‘Negative attention to Fresno State.’ University president laments about Lamas uproar
Fresno State removed top administrator Frank Lamas within days after receiving an official sexual harassment complaint in 2019 — contrary to what university officials told The Bee in early 2020 when they said the administrator, himself, had asked to take a leave of absence.
Current and former university officials late on Thursday in interviews with The Bee maintained the misleading statement was needed in order to keep communications “neutral” while the investigation was ongoing.
Patti Waid, then-communications director for Fresno State, told The Bee in January 2020 that Lamas had asked to go on leave from his post as vice president for Student Affairs & Enrollment Management in early November 2019. The first formal Title IX complaint was lodged against Lamas in October 2019.
But university officials including Fresno State President Saul Jimenez-Sandoval on Thursday said the university placed Lamas on leave within four days of receiving the first formal complaint.
“While investigations are ongoing, communications are commonly neutral to preserve the impartiality of the investigation, and any potential outcomes, including the ability of an employee to return to campus if they are exonerated, or to negotiate a separation where warranted — as it was in this case,” Waid, now assistant vice chancellor for strategic communications and public affairs at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, told The Bee when asked why she said the opposite back in 2020.
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 Dr. 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 denied any wrongdoing, according to the investigation.
Jimenez-Sandoval, Fresno State’s president, said he was made aware of the situation toward the end of two separate investigations and the negotiation process. He described the situation as “unfortunate.”
Not only does it bring “negative attention to Fresno State,” he said, but it also brings emotions to people in the Student Affairs & Enrollment Management division. When asked if he endorsed the settlement Castro reached with Lamas, Jimenez-Sandoval said he couldn’t comment as he wasn’t involved in the process.
“I completely empathize with the people in student affairs, and we are trying creatively, right now, to really think about ways in which we can move forward proactively by addressing these feelings on the one hand, but on the other hand, also by ensuring that the protocols that we have in place will be valued, and believed on strongly by our community,” he said during an interview Thursday.
Defending the process
Both Jimenez-Sandoval and Debbie Adishian-Astone, vice president of administration and chief financial officer at Fresno State, on Thursday maintained that the university was limited on what it could do until the first formal complaint was filed in October 2019. They said the school took immediate action after the official complaint was filed.
“We followed all the guidelines that the CSU stipulates, so as far as that is concerned, we have expressly followed what is given to us as procedural and as guidelines,” Jimenez-Sandoval said.
Adishian-Astone said settlements, such as the one Castro quietly reached with Lamas, are common in certain situations.
What triggered the settlement in this case, she said, was a provision in Lamas’ employment contract that allowed him to become a faculty member at Fresno State if he no longer were to serve in his role as vice president for Student Affairs & Enrollment Management.
“In this matter, this was the last thing we wanted, for Dr. Lamas to return and be part of our faculty here at Fresno State,” she said during the interview. “We knew it was in the best interest of the university and our students that we resolve that matter.”
Adishian-Astone said the university couldn’t share details of the case in the early stages as it was considered a “personnel matter” at that point. She said it would have only been appropriate for the university to share details after the investigatory process was concluded. But even after the investigation was completed, the university didn’t make the public aware of what the investigation found.
University officials hadn’t provided a response by Thursday evening as to whether the school ever had plans to make information related to Lamas public.
Change of culture
Adishian-Astone said it was important to note that change in the Student Affairs & Enrollment Management division is evident today.
While Lamas was on leave, then-Fresno State Dean of Students Carolyn Coon served as acting vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. Coon is now serving as interim vice president of the division.
The “culture and that environment is very different under Dr. Coon’s leadership,” Adishian-Astone said.
Jimenez-Sandoval said he believes he has the trust and credibility to move the Fresno State community forward. The university has reassured the campus community that they can come forward with complaints and that there are protections in place to protect them.
“I think many trust me at the university, and many know that I am someone who is very approachable, and also someone with whom they can speak,” he said. “Many also know that I’m very fair. They have known me for the past 22 years, and they have known that I act expeditiously in situations like this, or in any other type of situation for that matter.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 9:08 PM.
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