In 2020, this is how Fresno State responded to Bee questions about sexual harassment claims

Fresno State in January 2020 wouldn’t comment on questions from The Fresno Bee about allegations of sexual harassment lodged against its then-Vice President for Student Affairs & Enrollment Management Frank Lamas, and a sudden leave of absence by the administrator.

Patti Waid, then-communications director for Fresno State, would only confirm the leave of absence to The Bee but wouldn’t disclose the reason.

“The reason for an employee’s leave of absence is considered personal and confidential,” she wrote to The Bee in a Jan. 6, 2020 email.

Details of the sexual harassment complaints against Lamas were exposed in a USA Today investigation published Thursday. The investigation also reveals the poor handling of the case by then-President Joseph I. Castro, who now serves as the chancellor for the California State University system.

Castro, the investigation found, quietly arranged a settlement with Lamas for him to leave the university with $260,000 and retirement benefits after years of alleged sexual harassment. And that occurred soon before Castro took his new job to oversee the CSU system, the nation’s largest four-year public university.

Lamas started his job at Fresno State in 2014 soon after Castro started his tenure as university president.

In early November 2019, Lamas requested a sudden leave of absence. The leave was effective Nov. 4 and through the end of the year, according to Waid’s 2020 email to The Bee.

“In January (2020), he requested to extend his leave until the end of February 2020,” Waid wrote in her email to The Bee.

Then on Feb. 27, his staff was informed that Lamas would be working remotely until May 31, 2020.

During that time, then-Fresno State Dean of Students Carolyn Coon served as acting vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, filling in for Lamas. Coon is now serving as interim vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.

This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 1:22 PM.

Yesenia Amaro

The Fresno Bee

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Yesenia Amaro covers immigration and diverse communities for The Fresno Bee. She previously worked for the Phnom Penh Post in Cambodia and the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Nevada. She recently received the 2018 Journalistic Integrity award from the CACJ. In 2015, she won the Outstanding Journalist of the Year Award from the Nevada Press Association, and also received the Community Service Award.