3 | STARWOOD IN PORT CHESTER MAY 9, 2016 | VOL. 52, No. 19
4 | TALKING INNOVATION
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JUDGE: WHITE PLAINS CONDUCT ‘FARCICAL’
RULES FASNY LAWSUIT CAN MOVE FORWARD
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BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH rdeffenbaugh@westfairinc.com
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Elizabeth Nunan displays a Chinese language web page at Houlihan Lawrence in Rye Brook. Photo by Bob Rozycki.
he French-American School of New York can proceed with its lawsuit against the White Plains Common Council and Mayor Thomas Roach after a judge had harsh words for the lawmakers. State Supreme Court Justice Joan B. Lefkowitz said in an April 19 ruling that the city’s handling of FASNY’s application to build a new campus in White Plains was “farcical.” Lefkowitz said the city was attempting to wage “a war of attrition” to dissuade FASNY from continuing its pursuit to build a $60 million, five-building campus on a former golf course in the city, which Lefkowitz said “appears to be a legal use of its land.” Lefkowitz’s ruling denied a motion from the city to dismiss a lawsuit FASNY filed in September challenging the common council’s de facto rejection of
the school’s proposal. The decision is the latest in a dispute that dates back five years. In 2011, FASNY proposed a plan to consolidate its three Westchester campuses into one new facility on the former Ridgeway Country Club near the Gedney Farms neighborhood in White Plains. FASNY bought the property in 2010 for $11 million. The school would enroll students from pre-school through 12th grade and include a 78-acre public park that the school would maintain. The project has faced steady opposition from residents, led by the Gedney Association. The association represents about 450 households in the neighborhood. The group has fought the project out of concerns that it is too big for the neighborhood and would cause traffic and drainage issues. They’ve rallied other neighborhood groups to weigh in with letters opposing the project as well. The project was red-flagged by the White Plains » » FASNY, page 6
Workplace bias felt in ‘a thousand cuts’ BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com
EARL “BUTCH” GRAVES JR. LIKES to ask simple questions like, “Does anything strike you as strange here?” As president and CEO of Black Enterprise media in Manhattan, he has seen some strange things in corporate board rooms, high-level client meetings and country club gatherings. What is plain to him is obscure to some
people: There are not many black faces in the room and little curiosity about why that is. His simple questions became a touchstone during a panel discussion on “Unconscious Bias: A Conversation About Race in the Workplace,” on April 28. The event was presented by the YWCA and Mastercard Inc. Panelists discussed the enormous impact of unconscious bias in the workplace.
The idea of creating a diverse workplace was originally meant as a way to combat outrageous, obvious biases, said Mona Lau, a Harrison psychologist and adjunct professor at Manhattanville College who has led several diversity programs. But discrimination is often expressed unconsciously. The biased person is unaware of the harmful conduct, while the recipient suffers. “You can’t see it but you can feel it,” she said. “You can’t prove it but you know it’s true.” Everyone has biases, she said, based on education, religious beliefs, family practices and life experiences. Biases can be good, for example, in helping people screen out unimportant information. But filters also create false impressions and snap judgments that hurt people. They can lead to micro-aggressions,
small behaviors that in any instance do not amount to much but easily accumulate into harmful patterns. Unconscious biases influence hiring decisions, job assignments, promotions, performance reviews, training opportunities, policies, marketing campaigns, customer service and the selection of leaders. “You’re killed by a thousand cuts, not one big stab,” said Donna Johnson, chief diversity officer for MasterCard. You are not invited to an important meeting, not once, not twice, but five times. You have worked hard on a project but your name is not mentioned when people are singled out for praise. When you share your concerns with your boss, the reaction is, “Are you kidding? Your name is not on a list?” You know it happened but the people » » BIAS, page 6