On March 20, 2014, Care One Mgmt. served two NYU Law School students with subpoenas in connection with an ongoing civil RICO lawsuit the company has initiated against two local unions of the SEIU. The subpoenas seek, among other documents, communications between members of the Law Students for Economic Justice group and NYU Law School Dean Trevor Morrison. Read Michael Powell’s column from April 30th, 2014 in the NYTimes here.
On May 1, 2014, the day after Powell’s column first appeared online, the NYTimes and DNAinfo both reported that Daniel Straus was leaving NYU Law School’s Board of trustees at the end of the 2013/2014 academic year. But, as DNAinfo reported, Care One Mgmt. is pushing forward with the subpoenas.
The timing and content of the subpoenas have raised the issue of whether they are an attempt to intimidate and harass students for exercising their right of free speech. Approximately two weeks prior to the issuance of the subpoenas, students began circulating a petition to NYU Law School Dean Trevor Morrison requesting an opportunity to discuss the issue of trustee accountability with him.
This is not the first time students have felt harassed by Care One Mgmt. for expressing their free speech rights on their own campus. Read more