Q&A
Requirements for CUNY's new complaint portal and data sharing
0:25:52
·
5 min
Council Member Dinowitz inquires about the specific requirements for CUNY's new complaint portal, focusing on features such as regular updates on investigation statuses and public data sharing.
- Chancellor Rodriguez confirms that the new system will generate periodic responses to individuals about the status of their complaints
- The discussion reveals that CUNY plans to share data publicly about substantiated and unsubstantiated claims
- Rodriguez mentions that additional resources may be needed to handle complaints more effectively, regardless of the new technology
Eric Dinowitz
0:25:52
So a few important a few important things the portal needs to include.
0:25:56
Will the portal include regular updates on statuses of investigations?
Felix Matos Rodriguez
0:26:00
Absolutely.
0:26:01
I mean and let me just do a general when we created the portal, we were, did did an in house response, which was low tech, because as a result of the feedback that we received from you all, we wanted a centralized place to be able to, for individuals to report, and then go through the process of apply of, submitting, claims.
0:26:25
Right?
0:26:26
So we did that first.
0:26:28
It was in house, so it didn't have really all the systemic things that we feel we need now to be able to do this.
Eric Dinowitz
0:26:36
Can I can I pause you there, though?
0:26:37
And excuse me.
0:26:39
I wanna pause you because also during this the same hearing, we had testimony from CUNY that said students do receive or are supposed to receive responses within 60 days.
0:26:50
And across the board, that never happened.
0:26:54
It just it it didn't happen, and I'm sure students here today will testify to the same thing.
0:26:59
And so I I think what we're looking for are assurances that students will actually get those responses because although it was testified to in the past, it never actually happened.
0:27:09
So what assurances do we have that those responses, the back and forth, will actually be provided to the students who are not feeling welcome and safe in their own schools?
Felix Matos Rodriguez
0:27:20
So there there's two parts to that to that, question.
0:27:23
First, it is built in into the requirements of the procurement that the system will generate responses periodically to individuals as to what is the status, of, their complaints if they ended up filing 1.
0:27:38
Remember that someone submitting something to the portal is not the same thing as filing a complaint.
0:27:44
Sometimes somebody goes to the portal and begins the conversation about a complaint and they might decide or not to file the complaint.
0:27:51
So the system will respond and will give you, periodic notices of where your complaint is.
0:27:59
That is technology.
0:28:00
The second part of this equation is that we need additional resources.
0:28:06
If if we're moving to centralize more this work, which is one of the recommendations for Lindbergh, and we believe that it's a valid one, but more centralized or decentralized, we need additional resources to be able to have more individuals out there investigating the the the complaint so that we can get back, on a timely manner to our students, to our faculty and staff.
0:28:28
So technology is part of the equation, but we also are gonna need additional personnel to do this no matter how effective the technology might be.
Eric Dinowitz
0:28:37
So you the the so to be clear, the 60 day policy.
0:28:40
So that is a policy, and that it sounds like you're saying it's contingent on funding that you won't always able be able to abide by that 60 day policy.
Felix Matos Rodriguez
0:28:51
Well, I mean, the do you respond to that?
0:28:53
In some cases, there are delay.
0:28:56
Right?
0:28:56
And part of those delays have to do at times with staffing issues of personnel or cases that have larger complexity, and we have individuals who might not be responding in time to, the investigations.
Eric Dinowitz
0:29:10
Well, I understand how it might work.
0:29:12
But from the perspective of a student, if a policy says 60 days and then you know internally, well, we don't have enough money to hire the person.
0:29:22
It's meaningless to this to the students.
0:29:25
It's meaningless to them.
0:29:27
First of all, they won't even know it.
0:29:28
And even if they do it, it doesn't mean a lot to say, we don't have enough money to ensure that you are informed about the case of discrimination you lodged against another student faculty university.
0:29:39
And so what assurances do we have that these timelines are going to be met when what I think I'm hearing is that we may or may not have enough money to do it.
Felix Matos Rodriguez
0:29:48
Well, again, we're gonna have the systems to do this.
0:29:51
We are aspiring to be able to meet those deadlines.
0:29:54
I'm also sharing with you the reality that we face that in order to, address those things, we do need additional funding, which we would be requesting to the state and the city.
Eric Dinowitz
0:30:04
And has the state committed any funding to this?
Felix Matos Rodriguez
0:30:06
We end up we're just beginning the budget process.
0:30:09
So
Eric Dinowitz
0:30:09
Okay.
0:30:10
And do you know how much the contract's gonna be for?
Felix Matos Rodriguez
0:30:15
For the for the service.
Eric Dinowitz
0:30:17
For the portal.
0:30:17
What's going to be?
0:30:19
No.
0:30:20
No.
0:30:20
I mean,
Felix Matos Rodriguez
0:30:20
it's just going to procurement.
0:30:21
So we'll we'll we'll see what we get from, Right.
0:30:25
From the from the vendors.
Eli Meron
0:30:27
Okay.
Eric Dinowitz
0:30:30
The data was something else that we've been struggling to acquire from CUNY related to any cases of discrimination.
0:30:38
Will this portal include the ability to share data publicly with substantiated or unsubstantiated claims made, in the portal?
0:30:49
Yes.
0:30:50
So 100%.
0:30:51
It'll be on the website?
0:30:53
Yep.
0:30:54
Okay.
0:30:54
Will there be any delays?
0:30:56
What would the timeline look like?
0:30:58
Is it quarterly reports?
0:31:00
Is it every time a complaint is lodged, the website gets updated?
