Faculty at Fresno State and Cal State Long Beach speak out against Chancellor Castro

Faculty and staff from Fresno State and Cal State University Long Beach are speaking out against California State University Chancellor Joseph Castro for his handling of sexual harassment claims while he was president of Fresno State.

The statements come as the California State University board of trustees is holding a closed-door session Thursday to consider calls by legislators for an independent investigation into Castro’s handling of at least a dozen sexual harassment claims involving Fresno State Vice President of Student Affairs Frank Lamas, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Castro said on Feb. 4 that he welcomed an investigation.

The academic senate of Fresno State have drafted a vote of no confidence in Castro, according to The Fresno Bee. It asks for Castro to be put on leave without pay while an independent investigation is conducted into his actions. It calls for him to be fired if the investigation corroborates reporting from USA Today or additional evidence, such as whether Castro hid his actions from the search firm in his bid for chancellor.

Over 200 faculty and staff members at Cal State University Long Beach signed a petition calling on Castro to resign. The petition said there is no question of what happened, and there is no need for an investigation.

“We already know those facts. We already know what Castro did. We already know that he admitted that he reacted how he did, which was not to react and basically reward this individual,” Cal State Long Beach professor Emily Berquist Soule told the Los Angeles Times. “To us, that’s all the facts we need. We don’t have confidence that he would protect ourselves or our students from violence and sexual discrimination.

“There is a closed session meeting of the board today, so we won’t have any comment related to Chancellor Castro until that meeting concludes,” CSU spokesperson  Mike Uhlenkamp told EdSource. “If there is any action decided by the board we could potentially issue statements/press release, but the meeting is still ongoing. We will make sure to share if there’s anything to announce.”

Following the USA Today report, Board Chair Lillian Kimbell said she supported the call for an investigation and would bring it to the board on Thursday. The investigation calls came from Assemblyman Jose Medina (D-Riverside), who chairs the Assembly Higher Education Committee, state Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino), chair of the California Senate Education Committee, and the California Faculty Assn. — the union that represents more than 29,000 Cal State faculty members.

EdSource staffer Michael Burke contributed to this report.