vote pressuring of Jennifer Borzym, the student trustee, by the Nassau Republicans, SUNY announced to the NCC Board of Trustees that they would not approve Kenneth Saunders as President. Allegedly, Chair Jorge Gardyn announced to SUNY that Maria Conzatti would be president since he controlled the 6 votes necessary to make it happen. SUNY then added the restriction that the president would be required to have a doctorate, which Conzatti did not possess. As a result, Dr. W. Hubert Keen was chosen to become president.
Immediately following his tenure as interim president of NCC, Dr. Thomas Dolan became the head of St. John’s graduate center. The graduate center offers an EdD in Administrative and Instructional Leadership. With this convenient connection, Maria Conzatti, not surprisingly, is a member of one of the cohorts and is expected to earn her doctorate shortly. Conzatti will finally meet the eligibility requirements to become president.
In order to solidify the choosing of Conzatti as the next president of NCC, Chair Gardyn and comrades stacked the search committee with Conzatti supporters (Durso, Alvarez-Ortiz, Watkins) and Republican “yes” men (Powers, Schmidt, Terzulli). Without a doubt, Conzatti will be chosen as a finalist.
As you can see, the process appears to be rigged from the onset. Political fulfillment have become the modus operandi of the Board of Trustees. The selection will be an easy one with Gardyn’s group (Gardyn, DeGrace, Powers, Tuman, Green) adding up to 5 votes and Conzatti-pal Durso being the required 6th vote. Gardyn and company will no longer need to court the student trustee vote in this case. Was it a mystery to anyone why Durso asked to be appointed back onto the BOT?
In conclusion, Conzatti and Saunders are like “Yin and Yang”. And that is exactly what the Nassau Republican Party has wanted all along: someone to look the other way as they chip away at the budget, contracts, property, and patronage spots at NCC.
Update: With the applications due in January and interviews to begin in late winter, the Presidential Search Committee has lowered the standards for NCC President to “Doctorate Preferred.” A community college located within minutes of the greatest city on the planet should have no reason to open up the applicant pool unless to favor a particular applicant.
Update: Although the claim that Dr. Ms. Conzatti is in fact a finalist is still unverified, we have decided to put this back up. If Ms. Conzatti is not a finalist, we will certainly remove this post out of respect for the finalists.
Update: And there it is- Maria Conzatti is a presidential finalist. Only one more step. We told you so!
Update:The NCC BOT will choose the next president (any bets on who it will be?) on Monday, March 4.
Update: The NCC BOT were not able to choose a candidate on 3/4. Originally it sounded as if they were calling the current search a failure, however, the next day they announced that they would be meeting again on 3/8
Update: On 3/8, the NCC BOT announced that they finally chose a candidate to send up to SUNY for approval. The BOT refused to reveal their choice, but… well… come on, we can all surmise who they chose.
On February 9th, 2016, a month before the vote for NCC’s new president, then Acting President Tom Dolan wrote an e-mail to the Board of Trustees. In the email, Dolan revealed his disdain for the faculty and his plans to deflect the outrage over the PIP. At the end of the email, he referenced the “NCCExposed Blog” that uncovered the political motives for a Saunders presidency.
I bring to the Board’s attention a topic that will likely take up a great deal of time tonight. I’ll also advise the Board how I hope to handle it.
At today’s Senate Meeting, Dr. Deluty read at length from a SUNY PIP report that the college filed late last year that has some brutally honest information about the college and also has contains some statements that are, I believe, misogynistic. These latter statements draw attention to the preponderance of females among the faculty and continues in some unflattering ways theorizing why they might be attracted to these positions (availability of childcare, lighter workload and flexible hours). The other phrases that the Faculty Senate objected to have to do with the degree to which the Senate stands in the way of progress at the College-and those are at least open to debate.
We did not know that the Document would be posted publicly on the SUNY website, or I am sure some of the rhetoric would have been toned down.
We are in the process of determining whether or not the document is still “edit-able” and we will ask that it be taken down in the meantime.
I will reference Harry Truman tonight in accepting responsibility for the posting of the report,,,although I do not recall specifically having seen it. Nonetheless…The Buck…
While the document has been up for quite a while, it only came up today and I think I know why.
Before I theorize on that, I’d like to announce tonight to the faculty that the document is not the reflection of the college that we should be sharing, that we will request its removal and we will engage in conversation with interested parties in crafting a newer version. I hope that will blunt some of the concerns that will be spoken to tonight…but I doubt it.
This is coming up tonight, and it was stated at the meeting today, because the Faculty realizes that the Presidential Search is coming to an end, and they are very afraid of the results. It was stated at the meeting today that some Board Members have already made up their minds. It was stated that the survey process is faulty in that individuals can (we think) submit results more than once. There was real venom in the air as this was discussed, and I anticipate that all of this will be aired tonight.
There is also a scurrilous (anonymous…of course) blog that imputes several individuals at the college in the role they have played in the search. It is despicable.
So, I am predicting an ugly event tonight. We will all be tested.
Who is Andrea Campbell and why did she cause so much controversy with her email? So much controversy that Trustee Ed Powers harassed everyone who came up to speak during the public session at the subsequent board meeting. Well thanks to an anonymous sender (perhaps Andrea herself), I am now in possession of it for all to enjoy:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Andrea Campbell <campbella58@gmx.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 8:56 AM
Subject: NCC Presidential Search May Have Been Compromised
To: johanna.duncan-poiteir@suny.edu
To: Senior Vice President Johanna Duncan-Poitier,
The presidential search at Nassau Community College may have been compromised. All candidates must have a fair chance when they come to the college for campus visits and when the Board of Trustees interviews and votes on the candidates. Acting Vice President Kenneth Saunders and Dean Jerry Kornbluth may have tainted the search process. Mr. Saunders allegedly informed his cabinet and certain members of ALANA that he has the votes to become president. Mr. Kornbluth allegedly contacted his allies and done the same. More troubling, select students know that Mr. Saunders has the necessary votes and have communicated that information to others. The word is spreading rapidly. I surmise that subsequent campus visits by candidates will be sparsely attended. Of course, administrators are ordered to attend, as happened at yesterdays session attended by Trustee Jackson and the student trustee. Twenty members of the college community attended Ken’s Tuesday’s morning session, only 15 or so were professors. Moreover, Ken inadvertently admitted that he will be the next president at the Academic Affairs meeting of January 28. He said to the audience that he plans to make administrative appointments in July. Only a president can make administrative appointments. How does he know NOW that he will be able to do that in JULY? The remaining candidates would not be pleased if they had this information. Perhaps I am overstating my case, but can you look into the matter?
Q: What happens when 6 votes are needed to elect a President, but the number of County Trustee Appointees only equals 5?
A: The Student Trustee is courted.
The NCC Exposed Blog revealed how Patrick Deegan’s vote for Kenneth Saunders was allegedly bought by Jerry Konbluth’s offer of a lucrative internship but not many people know the story of how his successor, Jennifer Borzym, was also (allegedly) bribed.
Jennifer Borzym was elected on a slate of students led by Juliana Dijkstra for president. Juliana and her slate were particularly vocal about being on the side of the faculty and were very much against the selection of Saunders for President. At open Student Government Association (SGA) and SGA executive meetings, they made it clear to Borzym that she was to represent the SGA and not support Saunders.
Self-interest, however, is a powerful force.
Jennifer comes from a working class family. Her father works for the Republic-controlled Town of Hempstead as a sanitation worker. Jennifer’s mother also is a town worker, employed as a part-time clerical aide. While Jennifer was a trustee, her father gave over $2000 of his salary to various Republican Clubs and GOP Candidates– a large percentage for someone on a blue collar salary, but necessary to stay employed.
The Borzym residence. Note the campaign signs and the town vehicle parked in front of the house.
Jennifer let friends and colleagues know that she was desperate for a better life.
Jerry Kornbluth, the opportunist that he is, struck up a friendship with Jennifer. Jennifer and Kornbluth were often seen sharing lunch or walking to meetings together. Kornbluth became Jennifer’s math tutor, free of charge of course.
During their times together, Kornbluth discovered that Jennifer wanted to go to an Ivy League school. Fortunately for Jennifer, Kornbluth knew several people with connections to Cornell, most notably, attorney John Gross of the college’s outside counsel, Ingerman Smith. In addition, Kornbluth offered her a letter of recommendation from Interim President, and good friend, Dr. Thomas Dolan.
Kornbluth and Borzym at graduation
At Board meetings, Kornbluth’s pal John DeGrace kept Jennifer close. DeGrace insisted that Jennifer take a seat next to him at meetings. He often whispered in her ear.
At home, the GOP leadership repeatedly reached out to Jennifer’s father Robert for him to persuade her daughter to vote for Kenneth Saunders. This was very difficult and allegedly caused a lot of stress and fighting in the family. As a civil servant, would Robert’s employment be affected, they wondered?
It was announced that on March 2nd, 2016, the Trustees would choose the President from the 3 remaining candidates. On February 29th, the SGA executive board voted to support Dr. Tyjaun Lee for President.
Jennifer was torn. On one hand, it was her duty to represent the students on the Board of Trustees. On the other hand, she received free tutoring and a ticket to Cornell from Saunders’ friends and allies. In addition, her parents were depending on her to vote for Saunders. The pressure of the always looming Republican Party was too much for them to handle.
At the special meeting on March 2nd, 2016, Jennifer ultimately joined Trustees Gardyn, DeGrace, Powers, Green, and Tuman in selecting Dr. Kenneth Saunders to be the President of Nassau Community College. Saunders finally received the 6 votes he needed to become president. The Nassau County GOP celebrated the victory.
As a result of this vote, various agencies including SUNY and the District Attorney began to investigate. After receiving numerous tips, detectives visited Borzym’s house to interview her. They wanted to know if her vote was influenced.
While Jennifer has been mum about the details of the investigation, we all know what followed: Saunders was rejected by SUNY and was eventually dismissed from the college.
And if you are curious… Jennifer is currently enrolled in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.
The former Town of Hempstead Supervisor unsuccessfully ran for Nassau County District Attorney in 2015. Within a month of her loss, she received a position at Nassau Community College.
Update:
As 11/29/17, sources have stated that the new chair of the Academic Senate has seen the Kate Murray search information and confirmed she was searched. No word of whether or not the public will see these documents including the alleged advertisement for applications.
Update:
On September 13th, the day after the Board of Trustees meeting, Dr. Keen, President of NCC, announced that Kate Murray was being promoted to the position of Vice President in the newly established Office of Institutional Advancement. This is troubling for several reasons. First, the Office of Institutional Advancement was not part of the institutional plan as required by Middle States. Second, there is no evidence that Kate Murray was ever searched for her original position. Third, this surprise promotion came immediately after the BOT amended (extended?) Dr. Keen’s contract. Are the two related? Middle States will be coming to campus soon. We suspect this will become a major issue with them considering they wrote the following in 2016:
As a result of interviews, documents and videos, the team believes there have been incidents that raise concerns about institutional integrity. Recent board meetings have displayed behaviors that the team believes compromised the integrity of the hiring process and the presidential search. The hiring of the Assistant to the President for Government and Media Relations on December 8, 2015 during the Board of Trustees meeting – without the consent of the president or administration — is one example of a complete breakdown of standards related to fair and equitable hiring practices. This hiring clearly did not follow the mission and procedures established by the College’s Office of Equity, Inclusion and Affirmative Action and raises serious concerns about political intrusion into the business of the College.
Begin watching at around 23:24. Anthony Cornachio nominates Kate Murray at 29:10. The comment at 29:44 is a believed to be a shot at Donna Haugen. John DeGrace who never says a word, speaks at 31:52! The best part is at 32:42. 33:44- NCC has a lobbyist? 35:08- LOL! Finally, 42:33- Who is DeGrace talking about?
To see how Mr. Johnston got such a sweet job and who he is connected to, read this: The NCC Exposed Blog
And remember the NCCFT Contract:
Section 11-2:
Full time employment by Nassau Community College shall be considered the primary employment of the individual who shall limit other compensated professional activity so as not to impair educational effectiveness.
At first it was strange to see Joy DeDonato of the Nassau Community College Foundation as the head of a search committee. After all, she is technically not an employee of NCC. But when Ray Bertolino made a complaint, it all began to make sense. DeDonato and the newly hired station director Shawn Novatt are old friends. And allegedly for protesting the unfair process, Bertolino was fired.
“The point is the search was corrupted,” [Former Congressman and former NCC Trustee] LeBoutillier said. “And there are rules for these things, the same as the bidding process.””
The new Assistant Vice President of Maintenance & Operations, replacing the recently retired Masoom Ali. Robert Foley’s family has a long history in the Nassau County political machine:
We are all familiar with the recent charges against Trustee Anthony Cornachio, but how do the other trustees stack up with trustworthiness? Let’s begin with some recent trustees and then move on to some current ones:
Former Trustees:
Michael Freeman
Former Chairman Michael Freeman, a trustee appointed by Governor David Patterson was arrested in a real estate kickback scheme. It was alleged that he provided fake invoices. He resigned from the Board soon after. He was later acquitted.
Trustee John DeGrace was at one point under investigation after a former staff member named Christopher Bastardi alleged that DeGrace tried to suppress minority voters by sending out fake ACORN letters to recently registered voters telling them to stay home because their vote would be cast for the respective parties. Bastardi decided to drop his complaint so we may never know what really happened but DeGrace retired from that post soon after, so draw whatever conclusions you might.
In 2016, as the coronation of Dr. Kenneth Saunders was appearing more and more inevitable, an anonymous blog appeared called “NCC Exposed.” It told the alleged story of how Nassau GOP operatives led by Dean Jerry Kornbluth schemed to place Saunders in the to position in order to benefit those wanting a piece of the 200+ million dollar college budget. It was quickly shared amongst the faculty. Soon the administration and the board of trustees got wind of the blog and attempted to publicly refute it at a board meeting on February 9, 2016. What transpired was an absolute circus:
The Middle States visiting team mentioned the above video in its exit report as an example of the dysfunction of the college and its concern over the legitimacy of the search process for the college president.
For the sake of historical conservation, I will cut and paste the text that I saved from the NCC Exposed blog. Unfortunately, I was unable to save later updates of the blog (which is truly unfortunate because they revealed more damning allegations). If the actual author or anyone reading this has the final blog post update, please post it in the comment section or send to me.
NCC Exposed (from February, 4, 2016)
The Making of a Candidate: Dr. Kenneth Saunders
The Making of a Candidate
How Kenneth Saunders became the NCC’s GOP Sweetheart
In May of 1999, NCC Math Professor Jerrold A. Kornbluth pleaded guilty in the Federal Court’s Eastern District to 1 count of felony tax fraud and filing false statements (case# CR 99-131). He was sentenced to 6 months of home detention and 3 years probation plus a $10,000 fine. Shortly after regaining his freedom, Jerrold, now retired from NCC and exclusively calling himself Jerry, was hired as the Academic Vice President of Interboro Institute. Interboro was a for-profit college that appeared to prey on high school dropouts by offering a wide array of AOS degrees with little out of pocket cost (but plenty of student loan debt). During Kornbluth’s tenure as Vice President, Interboro Institute was investigated by both NYSED and by the Federal Government for financial aid and academic fraud. It appears that everyone involved at Interboro escaped jail time possibly because they were ordered to pay government back and did. Nevertheless, Interboro surrendered its charter and closed its doors in 2007. In early 2013, Kornbluth returned to NCC as a full-time instructor. His time as a professor was short because in September of that year, Acting President Saunders appointed Kornbluth to the position of Acting Dean of Professional Studies. Professional Studies includes the departments of Hospitality Business and, ironically, Business and Accounting, Economics and Finance, and Criminal Justice. Kornbluth, a felon and refugee from a crooked for-profit college, has become one of Saunder’s biggest supporters and closest advisors.
The address listed for the Renaissance Downtown Corporation is 9 Gerhard Rd., Plainview. Located at 9 Gerhard Road is the Marriot Residence Inn, owned by Michael Johnston. Michael Johnston and Don Monti are partners in several companies including the Concorde Hotel Group and Destination LI, all located at 9 Gerhard Rd. In September 2012, Johnston, with only a bachelor’s degree, was hired as an instructor in the Hospitality Business department. Kornbluth is his Dean.
Becoming the political candidate:
With Jerry Kornbluth in a major administrative position and Don Monti extending an appendage into Nassau Community College, the ascension of Kenneth Saunders to top candidate appeared to begin. The first step seemed to be the effort to connect Saunders to the political establishment. Don Monti and Michael Johnston immediately appointed Saunders to the advisory board of their organization; Destination LI. Saunders joined a who’s-who of county political players including (the yet ostracized and indicted) Adam Skelos. The next step was possibly securing NCC BOT votes. Kornbluth struck up a relationship with Trustee John Degrace who, years earlier, resigned from the Nassau County Board of Elections a short time after allegations of racial voter suppression emerged. In July of 2014, Kenneth Saunders and Nassau County Supervisor Ed Mangano announced an extension of the Volunteer Firefighter’s Recruitment and Retention Scholarship. This was exciting news to Republican player and Board of Trustees Chairperson Jorge Gardyn whose company, IOMR, services the medical needs of numerous volunteer fire departments. In September of 2014, Jerry Kornbluth referred Student Trustee and Presidential Search Committee member Patrick Deegan to an internship at Destination LI. Soon after, Destination LI hosted a rally on campus in which Don Monti invited students to a $150 per person event at the Crest Hollow Country Club (owned by Monti’s family) to discuss issues concerning millennials. 6 days after the Destination LI event, Saunders was honored at the “EAC Network’s Annual Party to Protect Children Event”, once again, at the Crest Hollow Country Club. There, Saunders was recognized for his “commitment to helping children and people in need.” Perhaps not coincidentally, Jerry Kornbluth was on the Event Committee.
Several stumbling blocks occurred in early summer of 2015. Kenneth Saunders was unable to garner 6 votes to become president. It became immediately obvious that every Republican appointee on the Board was in full support of Saunders except Anthony Cornachio. In an interview with Newsday, Trustee Cornachio revealed that the student Trustee Patrick Deegan cast a vote for Saunders. It is not known whether Deegan revealed to the rest of the Board that he received employment with Saunders involvement. Frustrated with the impasse, the SUNY BOT ended Saunder’s tenure as acting president and presented the NCC BOT with a list of possible interim presidential candidates. Disregarding the SUNY suggestions, the board chose Dr. Thomas Dolan, recently retired superintendent of Great Neck Schools; a man with no higher education experience. Dr. Dolan had very close ties to Jerry Kornbluth because Jane Kornbluth, Jerry’s wife, was employed as an English teacher while Dolan was the principal at Sewanhaka HS District. Jane, like Jerry, returned to teaching after a brief retirement and was hired to work, once again, under Dolan at Great Neck Middle School where he was the Superintendent.
In December of 2015, Saunders, accompanied by Kornbluth, allegedly met with the Valley Stream Republican Club. It is important to note that the Executive Leader of the Valley Stream Republican Club is NCC Trustee John DeGrace.
More recently, the NCC GOP establishment tightened its grips on the political patronage machine by appointing Kate Murray to be the general counsel. All Republican members, including the Student Trustee Jennifer Borzym whose father has a long history of donating money to Republican candidates, voted in favor of hiring Murray without a search and with very little discussion. Three of the Republican Trustees had contributed to her ill-fated campaign for District Attorney. Additionally, the father of the Student Trustee also contributed to Murray. Those contributions were never disclosed. SUNY is currently investigating.
On Thursday, February 4th, Kenneth Saunders, one of 4 candidates for permanent president of Nassau Community College, participated in a town hall style interview with the campus community. Many people on campus are convinced that the “fix is in” and Saunders, extremely unpopular with administrators, faculty, and professional staff, will have the 6 votes needed to be become the President of Nassau Community College. It is feared that Saunders may act more to serve his new GOP friends and developers than to serve as the leader of the college community.
Around the same time, Dolan began to cozy
opened up and the procedure proscribed by the State University of New York (SUNY) for filling such an opening was followed. A search committee was formed; requirements were posted; applications were received; interviews were conducted; and a final decision was made.
the Executive Director of the Nassau Community College Foundation, had been a high school friend and 1995 classmate of Novatt at Plainvew-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School. Novatt’s future wife, Jaclyn Tetenbaum, was the assistant director of the school play in which both Cavalieri DeDonato and Novatt were castmates and Cavalieri DeDonato and Tetenbaum were in the school orchestra together.
The Chair and Vice Chair of the NCC Board of Trustees also ran from the issue.
NCC has a culture of corruption. It became a $151,000-a-year landing spot for a failed GOP politician who lost an election; a place for milking the NCC Foundation for expense-paid “employee development” trips; a place with other similarly troubled job searches and covered-up misconduct; and a Board of Trustees that recently had featured the likes of restaurateur Harendra Singh, 
he of the Nassau County GOP scandal that brought down County Executive Ed Mangano and the Town of Oyster Bay leadership.
On August 23, 2018, NCC announced its newest member of the Board of Trustees, George Siberon. Siberon, an advocate for Hispanics in the Hempstead area, was appointed by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. On the 
Another NCC Blog 
