Op-ed is wrong. Joseph Castro is not the victim in Fresno State harassment controversy

One of the most-read stories on The Bee’s website for most of Tuesday was a commentary written by three leading Fresnans who made a full-court defense of former Fresno State University President Joseph I. Castro.

He, of course, went on to lead the 23-campus California State University system for a year as chancellor. That came to a screeching halt this past February. That is when USA Today broke a story about sexual harassment allegations made against a top administrator at the university who had been recruited by Castro.

Frank Lamas, the vice president in charge of student affairs, stood accused of a dozen instances of harassing women employees and students over a six-year period. Of the 12 cases, seven of them were reported directly to Castro. Only one merited a formal investigation because that female student agreed to file her allegation with the campus’ Title IX office, as protocol required.

Rather than discipline or fire Lamas, Castro worked out a golden handshake deal that paid Lamas a year’s salary, $260,000, plus retirement benefits in exchange for his resignation and departure. Lamas left Fresno State at the end of 2020, and just weeks later, Castro was hired to lead the CSU.

Just over a year after that, the USA Today story broke on Feb. 3. On Feb. 17, the CSU trustees decided to let Castro go, the controversy having grown too big for him to overcome.

That is what got the ire of the authors of the latest commentary in The Bee. Writing in defense of Castro were Michael Der Manouel Jr., a Republican activist and local businessman; Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez; and Lisa Smittcamp, district attorney for Fresno County. Der Manouel and Chavez are both Fresno State graduates.

Their main point: That the CSU trustees gave in to the “mob” who demanded Castro’s departure, which occurred “without evidence of any wrongdoing ...”

By voicing that opinion, the trio undoubtedly expressed the sentiment of many in Fresno who had come to appreciate, even cherish, Castro while he led the university.

But far from being in a rush to judgment, the CSU trustees would have been derelict in their duty to the system not to have had Castro step down.

The op-ed authors characterize Castro’s downfall another bit of “woke” progressive politics harming a good leader. But not only is that view wrong, it muddies the fact that Castro sealed his own fate with how he handled harassment claims at Fresno State.

Castro did not deal rightly with Lamas, he got exposed, and paid the price.

Real victims

It is understandable if Castro’s friends and acquaintances in Fresno feel like it all happened so fast. It did.

Der Manouel, Chavez and Smittcamp point out how Castro did so much good while at Fresno State. He gave nonstop support to first-generation students who attended the university, for he was just like them.

That is what makes Castro’s downfall tragic. He is a bright, passionate leader who did many positive things at Fresno State.

But the trio’s op-ed pays no respect to the victims of harassment. That such abuse really happened was borne out by an investigation by an employment lawyer hired by Fresno State once the Title IX complaint was filed.

Her conclusion: Of the 26 current and former employees of Lamas she spoke to, 13 said they had witnessed Lamas make sexist comments, touch women inappropriately, or close his office window blinds while alone with them. Three women said they had caught Lamas staring at their breasts, and three others said they knew colleagues who would make the same allegation.

Rather than remove Lamas from student affairs and put him into a job where he could do no harm, Castro praised Lamas in annual performance reviews, endorsed him for a prestigious lifetime achievement award and then paid Lamas to leave the university.

Proper perspective

The op-ed authors said Castro was the victim of “provocative, unsourced and misleading media ‘reports.’”

The USA Today reporter, Kenny Jacoby, undertook a six-month investigation that used investigative reports, court records, police reports, emails and personnel records. He also interviewed key sources at Fresno State. The resulting story was hardly misleading or lacking sourcing.

The Bee subsequently reported that Castro had once used Lamas for babysitting. That’s how close the two men were, and how inappropriate that boss-to-subordinate relationship had become.

The story of Castro being forced out as CSU chancellor is not one of him being a victim. Rather, he put the welfare of Frank Lamas, and his own career, ahead of the women employees and students impacted by a self-centered vice president.

That is crystal clear to anyone willing to have more than selective memory. This is why Castro no longer leads the CSU.

This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.