The leader of New York’s state university system, Chancellor James Malatras, said Thursday he will resign amid harsh criticism for his actions while a top aide to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“The recent events surrounding me over the past week have become a distraction over the important work that needs to be accomplished as SUNY emerges from COVID-19,” Malatras said in a letter to the chair of the State University of New York Board of Trustees.

His resignation is effective Jan. 14.

Malatras came under fire after state Attorney General Letitia James made public transcripts and evidence from a probe of harassment allegations that forced Cuomo from office. Cuomo has denied harassing anyone.

A text exchange from 2019 involving Malatras and other Cuomo allies showed them privately mocking Lindsey Boylan, a former economic development official who would later become the first woman to publicly accuse Cuomo.

At the time, Boylan had yet to go public with her harassment allegations against the governor. But after leaving the administration, she tweeted that working in politics had been “a toxic and demoralizing experience.”

“Let’s release some of her cray emails,” Malatras texted, using slang for crazy.

Boylan had departed the administration after some of her subordinates complained about her own workplace behavior, saying they felt bullied.

Also, the Times Union of Albany reported this week that when Malatras led the SUNY Rockefeller Institute, he called a female employee “a misery” and “(expletive removed) impossible.”

The state university board had said last week they supported Malatras. But state lawmakers and others had called for his resignation.

(AP)