Two former administrators at Cal State San Bernardino have filed a gender harassment and discrimination lawsuit against the California State University board of trustees and two top university officials, taking aim at a culture festering within and largely unchecked by leadership of the largest public university system in the nation.

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The suit notes former CSU chancellor Joseph I. Castro resigned over his handling of sexual harassment complaints when president at Fresno State and Jolene Koester, who was appointed interim chancellor shortly after Castro resigned in February 2022, is according to the lawsuit known to have “coached female employees about how best to endure well-documented sex harassment, discrimination and retaliation by high-ranking male employees (while doing nothing to stop it).”

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At a 2019 academic affairs retreat, Koester, according to the lawsuit, indicated to female executives that they needed to simply accept tirades against them in the workplace.

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“Based on our lawsuit and what we allege, what’s interesting is that they chose an interim chancellor who was well aware of the systemic gender discrimination, the harassment and retaliation and has made outward facing statements that she intends to fix it, but we’ve heard from both of our clients as well as other female employees from the CSU that she has coached female employees about how best to endure the gender discrimination,” said attorney Courtney Abrams.

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“It seemed like there was no way it would be fixed if they’re choosing someone from within who was already well aware of it and did nothing to fix it, and instead tried to tell our clients and other women to just live with it.”

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Among 11 complaints for damages and public injunctive relief, plaintiffs Clare Weber and Anissa Rogers allege a violation of the California Equal Pay Act, retaliation in violation of California Equal Pay Act, discrimination on the basis of gender, harassment on the basis of gender, failure to prevent harassment, unlawful sex discrimination in violation of the California constitution, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

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The plaintiffs have demanded a jury trial.

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The CSU responded to the lawsuit on Wednesday with a statement: “We just received a copy of the suit that was filed on March 14, and are reviewing the various claims asserted by both plaintiffs,” CSU spokesman Michael Uhlenkamp said. “While an initial assessment is that it contains many statements of hyperbole, we take all allegations seriously and are committed to determining the actual facts of the case. The CSU’s employees are our strongest asset, and the university strives to provide fair and appropriate compensation for all our valued employees. We also take great pride in the ethnic, racial and gender diversity of our employees including leadership, and the CSU has a long and demonstrated history as a national leader in this area.”

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At the root of the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court is a 2022 study commissioned by the California State University Employees Union that found the CSU pays its female employees less than their male counterparts in the same or similar positions, and a history of gender-based harassment, discrimination and retaliation by two top administrators at Cal State San Bernardino, Tomás Morales and Jake Zhu.

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Morales is the university president, and Zhu was dean at its Palm Desert campus.

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Weber is Cal State San Bernardino’s former vice provost of academic affairs, and Rogers a former associate dean at Palm Desert.

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The plaintiffs are backed by 10 witness statements, Abrams said.

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Suit claims interim chancellor knew of harassment

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A number of employees reported abuse directly to Koester, according to the suit. But, as corroborated by witnesses under penalty of perjury, Koester did nothing to stop it and the harassment continued.

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Within weeks in 2022 and after Weber and Rogers made separate complaints against the CSU, university provost and vice president for academic affairs Rafik Mohamed told both women to lie to colleagues and their students and say they were resigning.

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Mohamed, according to the suit, made it clear to Weber and Rogers that if they did not resign they would be fired.

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Rogers resigned, and Weber was fired in July 2022, one day after writing to Morales, “I explicitly raised concerns that these female Vice Provosts were being paid less because of their gender. I have been shocked and saddened that CSU’s response to my complaints was to subject me to unprecedented and unwarranted criticism and then — just a month later — ask me to ‘resign’ from my position.

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“This is highly offensive and totally discriminatory, and retaliatory . . . I ask that you stop this discrimination and retaliation immediately and let me continue on. I also ask that you investigate my concerns that CSU engages in gender discrimination by paying its female Vice Provosts less than its male Vice Provosts.”

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Morales, according to the suit, was the subject of a no-confidence resolution brought in 2017 by the university’s faculty senate, which detailed a pattern of abuses and called for his ouster.

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In a survey of faculty, staff and administrators, more than two-thirds of the respondents said the university climate had become worse under Morales, with a number of reports of bullying, favoritism and retaliation.

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There was a similar resolution rebuking Morales in 2012 when at the College of Staten Island, according to the lawsuit. Yet, two months later he was hired by the CSU.

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Attorneys Abrams and Andrew H. Friedman in the lawsuit refer to the CSU’s policies against discrimination and harassment as “mythological.”

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One female employee said, under penalty of perjury, “Unfortunately, while president Morales has been mistreating female employees like myself for years, California State University’s Human Resources department is totally useless. It is chronically understaffed and appears to be unable to effectively respond to complaints of discrimination and harassment and it fails to prevent retaliation. For these reasons, many people with valid complaints of discrimination and harassment simply do not bother complaining for fear that, at best, nothing will come of their complaints and, at worst, they will be retaliated against.”

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Similar allegations made in Fresno State cases

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Similar allegations were made against Fresno State and the CSU board of trustees in two lawsuits filed last month by a Fresno State employee who is one of several at the center of harassment and retaliation allegations against former vice president of student affairs Frank Lamas and a student who alleges her sexual assault was mishandled by filed civil lawsuits in the cases last month.

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The CSU and its board of trustees, Fresno State, Castro and Lamas were named as defendants in that action.

This story was originally published March 16, 2023 8:14 am.