CSU launches investigation into Fresno State — and ends plan that allowed Castro to cash in
The California State University board of trustees on Tuesday formally launched an investigation into Fresno State and its handling of sexual harassment allegations when former CSU chancellor Joseph I. Castro was president at the university — and passed a resolution targeting a review and changes to retreat rights for university administrators.
That will include an end to its executive transition program until the board has reviewed recommendations provided by a task force and taken action.
Under that prior program, Castro after resigning as CSU chancellor was reassigned into the CSU Management Personnel Plan and classified as an advisor to the board. He received an annual salary of $401,364, which will be paid by the chancellor’s office on behalf of the CSU board of trustees and ends Feb. 17, 2023.
The CSU for six months also will continue to pay Castro a housing allowance of $95,004 annually or $7,917 per month, with the final payment in August.
“The challenges of the past few months have illuminated a need to review existing policies and practices to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to support our students and employees,” board of trustees chair Lillian Kimbell said, in a release through the CSU.
“Over the next several months the university will implement new policy, revise and strengthen existing policies and practices, eliminate unnecessary policy when appropriate, and will do so in a transparent manner in alignment with our aspirations for the CSU to be the national leader in Title IX and other areas.”
The CSU also through its resolution will develop a system-wide policy to create clarity on retreat rights for administrators as well as a policy on letters of recommendation.
While the policies are being finalized, any CSU campus offering an incoming administrator the opportunity to retreat to a faculty position must consult with the Chancellor’s Office, and any offer letters must include language specifying that an administrator found to have engaged in significant misconduct would not be eligible to return to a faculty position at the university.
The resolution was passed unanimously by the CSU board of trustees.
Fresno State, when Castro was president, agreed to a mediated settlement with former vice president of student affairs Frank Lamas that included $260,000 plus a letter of recommendation toward future employment.
Lamas, the target of a Title IX investigation involving the sexual harassment of a former employee in student affairs, held retreat rights at the university.
Castro in resigning as CSU chancellor also holds retreat rights to the Orfalea College of Business at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo as a professor of leadership and public policy.
Those retreat rights have come under scrutiny, not only by the CSU board of trustees, but by the academic senate at Fresno State, which is in the process of drafting a resolution of no confidence in Castro to enter the professoriate of the largest four-year public university system in the country.
“Basically, we’re expressing a lack of confidence to do that and the second points out his very actions and words tell him that he’s incapable, he has demonstrated that he not only does not deserve to hold the rank of professor but he is unqualified to teach or conduct research in leadership, in leadership and public policy,” academic senator Michael Jenkins said at a March 7 meeting.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 5:33 PM.