Anti-bias panel name change sparks resignation in Smithtown

Smithtown officials have rebranded the town’s Anti-Bias Task Force despite some of its members opposing a name change to "Unity Council" — prompting one founding member to resign.

The Town Board voted 5-0 at a July 11 meeting to go forward with the change, effective immediately.

The town created the 12-member volunteer group in 1994 following an antisemitic incident a year earlier at Commack High School.

At last week's meeting, group chairwoman Maria LaMalfa read letters from volunteers Sanaa Nadim and Ben Piskorz, who both opposed the name change.

In his letter, Piskorz, a group co-founder, said he would resign from the panel in protest once the change was effective.

“If you approve the resolution to eliminate the words ‘anti-bias’ from the name, please accept this as my resignation,” Piskorz wrote in his letter to the town board. “‘Unity Anti-Bias Council’ or some other variation would be acceptable.”

Piskorz, 86, said in an interview last week he has no issue with the word "unity," but strongly feels the words "anti-bias" should be included in the group’s name.

“Unity is OK, but that’s not what the anti-bias task force does,” said Piskorz, who emigrated from Argentina decades ago. “If they want to change it, and not listen to me, then I say ‘Do whatever you want.’”

Piskorz didn't rule out the possibly of returning to the group one day, but said the name change had him feeling "very upset."

Nadim, a chaplain and co-chair of Stony Brook University's Interfaith Center, wrote in her letter that having the word "bias" in the group’s name allowed members to sharpen their objectives and focus on different experiences community members face.

“Our communities feel safer and more heard when they know that we’re striving to root out structural, systemic and experiential inequality,” Nadim wrote. “The word ‘bias’ expresses our firm commitment to serving our richly diverse constituents through our inequality framework.”

Nadim didn't return requests for comment. 

Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim said in an interview last week that while he and the board had listened to the group's concerns, the town decided to rename it after reviewing changes Islip made to its anti-bias task force last year with the same rebranding.

“It had actually attracted a more diverse group of people that wanted to volunteer to help with preventing any kind of bias incidents and forward any complaints to the proper authorities, things of that nature, so it’s really going to stay the same,” Wehrheim said. “We took a look at this model in Islip and we think it’s going to be a better fit for Smithtown.”

In April, the board tabled the appointments of two prospective panel members, citing a planned revamp. The candidates were Jay Fried, a Smithtown parent who works in education, and Amy Fortunato, a retired pastor active in Democratic causes.

With the group now renamed, Wehrheim said LaMalfa will choose whether to appoint them and he will support her decision.

Wehrheim said in April his office had fielded emails and calls opposing the appointments, Newsday previously reported.

Fortunato took part in a January protest opposing the hiring of Long Island Loud Majority leader Kevin W. Smith to a part-time town job. Smith was offered a position but didn't accept, according to Wehrheim.

The Suffolk County-based Long Island Loud Majority, whose work is intended to “energize conservatives from coast to coast,” according to its Twitter account, last year was labeled an “extreme antigovernment” group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — a description the group's founders called inaccurate.

Fried last year criticized one of the group’s founders in a letter to Newsday but said he didn't participate in the January protest, Newsday also previously reported.

LaMalfa told the board last week that regardless of the name change, she would like to see the town honor the 30th anniversary of the now-renamed Unity Council with a community event next year. She pitched the event as an opportunity to bring in speakers from diverse organizations and former panel members to discuss why anti-discrimination efforts are important.  

LaMalfa said after last week's meeting that the volunteer group "will continue doing the same work" and "the only thing that is changing is the name."