On Dec. 14, a music school led by a professional violinist held a recital at the Manhasset Public Library.
While third- and fourth-grade students were performing, library Director Maggie Gough entered the recital room to complain that library policies were being violated.
Roslyn Huang, who conducts the Long Island Camerata, which has performed at the library the past 10 years, said parents in attendance told her Gough expressed doubt that the students were from Manhasset and called them “foreigners.”
Huang said she attributed Gough’s comments to the fact that many of the students were of Asian descent. But, she said, 80 percent of the students were from Manhasset, many students were not Asian and other students were from the Port Washington, Herricks and Great Neck school districts.
Huang, whose mother owns the popular Pearl East eatery in Manhasset, said Gough told her that food being served from Pearl East was not finger food, as required by library policy, and that Chinese food was different because it “smells and it’s messy.”
Huang said the food served – pastries, dim sum and sushi – was finger food, but it was served with utensils because there was a stomach flu going around. Gough, she said, also threatened to sue the restaurant because it was cooking at the library and threatened to fine the group $20,000 to replace the room’s carpet after water was spilled.
A petition was filed shortly after the incident by one of the school’s parents, titled “Eradicate Racism from the Manhasset Public Library.” It has received more than 800 signatures, many with accompanying comments expressing outrage at the incident.
Gough disputed Huang’s account and other online accounts. She said in a letter to Blank Slate Media that Huang and a male associate angrily confronted her “in an unhinged manner” when she walked into the recital.
The charges, she said, were “horrendous, deeply hurtful and completely unfounded.”
A full investigation, conducted by legal counsel, was initiated immediately, Gough added.
A thorough investigation is clearly needed.
If Gough did express doubt that the students were from Manhasset and refer to them as “foreigners” then she should be suspended without pay if not fired. It is difficult to think of any reason other than racial bias for calling the students “foreigners” – something a taxpayer-funded library cannot accept from its director.
If she didn’t say that, Gough is owed a public apology.
For a final determination we await the results of the investigation.
But the library’s process has raised several questions.
For one, it is now more than two months since the incident. Why no report?
We keep hearing a report is forthcoming but none has so far. We are in favor of a thorough investigation, but we believe there is a need to act quickly to remove the cloud hanging over the head of the library.
Our concerns were initially heightened by the library not disclosing the identity of the lawyer hired by the library. She has since been identified as Elena Cacavas, a Manhasset resident, former administrative law judge for the state Public Employment Relations Board and current partner in a law firm.
More concerning is Gough’s decision, according to Huang, to cancel the music group’s contract for a recital in the spring.
Is Huang correct?
If so, why cancel the recital if the library board is awaiting the results of an independent investigation?
That sounds like a decision was already made on at least part of the allegations.
We would also like to know what library board members have to say about the allegations? So far, they have been silent on the subject.
One board member, Judith Esterquest, did offer judgment on one aspect of the incident – Blank Slate’s decision to publish a news story about the controversy.
Esterquest called it “shoddy” in online comments and offered five examples of ethics codes issued by media groups and organizations guiding the use of unnamed sources and a reporter’s obligation to check allegations.
But apparently Esterquest missed the first rule of news organizations – get your facts right.
Esterquest said the reporter failed to properly reach out to the other side even though the reporter reached out to Gough on several occasions before finally getting a statement.
The statement was published in full in that week’s issue of the newspaper as a letter to the editor and part of the statement was published in the news story.
Curiously, Gough never denied in her statement that she expressed doubt that the students were from Manhasset or referred to the students as “foreigners” – the basis on which parents said her remarks were racially tinged, at best.
Esterquest also said the reporter failed to identify an unnamed source in the story to her editors. This is simply untrue. The reporter disclosed the identity of the unnamed source to both of the paper’s editors.
More troubling: on what did Esterquest base her claim that the reporter did not identify the source to reporters? Another of her complaints was that the reporter did not speak to her.
And like Gough, nowhere in Esterquest’s online statement did she deny the claim that Gough had expressed doubt that the students came from Manhasset and called them “foreigners.”
Esterquest concluded by asking why the reporter “rushed” the story to print and wondered why the publisher decided to publish a story on the front page on “such flimsy reporting.” She also raised the specter of “fake news.”
Esterquest’s comments were published on Dec. 31 – after the reporter had spoken to Huang, Gough and at least one parent. Like everyone else, our reporter also had access to an online petition created by an angry parent that generated more than 800 signatures.
Esterquest’s comment hardly inspires confidence in a fair and independent hearing once the lawyer’s report is issued.
We believe, in the interests of the board’s credibility, that Esterquest should recuse herself from discussions regarding the allegations.
The Manhasset Library doesn’t need its own Bill Barr. It needs a fair investigation provided in a timely fashion that the public can trust.
