N.Y. Educ. Law § 6225
No action or proceeding based upon a cause of action which arose prior to the effective date of this article or, with respect to Medgar Evers college, prior to July first, nineteen hundred ninety-four, brought by or against the city of New York, the city university of New York or its board of trustees, or the city university construction fund shall be affected by any provision of this article, but the same may be prosecuted or defended by the corporation counsel of the city of New York in the name of the body corporate of the city university of New York created by this article in the same court in which the action is pending. In all such actions and proceedings such body corporate, upon application to the court, shall be substituted as a party. Judgments or awards in any such action or proceeding shall be paid by the city of New York in the same manner as prior to the effective date of this article, provided, however, the state shall reimburse the city to the extent required by law in effect at the time the cause of action arose.
N.Y. Educ. Law § 6225