The Chancellor of the State University of New York is facing calls to resign over his decision to ridicule one of former governor Andrew Cuomo's sex accusers.
James Malatras has been urged to step down from his $450,000-a-year post at Albany headquartered-SUNY after a probe revealed he'd written 'Let's release some of her cray emails,' of Lindsey Boylan.
Malatras, who has been branded an Andrew Cuomo 'henchman,' sent the texts in 2019 after Boylan accused then Governor Cuomo of fostering a bullying workplace, and went on to claim he was a sex pest.
They were revealed by New York Attorney General Letitia James last week, as part of the same tranche of documents which has seen Chris Cuomo ousted from his CNN show for helping defend his brother's reputation.
Students and employees at the State University of New York, as well as some state politicians are calling on Jim Malatras, chancellor of SUNY to resign
Call comes after New York attorney general released old text messages that showed Malatras mocking an aide to former New York governor Andrew Cuomo
Text messages show Malatras and other ex–Cuomo staffers ridiculing Lindsey Boylan for calling out a toxic work environment
Malatras has come under fire after Attorney General Letitia James made public transcripts and evidence from a months-long probe of sexual harassment allegations that forced Cuomo from office. Cuomo has denied harassing anyone.
A text exchange involving Malatras and other Cuomo allies showed them mocking Boylan, a former economic development official who was the first woman to publicly accuse Cuomo.
Boylan, after leaving the administration, tweeted in 2019 that working in politics had been 'a toxic and demoralizing experience.'
At the time, she had yet to go public with her sexual harassment allegations against the governor.
'Let's release some of her cray emails,' Malatras texted, using slang for crazy.
SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras who was a former aide to Governor Cuomo suggested in a text message 'Let's release some of her cray emails!'
The text messaging group had been given the title: 'Somehow, we're in charge'
Over the weekend, Boylan tweeted how she had not received any apology from Malatras
Boylan tweeted throughout the weekend as she called out SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras' failure to apologize to her personally
Newly-released texts from CNN host Chris Cuomo (right) reveal he helped strategize brother Andrew Cuomo's (left) response to the sexual harassment scandal earlier this year. He has been fired from his job as a result
Lindsay Boylan, pictures as she gave sexual harassment testimony regarding former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
After Boylan called him out in a series of tweets, Malatras texted to the group: 'Malatras to Boylan: Go f**k yourself.'
Malatras also forwarded Cuomo aides a picture of a nuclear explosion with the word 'kaboom' as he discussed Boylan.
One year later, Cuomo's team released portions of Boylan's personnel file to try to discount her claims of harassment.
The SUNY Student Assembly on Friday called for the trustees to remove Malatras with a vote of no confidence.
'Allowing the chancellor to remain in place damages the reputation of the system, detracting from our education and devaluing the degrees we are all working towards,' the group, which represents students in SUNY governance, said.
'It looks like CNN is more accountable than @SUNY that can't seem to fire an unqualified, abusive, and misogynistic chancellor,' New York Assembleyman Ron Kim said in a tweet.
Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), who also serves on the education panel, tweeted, 'SUNY trustees must oust Jim Malatras whose only road to becoming chancellor last year was being Andrew Cuomo's henchman.'
In a statement Friday, Malatras said he owed Boylan and the SUNY community an apology.
'Leadership in public service is a privilege and with it comes immense responsibility for upholding the values of professionalism, decency, and respect. I take that responsibility very seriously and in recent days it has been clear I have fallen short,' he wrote, calling his remarks 'inappropriate, disrespectful and wrong.'
Boylan later tweeted that she had not
