On Monday, Oct. 28th, Dennis Cohen was named the executive counsel and labor designee for Queens College. With experience as an attorney and former judge, he will be in charge of reporting directly to the president on matters related to staff concerns as well as negotiations with unions.
“We are delighted to welcome Dennis Cohen to Queens College,” President Frank H. Wu said. “In addition to his extensive legal experience, he has a deep understanding of the needs of nonprofit institutions in the metropolitan area. I would like to express my gratitude to the search committee and search panel, chaired by Jeffrey Rosenstock, assistant vice president for Governmental Relations and External Affairs, for their service.”
Along with union negotiation, Cohen is responsible for ensuring the college’s compliance with state and federal law, and interpreting and administering the university’s bylaws, policies, procedures, and collective bargaining agreements. He is also the College Ethics Officer, Records Access Officer, and Immigration Liaison. His additional responsibilities include training employees in compliance with ethics obligations, responding to subpoenas and Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests, and working closely with CUNY’s office of the General Counsel.
“My top priorities in my role as executive counsel/labor designee are to protect the interests of Queens College, its students, faculty and staff,” Dennis Cohen said to The Knight News. “I want to ensure that all necessary trainings, including, but not limited to, Comprehensive Ethics Training, Workplace Violence Prevention Training, and Employee Sexual Prevention and Response courses are completed in a timely manner. In my role as labor designee, I want to ensure that open lines of communication are established with every union, that issues are identified, and that mutually acceptable solutions are determined.”
The Knight News reached out to the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) on Nov. 25th, a worker union responsible for negotiating with CUNY officials to improve staff wages, benefits, and policy for over 30,000 CUNY staff members.
“We will work with General Counsel Cohen to ensure that administrators and our members are aware of their rights and responsibilities under the new contract and that any retroactive pay is fairly distributed,” QC PSC Chapter Co-Chair Karen Sullivan said.
“Right now, there are many issues that need to be addressed at QC,” Sullivan said when asked what issues need to be addressed by Cohen. “On October 9th, 2024, a QC faculty member was doxxed by Rep. Ritchie Torres, a member of Congress, on X. After the doxxing, the faculty member received threats and moved the course online, but there have been no consequences to the person (likely a student) who shared the unauthorized photos, nor for Rep. Torres.”
“There has been no communication of QC policy on recording to the QC Community,” she added. Since Sullivan’s response, QC has implemented a policy that prohibits recording or photographing lectures unless consent is given by the professor or lecturer.
Sullivan also urged Cohen to prioritize academic freedom, emergency evacuation protocols — especially in light of the bomb threat QC faced in Spring 2024 — campus safety and adequate signage in buildings. Additional concerns included bullying and harassment, improving accessibility, ensuring mandated reporter training for faculty, addressing the presence of the New York Police Department during peaceful protests, protection of office hours, resolving IT issues and temperature issues in classrooms and offices.
“I am very excited to continue my public service career with one of the top public colleges in the country,” Dennis Cohen said. “I want to thank President Wu and the search committee for placing their trust in me.”
