Launches ‘Center for Inclusivity and Equal Opportunity ’ That Will Oversee New Approach, Bring Consistency to Handling of Complaints
Names CUNY Attorney With Expertise in Discrimination Law and Higher Education as Interim Director of New Center, Effective Immediately
The City University of New York today announced the centralization of its discrimination and harassment policies and processes across its 25 colleges with the University’s Center for Inclusivity and Equal Opportunity. The launch follows a vote of the CUNY Board of Trustees to create the Center as part of the University’s ongoing efforts to combat hate, including antisemitism, as well as strengthen its work to foster understanding between diverse communities. To lead this effort, CUNY has appointed Kareem Peat, an attorney with two decades of expertise on discrimination law and higher education, as the Center’s interim executive director, effective immediately.
“The Center for Inclusivity and Equal Opportunity will bring consistency and accountability to how CUNY campuses handle complaints and make sure students, faculty and staff feel protected and respected, regardless of their ethnicity, race, color, gender, national origin, religion and disabilities,” said CUNY Board of Trustees Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. “We are also thankful to have Kareem Peat as the Center’s inaugural director. The Board looks forward to his leadership in centralizing CUNY’s efforts to end discrimination.”
“With the launch of our Center for Inclusivity and Equal Opportunity, we will now have a centralized mechanism to foster understanding, expand training and combat discrimination across our 25 campuses,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “This Center is the latest tool we are using to fight hate at our University, and we are grateful to have someone with Kareem Peat’s expertise and experience getting this work off the ground to ensure that all students, faculty and staff feel safe and welcome at CUNY”
The Center will be accountable for five core responsibilities:
- Centralized report management and compliance
- Systemwide policy review, development, and implementation
- Regular and comprehensive training and orientation for administrators implementing CUNY’s anti-discrimination and harassment policies
- Educational programming addressing discrimination and harassment and promoting inclusivity that will be available systemwide
- Data monitoring and analysis to ensure effective use of resources to address problems immediately
To meet these responsibilities, the Center will work with CUNY colleges from the onset of a harassment or discrimination complaint, starting with the investigation plan and through to the conclusion. This builds on the University’s work to ensure best practices are employed during the investigation and resolution phases of all discrimination reports.
In his report last fall reviewing the University’s policies related to antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman emphasized the importance of centralizing CUNY’s processes for addressing hate. The creation of a center that can focus the University’s efforts was the first recommendation listed in Judge Lippman’s report.
The Center will overhaul the CUNY University-Wide Discrimination and Retaliation Reporting Homepage. CUNY recently released a request for proposal to improve the reporting tool to better track the status of complaints. A company is expected to be in place by late spring.
One of the Center’s key responsibilities is to oversee education and training across the University. CUNY has recently contracted with the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) to build on the trainings the institute offered to all CUNY presidents, deans and members of the Chancellor’s cabinet in Fall 2024; along with that training, 50 staff members were certified as constructive dialogue facilitators and 150 faculty and students attended workshops on navigating difficult conversations. With a $500,000 investment from the New York City Council in Fiscal Year 2025, CDI will work with CUNY to expand training opportunities for students, faculty and staff starting this spring.
The Center will also review the University’s systemwide campus climate survey and use the responses to inform new initiatives and programs. Launched as part of CUNY’s 2024-2025 Unity Campaign, the survey was designed to assess students’ perceptions of issues surrounding inclusivity and experiences with discrimination. This review will allow the Center to expand on programming already offered by CUNY colleges to develop panels, cultural events and constructive dialogue opportunities that promote understanding.
Tapping an Experienced Leader
As its inaugural leader, Peat is responsible for building out the Center and establishing it as the central hub for policies related to discrimination and harassment across the University’s 25 colleges. Peat reports directly to Chancellor Matos Rodríguez.
Peat currently serves as CUNY’s Title IX director, guiding University efforts to prevent and address complaints related to sex-based misconduct and has extensive experience as an attorney managing discrimination and harassment complaints. Before joining CUNY, Peat oversaw Title IX policy at Fordham University and Cornell University. He earned a Master of Education degree from Harvard University, a Doctor of Law degree from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
Kareem Peat
“I am grateful for this opportunity to work tirelessly toward eliminating discrimination and harassment within the CUNY community,” said Peat. “I look forward to collaborating with our students, faculty and staff as we redouble our commitment to creating a welcoming, respectful, and safe educational environment.”
The University will be launching a national search for a permanent executive director, and started the process for hiring the Center staff which will include investigators, lawyers, educational and program experts.
The Latest Effort to Fight Hate
The Center builds on the efforts CUNY has implemented over the past few years to ensure a respectful campus climate and fight hatred and discrimination, including establishing a partnership with Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative in 2022 to ensure Jewish students feel comfortable expressing their identity and values.
The University has also invested $1.3 million in campus programs to combat hate, including $550,000 from the New York City Council to launch the Anti-Hate Initiative and $750,000 in state support to fund specific anti-hate programming on CUNY campuses.
Funded efforts include a workshop at LaGuardia Community College focused on anti-Asian racism in the United States and a symposium hosted by the Center for Community Media at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism centered on how the media covers hate crimes in Black, Asian, Jewish and LGBTQI+ communities. John Jay College of Criminal Justice hosted multiple events presented by the New York City Commission on Human Rights, including one that explored Muslim beliefs and practices to combat Islamophobia.
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving more than 240,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 50,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “genius” grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background. To learn more about CUNY, visit .
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