Professor Ric Curtis will return to teaching at John Jay College for the first time since allegations against him surfaced in 2018 concerning his conduct on campus, which include his alleged violation of CUNY’s Sexual Misconduct and Drug and Alcohol policy. 

According to the Fall 2025 schedule, Curtis will be teaching an in-person section of ANT 100: The Ethnography of Youth and Justice in New York City on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:50 a.m to 12:05 p.m.

Curtis’s return to teaching was first announced by President Karol V. Mason in an August 2024 statement, in which she explained that the allegations against Curtis were based on his conduct. 

Mason continued to indicate in her statement that CUNY administrators launched an investigation as a result of the allegations and found “unacceptable, unprofessional conduct by the professors that violated CUNY policies, including the Policy on Sexual Misconduct and Policy on Drugs and Alcohol.”

The investigation of Curtis concluded and rather than termination, the arbitrator, James Darby, decided unpaid suspension for the 2024-25 academic year and training on CUNY policies were the appropriate decisions. 

Mason indicated her disapproval of the arbitrator’s decision in her statement. 

Mason has not issued a statement on Curtis’s return since registration for the Fall 2025 semester opened. 

According to a petition created by students with over 300 signatures, some students have called for the arbitrator to further reconsider allowing Curtis to return to campus. 

In an email exchange with the Sentinel, Curtis shared his feelings on coming back to the classroom. 

“I’m happy to return to teaching. You may want to look up my teaching record on Rate My Professors. You will see that I was quite popular with students,” he wrote. 

Curtis also shared what he has been doing during his time away from teaching over email. 

“I’ve been very busy helping the various non-profits I co-founded that are working to combat HIV/AIDS and the overdose crisis,” he wrote.

Curtis opted not to share his thoughts on how the administration handled the arbitration process, but disclosed in the email exchange that he has filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against Mason, former Provost Yi Li, CUNY, and other CUNY administrations. 

Faculty Senate minute notes from April 2021 indicate that the lawsuit Curtis filed alleges that CUNY administrators discriminated against him on the basis of his sex. 

Professor and Chair of the Anthropology Department Edward Snajdr referred the Sentinel’s request for an interview to Provost Allison Pease.

When asked about how Curtis’s return to campus might be facilitated in terms of standards, rules, and expectations, Pease said that because it is a personnel matter, she is limited in what she can share regarding the specific expectations Curtis will be held to.

Pease outlined the general procedures that apply to all CUNY employees in an email exchange with the Sentinel. 

“As required by New York State, all CUNY employees, including faculty, must participate in mandatory annual trainings regarding topics such as sexual harassment prevention, workplace issues, and other compliance topics,” she wrote. 

When asked about the steps that would be taken in the event Curtis’s section of ANT 100 does not meet the minimum registration threshold, Pease continued to explain the general procedures according to CUNY policies. 

“If a full-time professor’s course assignment in any subject does not meet the minimum enrollment requirement, and if it is decided that the course will be closed, then the full-time professor may be assigned to a different section of the same or another course,” she wrote. 

Despite Curtis being cleared to return and required to do compliance trainings such as sexual harassment prevention, some students said that they still do not approve of his return.  

“It’s a very touchy subject. It’s the idea that if, because of his actions, he’s making people—specifically women—uncomfortable, then I don’t think it’s ideal to bring him back, especially when it looks bad on John Jay,” said Student Council Senior Representative Jeff Mathew. 

Mathew said the Student Council has not received any comments from students about Curtis’s return to the classroom. 

Mathew also shared that the only time he remembers the topic being mentioned is briefly during a September Student Council meeting after a student demonstration at the September 16 Town Hall meeting. 

Student activist Mariath Zacarias Soto, a sophomore majoring in criminal justice, has publicly voiced her disapproval of Professor Curtis’s return to campus on various social media platforms including Instagram and TikTok.

One of Soto’s videos voicing her thoughts about the incidents in 2018 has gained over 9,000 views. 

Soto said she is resigned to Curtis’s return but wonders why he was given a 100-level course.

“I’m not saying my opinion has changed, but there’s nothing much we can do about it now that he’s actually going to come back,” she said. “It’s not that I have a problem with him being in his department. It’s more that he’s teaching the freshmen,” Soto said.

Soto speculated about why Curtis was assigned to teach a 100-level course.

“I could understand why they might have put him with the freshmans because seniors or upperclassmen may have given him more of a pushback, since they already know the history about him,” she said. 

Soto said that she is not sure about voicing her concerns about Curtis’s return to the administration at the April 7th Town Hall.

“I definitely have voiced out my opinion a lot and there are times where she [Mason] just ignores a lot of what we say,” she said.

The next Town Hall will be held both on Zoom and in person in the New Building L.61 on April 7th from 4:30 to 6 p.m.