CSU Trustees Pass Resolution to Strengthen Institutional Culture

Newswise — The California State University's Board of Trustees today passed a resolution to undertake a series of actions to better ensure the health, safety and welfare of its students, faculty and staff.

“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," said Lillian Kimbell, chair of the Board of Trustees. “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."

Among the actions approved through the board's resolution:

The CSU will develop a systemwide policy to create consistency and clarity on retreat rights for administrators in addition to a policy on letters of recommendation for administrators. The policies will be brought forth to the trustees for review and approval at an upcoming meeting of the board.

While the policies are being finalized, the CSU has revised its practices in relation to opportunities for administrators to return to faculty positions. Any campus seeking to offer an incoming administrator with the opportunity to return to a faculty position is consulting with the Chancellor's Office prior to finalizing an agreement, and any offer letters will include language that indicates that individuals found to have engaged in significant misconduct would not be eligible to return to a faculty position.

Effective immediately, the university will cease granting opportunities to participate in the Executive Transition Program for newly hired executives until the board has reviewed recommendations provided by a task force and taken action. The chancellor will convene a task force to review the university's Executive Transition Program and results and recommendations from the task force review will be presented to the board at the May meeting.

The resolution also formalized previously announced actions including:

The CSU is undertaking an independent external investigation to review how administrators responded to reports and complaints of Title IX violations at Fresno State. The university has engaged the Law Offices of Mary Lee Wegner to lead this investigation that will be completed in 90-120 days or less.

The CSU has initiated an independent assessment of Title IX practices across all 23 campuses and the Chancellor's Office. The university has retained Gina Maisto Smith and Leslie Gomez, the chair and vice chair of the Institutional Response Group at Cozen O'Connor. Ms. Smith and Ms. Gomez will lead this comprehensive Title IX systemwide assessment.​

About the California State University

The California State University is the largest system of four-year higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, 477,000 students and 56,000 faculty and staff. Nearly 40 percent of the CSU's undergraduate students transfer from California Community Colleges. Created in 1960, the mission of the CSU is to provide high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever-changing needs of California. With its commitment to quality, opportunity and student success, the CSU is renowned for superb teaching, innovative research and for producing job-ready graduates. Each year, the CSU awards more than 132,000 degrees. One in every 20 Americans holding a college degree is a graduate of the CSU and our alumni are 4 million strong. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU NewsCenter.