Architect Sues York College In Jamaica For Racial Discrimination

JAMAICA, QUEENS — An architect who works for CUNY York College is suing the school for racial discrimination, claiming that colleagues told him he was hard to understand and that he was repeatedly passed over for promotions, court records show.

Noel Gamboa, a licensed architect from the Philippines working as a director in York College's facilities department, says his supervisor refused to let him discuss department matters in public meetings and criticized the way he spoke, calling him "sometimes difficult to understand," according to the lawsuit filed in November in Brooklyn federal court.

English is the primary language of schools in the Philippines, according to the lawsuit.

"At no other time during his lengthy and accomplished career within the CUNY system, was [Gamboa] made aware of any criticisms about his verbal communication skills," the suit says.

Gamboa claims he was also rejected several times for a position as York College's executive director of facilities because of his race.

York College spokesperson Marcia Moxam Comrie told Patch she is unable to comment on active litigation.

In 2011, when Gamboa first applied for the job, he said York College president Marcia Keisz told him using the word "charming" to refer to his supervisor was "improper," which he says was her way of implying his "vocabulary is limited because he is Asian," according to the complaint.

He interviewed for the same position in 2018 but wasn't chosen, even though his "qualifications for the vacant position were so superior to the qualifications of the selected candidate ... that no reasonable employer would have selected" the man who was ultimately hired, the lawsuit says.

When that person left in July 2019, Gamboa's supervisor took over the role of executive director of facilities but "relied" on Gamboa to help him resolve technical issues involved in the job but did not promote him, according to the complaint.

He filed suit against York College and the City University of New York system in November, after he sent a discrimination complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In the lawsuit, Gamboa says Asian individuals have long been underrepresented at the executive level at York College.