16 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 18, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Suozzi talks policy nationwide and abroad
BY MARK HALLUM
@MarkuuSan
Freshman Congressman Tom Suozzi has
found himself at the table for some of the
biggest issue facing our country since taking
offi ce in 2016, and on Oct. 12, he sat
down with QNS staff to discuss gun violence,
Afghanistan and how India could
be the United States’ best ally in the coming
years.
Suozzi faces a challenge from Long
Island Republican, Dan DeBono, a former
Navy SEAL in the Nov. 6 election, and is in
one of the most targeted seats in the country
for an upset by the GOP.
“Am I going to able to get immigration
reform – I have very strong positions, I
think the Problem Solvers have answers
to that kind of stuff – I don’t think I’m
going to be able to get it done as a freshman
Democrat in the minority. Same thing
with healthcare and gun violence and all
the big issues that we hear about all the
time,” Suozzi said.
Suozzi is signed on to 16 diff erent gun
bills to end mass shootings in schools
across the country and said the students
who he speaks with are scared and motivated
for change.
“Young people have to show up and
vote,” Suozzi said. “I’m spending a lot of
time doing roundtables with young people
about the gun issue... When I talk to these
kids and they say when there’s a fi re drill ‘I
think to myself, where would I hide?’”
On a trip to Afghanistan for the Armed
Services committee, Suozzi recognized a
lack of a clear goal for American intentions
in the country for establishing a stable government
and why the U.S. forces are still
there aft er 17 years.
“We’ve spent 17 years there, we’ve spent
all this money, all these people have been
killed. It becomes very clear when you’re
there that you have to be there, because
there’s 100 terrorist organizations in the
world and of the 100, 20 of them operate
out of Afghanistan,” Suozzi said. “We
spend $45 billion a year on Afghanistan
in military spending between our troops
and our train, advise and assist program
which is to train the Afghan military and
police... We spend less than $1 billion on
the civilian side of things.”
Suozzi said there are defi nitive objectives
when it comes to using the military for
what is known as “clearing and holding,”
but when it comes to rebuilding nobody
seems to agree on goals or strategies.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other
offi cials involved with creating a functional
Afghan government have been questioned
by Suozzi and do not seem to have a specific
plan, the congressman claims.
Suozzi said until recently his inquiries
regarding a civilian strategy have been
answered with one-page memos.
India will be one of the greatest allies
in the coming years to the U.S. as China
emerges as a great economic competitor,
according to Suozzi.
“Th e president is trying to call out China
and hold them responsible, he’s doing it
through tariff s – I don’t like the way he’s
doing it,” Suozzi said. “Russia is a failing
country. Th eir economy is a mess,
they’re oil dependent, their people are in
bad shape; China is on the rise. It’s booming,
they have a plan over the next 25 years
to become a dominant force economically,
technologically and militarily. We better
be ready for it.”
Over the next 50 years, the U.S. will need
maintain healthy relations with India as
well as South Korea and Australia to challenge
China’s rise, according to Suozzi.
Professor sued
for indecent
grade proposal
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@cnglocal.com
@QNS
A college professor allegedly
made sexual advances toward a
female student, off ering her “good
grades” in exchange for sexual
favors, according to a Brooklyn
Federal Court lawsuit.
Th e student, who goes by the
name of Jane Doe in the lawsuit,
enrolled in the Human Anatomy
and Physiology course taught by
Professor Hany Fam during the
fall 2017 semester at LaGuardia
Community College in Long Island
City.
Th e student claimed she asked
Fam to meet in October 2017 to
discuss her grades, according to
the lawsuit. Th e woman, in her
40s, said the married professor, 60,
insisted they meet at her Brooklyn
apartment.
“Fearing that she would off end
her professor and perhaps jeopardize
her grade in his class, she
fi nally relented,” the lawsuit said.
On Oct. 9, 2017, upon Fam’s
arrival at the apartment, he kissed
the woman on the cheek while
embracing her and gave a bottle of
wine and some papers, according to
the lawsuit.
Additionally, Fam asked the
woman if “she’d sell her body if she
didn’t get the grade she wanted in
the class,” according to the lawsuit.
He had then repeatedly tried to
hold her hand, and unbuttoned his
shirt to reveal a scar and claimed to
have a heart condition that left him
with just a few years to live, the lawsuit
said.
Fam asked her why she was so
tense, and insisted that he could
make things much easier for her,
and repeatedly asked if she would
be his “friend,” according to the
lawsuit.
When the woman had asked if
he was referring to sex, Fam confi
rmed that he did, and suggested
they could meet once a week, the
lawsuit said.
Fam had also told her that other
professors at LaGuardia have had
similar arrangements with other
students, the lawsuit said.
In November 2017, the woman
reported Fam’s harassment to the
Title IX Offi ce, which handles sexual
harassment complaints.
A spokeswoman for LaGuardia
said the college “takes seriously any
allegations of sexual misconduct.”
Upon receiving the complaint,
Fam was immediately removed
from teaching and an investigation
was initiated. He was terminated on
March 20 and has not taught at the
college since he was fi rst removed.
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