Ex-Suffolk County Community College president accused of sexual harassment

A Manorville woman who claims she was sexually harassed, intimidated and ridiculed when she worked in admissions at Suffolk County Community College has filed a $2 million lawsuit against the institution and its former president, Shaun McKay.

Kathleen Andresen this month filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York, nine months after McKay’s abrupt departure for unspecified reasons. The administrator left the 26,000-student college’s top post in May as part of a $555,0000 settlement that was unanimously approved by seven trustees and which terminated McKay’s contract 15 months early.

The six-page lawsuit claims Andresen, who was an admissions counselor, left her job in March 2019 because she was “subject to continual sexual harassment actions, deliberate misuse of power and authority, discriminatory insults, ridicule and intimidation by the president.”

It said the college tolerated a “hostile work environment” and violated the Title VII clause of the Civil Rights Act barring employment discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and religion.

The litigation added that McKay “exposed himself” to the plaintiff and “sexually harassed the plaintiff via text messages, phone, in person and emails with explicit sexual content.”

The lawsuit also said Andresen’s co-workers made insulting comments about her appearance since the first day of her employment, and that college officials did not stop the alleged harassment. The lawsuit says Andresen attended meetings about her complaints in November and December of 2018, and that while a supervisor subsequently spoke with the employees who she claims harassed her, the behavior did not stop.

The lawsuit says Andresen suffered a number of physical ailments including headaches, anxiety, depression, weight loss and mental anguish and that she suffered damages of $70,000 in lost wages.

Neither Andresen’s attorney, Thomas Stanziale of Garden City of Garden City, nor McKay could be reached for comment Friday.

SCCC spokesman Drew Biondo said Friday, “We’ve not yet seen any legal papers and therefore cannot comment.”

In June when the college made public the agreement for McKay's departure, board chairwoman Theresa Sanders stated in an email to the college community: “There were no findings of wrongdoing, incapacity or misconduct on the part of Dr. McKay during his tenure as president” and she wished him well “as he begins his pursuit of new opportunities.”

The lawsuit seeks $1 million in compensatory damages, $1 million in punitive damages, and attorney fees.

It follows an abrupt end to McKay’s tenure at the helm of the state’s largest community college and marks a sharp reversal of fortune since trustees voted in 2012 to extend McKay’s contract to Aug. 15, 2020, after he had been in the post for just two years.

But last year, McKay and the college decided to part ways.

In January 2019, trustees had placed him on a paid leave of absence from the $308,710-a-year job and decided not to renew his contract after its scheduled end on Aug. 15, 2020.

In addition, a three-member board committee investigated undisclosed allegations. Officials launched the inquiry after McKay had spent 77 days on medical leave in 2018 and asked for a 10-year contract extension when he returned to campus.