A unique clause in former California State University Chancellor Joseph I. Castro’s contract allows him to take a backup job as a fully tenured professor at Cal Poly.
Castro resigned under fire on Thursday night over his handling of sexual harassment allegations as president at Fresno State. But in doing so, he retained retreat rights to move on to a teaching position, and not just anywhere.
The job is at Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business, according to the CSU, where he would be a professor of leadership and public policy.
According to a CSU spokesman, Castro has not informed the university whether he will exercise his retreat rights.
If he does, the reception could range from lukewarm to downright icy, given the condemnation and calls for independent investigation into Castro in his time at Fresno State.
The Tribune reached out to Cal Poly director of media relations Matt Lazier on Friday evening for the university’s response to the Castro possibility.
“I understand that (the) Fresno Bee connected earlier today with (the) Chancellor’s Office, which confirmed that Dr. Castro has retreat rights at our campus and that he has not yet notified our campus whether he intends to exercise those rights,” Lazier said. “We don’t have any additional information to provide beyond that.”
Handling of sexual harassment case led to resignation
Since a USA Today story detailed the handling of as many as 12 allegations of sexual harassment centered around former vice president of student affairs Frank Lamas, there have been student protests, a draft resolution of no-confidence from the academic senate at Fresno State and petitions signed calling for a resignation.
A number of state legislators also called for an independent investigation.
When asked about a potential return as a professor at Fresno State, Michael Jenkins, who introduced the no-confidence resolution to the academic senate at Fresno State, said, simply, “It would not go over well.”
But professor emeritus Sudarshan Kapoor said it was important to remember, also, the positive contributions Castro made when at the university and to the community.
“This is a very unfortunate chapter in the history of Fresno State,” Kapoor said. “I have worked with about seven presidents of the university — I think there have been about nine presidents altogether. Dr. Castro was one of the presidents that I really enjoyed working with on several occasions and projects.
“One of the projects that we were working together is the Nelson Mandela project in the Peace Garden. Dr Castro and I were the co-chairs of that committee, and I found him to be a very compassionate, considerate and caring person, very kind and a gentle and noble soul. … This one incident, in my opinion, should not wipe out what he has done for the university. It was during his time that the university became one of the major educational institutions known all over the world, all over the country.”
Board didn’t hear of concerns before appointment
Castro resigned his position as CSU chancellor on Thursday amid the backlash and following a closed session of the CSU Board of Trustees, who were meeting to discuss executive personnel matters.
The board in a statement following the resignation said it was not made aware of the concerns over Castro’s handling of the sexual harassment claims or the mediated settlement between the university and its former vice president of student affairs prior to his appointment as chancellor in September 2020, and did not learn of them until this month.
An official Title IX complaint was filed in October 2019 that would later trigger two separate investigations and prompted the university to place Lamas on administrative leave.
Among the allegations, which Lamas has denied: he stared at women’s breasts, touched women inappropriately, made sexist remarks and created a hostile or abusive work environment.
Castro provided personal counsel and brought in a trainer, but despite the allegations continued to give Lamas positive performance evaluations and annual merit pay increases.
That settlement included $260,000 and a letter of recommendation toward future employment.
The settlement was authorized by former chancellor Timothy White, and the standing orders of the board delegate to the chancellor the authority and responsibility to resolve claims and settle litigation.
Castro’s base annual salary when he was hired as chancellor was $625,000. His terms of employment include tenure as a professor in the CSU system, namely Cal Poly.
The CSU trustees also announced they intend to launch an initiative to strengthen institutional culture throughout the 23-campus system. At board meetings scheduled March 22-23, the trustees also intend to call for a vote to engage Gina Maisto Smith and Leslie Gomez, the chair and vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Institutional Response Group, to conduct a comprehensive system-wide assessment with a goal of providing insights, recommendations and resources to help advance CSU’s Title IX and civil rights training, awareness, prevention, intervention, compliance, accountability, and support systems.
The assessment will begin this March at Fresno State, according to the CSU release announcing the resignation.
“We appreciate Chancellor Castro’s cooperation with the Trustees and his decision to step down for the benefit of California State University system,” board chair Lillian Kimbell said, in the release.
The CSU and Castro have not yet finalized a settlement, according to a CSU spokesman.
In a statement through the CSU chancellor’s office, Castro said: “I have been honored to serve the California State University for more than eight years, including as its eighth chancellor, and the decision to resign is the most difficult of my professional life. While I disagree with many aspects of recent media reports and the ensuing commentary, it has become clear to me that resigning at this time is necessary so that the CSU can maintain its focus squarely on its educational mission and the impactful work yet to be done.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 6:43 PM.