#John Jay professors named in sex and drug scandal still on payroll

Three CUNY professors implicated two years ago in a scandal involving an on-campus drug den and “pimping” out students are still on the public payroll at John Jay College of Criminal Justice — and have even received raises to their six-figure salaries.

Karol Mason, the John Jay president, said in May 2019 that she would move to ax the professors — Ric Curtis, Anthony Marcus and Barry Spunt.

“There is absolutely no place for sexual harassment or misconduct at John Jay,” Mason wrote in a letter to the campus community after the Manhattan college concluded an internal investigation.

But state records show the trio are still being paid and that their base salaries have increased 4 percent since allegations against them were first lodged in May 2018.

Curtis makes $133,676; Anthony Marcus is pulling down $121,852; and Barry Spunt is raking in $111,000, according to the records.

The Post exclusively revealed in September 2018 that the professors had been placed on paid leave after two former students, Naomi Haber and Claudia Cojocaru, accused them of a variety of misdeeds. They also accused a fourth professor, an adjunct, who was not rehired by the school.

Haber alleged Marcus raped her during a 2015 academic conference in Washington, D.C. Marcus has denied the claim in legal papers.

Claudia Cojocaru accused Curtis of “pimping out students” by encouraging them to have sex with colleagues.

The women also described drug use and sales by some of the professors in an area of the midtown campus known as The Swamp.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office investigated the claims but did not bring charges.

But Mason said after reading the college’s internal report, “I conclude that the professors and adjunct lecturer engaged in unprofessional conduct that is absolutely unacceptable.”

Cojocaru and Haber filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the professors in June 2019.

The suit contended that Curtis “encouraged Ms. Cojocaru to drink alcoholic beverages” in John Jay offices and then “groped, touched and sexually assaulted her.”

Curtis denied in legal papers that he  “engaged in any sexual, inappropriate or exploitative physical contact with Cojocaru or Haber.”

Instead, he said claimed the women were “sexual manipulators, if not predators, themselves.”

David Gottlieb, a lawyer for Cojocaru and Haber, called the claim “nothing short of delusional.”

“We have been wholly disappointed with the manner in which John Jay has handled Ms. Cojocaru and Ms. Haber’s Title IX complaints from the start, and the fact that these professors remain on payroll more than two years later is completely unacceptable,” he said.

Carmen Jack Giordano, a lawyer for Spunt, said the prof was challenging his suspension and the process had been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lawyers for Curtis and Marcus did not respond to a request for comment.

A John Jay spokesman declined to comment.