A senior director at the City University of New York stands accused of groping and exposing himself to a female subordinate he was driving home from an office happy hour — and the university let him keep his job, according to a lawsuit filed September 29 in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Krafins Valcin, CUNY’s senior director of academic collaboration technology, is accused of assaulting a 34-year-old IT senior associate on December 2, 2025, after the two agreed to carpool from a Manhattan happy hour to their homes in New Jersey. The woman, whose name is being withheld, had worked with Valcin for roughly six months without incident before that night, according to the lawsuit.
As they walked to his car, the woman claims Valcin grabbed her fingers and said, “I can tell you have a fat p—y.” She told the court she was “utterly shocked” and made clear she wasn’t interested — but says Valcin kept making sexual comments and rubbing her thigh “toward her genitals” for the rest of the drive.
When Valcin dropped her at her car, parked at a Newark train station, the lawsuit claims he pulled his vehicle in front of hers to block her in. He then allegedly walked to her driver’s-side door, forced it open, and pressed her hand against his erect penis while saying, “This is what you do to me.” After she pulled her hand away, he allegedly dropped his pants and exposed himself.
The woman reported the incident to Newark police, but the case was dropped for lack of video evidence, according to a source familiar with the matter. Valcin allegedly apologized afterward and told her he had “more to lose” than she did.
She filed a complaint with CUNY’s Title IX office in January after suffering panic attacks at work. The university issued a no-contact order between the two employees in February — but Valcin stayed in his position. The woman says she has not returned to the office since and has been working from home.
“The worst part is that after being subjected to her co-worker’s inappropriate and degrading sexual advances, CUNY did nothing to reprimand or alter the perpetrator’s employment. Rather than ensuring a safe work environment for the plaintiff, CUNY actually placed the burden on her to adjust her entire workplace to avoid him,” said Gerald Cohen, the woman’s attorney.
Valcin told a reporter by phone that he was “shocked” by the lawsuit and denied groping the woman, but declined to say anything further.
A CUNY spokesperson said: “CUNY takes allegations of sexual assault and harassment seriously and is committed to maintaining a safe and supportive environment for all members of our community. Because this is a pending legal matter, we cannot comment further.”
