Nassau Community College officials retaliated against students who criticized college policies, lawsuit alleges
Nassau Community College in Garden City. Credit: Barry Sloan
Two former Nassau Community College student leaders have sued the college and top administrators, accusing the college of discriminating against them and violating their free speech and due process rights.
The two students — Grant Peterson, of Roslyn Heights, and Jordon Groom, of Glen Cove — said in a lawsuit filed in November in federal court in the Eastern District that college officials threatened, bullied and disparaged them in retaliation for their criticism of the college. The lawsuit alleges that college officials also discriminated against the two plaintiffs and encouraged other students to “engage in differential treatment” of them.
Peterson has an unspecified disability and Groom is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit named Maria Conzatti, who leads the college as chief administrative officer, along with three other college officials: David Oyero, dean of students; Charmian Smith, vice president for academic student services; and Craig Wright, acting associate vice president for civil rights and belonging and Title IX coordinator.
The college “will not comment on ongoing litigation, especially one that involves a student matter,” said Jerry Kornbluth, the college's vice president for community and governmental relations. “The lawsuit has been referred to the county’s attorney’s office to respond to the complaint.”
The Nassau County attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Peterson and Groom were student leaders who “actively and publicly criticized” the college and its policies, the lawsuit states.
In the 2024-25 academic year, Peterson was student chair of the Academic Senate and Groom was the student trustee on the college’s Board of Trustees, according to court documents.
Grant Peterson. Credit: Grant S. Peterson
Peterson, 21, is now studying history at the University at Buffalo. He said in an interview that he urged the school to invest more in its honors program and student clubs, and he and Groom also raised issues such as maintenance and cleanliness of the college and low participation in student government elections.
“I felt like there was an opportunity for me as a student leader to advocate on behalf of the student body,” Peterson said
Peterson said he believes the college retaliated against him and Groom because of their advocacy.
“Being in opposition to the whims of the college administration means that they can censor and censure you with impunity,” he said.
Groom, 29, is now an art history and criticism student at Stony Brook University. He said college officials used "intimidation tactics" in response to his and Peterson's push for better conditions at the college.
In September 2024, the lawsuit alleges, Oyero told Peterson and other members of the student government that if they continued to make comments about student government elections, they could “land the group in serious, potentially legal or disciplinary trouble."
Soon after, according to the lawsuit, Peterson told Conzatti and Smith that he felt “threatened” by the remark. In October 2024, other student government members told Peterson that college officials told them to “engage in differential treatment” of him, according to the lawsuit.
In November 2024, Peterson filed a discrimination complaint against Conzatti, Oyero and three other college officials. Soon after, Wright met with Groom and probed for information about Peterson, but Groom “declined to make any disparaging comments” about Peterson, the lawsuit states.
In January 2025, the college dismissed Peterson’s complaint and reached a disciplinary determination against the two students without giving them copies of the disciplinary documents or the ability to appeal, the lawsuit states.
As a result of the disciplinary determination, the college removed Peterson from student government and revoked his student government tuition stipend, and it required Groom to attend sensitivity training, according to the lawsuit.
Peterson and Groom are seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.
Maria Fischer, an attorney with Manhattan-based Anderson Law, whose lead litigation attorney Gregory Byrnes is representing the two former students, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.
