Former Fresno State president and California State University (CSU) Chancellor Joseph Castrowill be a tenured professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next year.
Castro was guaranteed a backup position within the CSU system because of his preexisting retreat rights, a contractual guarantee that allows former administrators who have given up tenure to “retreat” to a teaching position.
“Dr. Castro’s retreat rights to Cal Poly were established by the CSU in September of 2020 in accordance with the standard process of naming a new CSU chancellor. CSU policy mandates that Cal Poly honor Dr. Castro’s retreat rights,” said Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier.
Castro will be instated as a CSU employee on Feb. 18. He will begin a full teaching assignment in spring 2023 quarter ”” which begins April 3 ”” and will teach leadership and public policy at Cal Poly’s College of Business in the management, human resources and information systems concentration, according to Lazier.
This comes after the release of a report on the private investigation conducted by the CSU Board of Trustees that said Castro failed to “aggressively respond” to alleged sexual misconduct by former employee Frank Lamas.
The CSU Board of Trustees announced in a March news release that it would review current retreat rights, which are contractual guarantees within California State University (CSU) policy that allow former administrators who have given up tenure to “retreat” to a teaching position.
Currently, any campus who plans to offer an administrator an opportunity to return to a faculty position must consult with the Chancellor’s Office before final approval. Offer letters will include language indicating that those who have “engaged in significant misconduct” will not be eligible to return to a faculty position, according to the news release.
In April, the Fresno State Academic Senate established a declaration of no confidence, stating that Castro “has violated the trust” of students, staff and faculty at the university.
“Therefore, [the] Academic Senate of California State University, Fresno affirms that Dr. Castro has demonstrated that he not only does not deserve to hold the rank of tenured professor but that he is unqualified to teach and/or conduct research in leadership and public policy,” the declaration said.
This story was updated on Oct. 3, 2022.
