CSU’s Title IX assessment could cost taxpayers and students more than $1 million

The law firm Cozen O’Connor is scheduled to present its assessment of the Title IX and Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation departments within the California State University system at a CSU Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, and there is a high bar to meet if state taxpayers and students are to get their money’s worth from it.

The CSU already has paid Cozen O’Connor more than $477,000 and the final tab is expected to surpass $1 million. The payments to this point, obtained by The Bee through a public records request, cover just 10 of the 23 campuses in the largest public university system in the nation and its chancellor’s office.

The CSU paid four Cozen O’Connor invoices for work at Fresno State, the flash point for sexual harassment scandals that led to the resignation of former CSU chancellor Joseph I. Castro and to a number of lawsuits against the system and high-ranking officials and administrators.

Itemized invoices detailing the work performed that were requested by The Bee are subject to attorney-client privilege and/or attorney work product and were exempted from disclosure by Andy Alvarez, the CSU’s associate director, system wide employment & policy administration.

But the CSU disclosed payments for $33,662.70, $24,958.80, $13,824 and $6,492.60 at Fresno State, a total of $78,938.10.

The CSU also paid four invoices for work at the chancellor’s office that have added up to $107,415.42. It paid one invoice for $43,343.57 at Cal State Northridge and two that came to $43,404.87 at San Francisco State.

It also has made just one payment of $10,238.40 so far at San Jose State, where in 2022 the former sports medicine director was charged by federal prosecutors for violating the civil rights of four female student-athletes by sexually assaulting them during treatments.

The payments were made between Sept. 19, 2022 and March 13, 2023.

Invoices for 10 of 23 campuses come to nearly $500,000

Cozen O’Connor had visited 20 of the 23 campuses through the end of 2022, with Cal Poly, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State Fullerton scheduled for January.

The CSU has not yet released any paid invoices for work at Cal State East Bay, Cal Poly Humboldt, Sacramento State, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal Poly, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State San Marcos, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Los Angeles and San Diego State.

Cozen O’Connor’s charge is to assess practices at CSU campuses and the chancellor’s office and provide insights, recommendations and resources to advance Title IX and DHR training, compliance and support systems.

The longstanding question is whether the assessment will spur substantive change.

More than one year after a USA Today report detailing a history of sexual harassment claims against former Fresno State vice president of student affairs Frank Lamas when Castro was university president and advised by school counsel Darryl Hamm and CSU counsel G. Andrew Jones, there have been few changes. Marylou Mendoza-Miller still is associate vice president for human resources, Jamie Pontius-Hogan still is director of Title IX and Clery compliance and Debbie Adishian-Astone as vice president for administration still oversees both departments.

A task force commissioned by university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval released a report in December 2022 and acknowledged in implementing its recommendations there may be a lack of trust on campus.

Will assessment spur substantive change in CSU system?

“The (task force) also expressed concerns that someone on campus may have difficulty with engendering the trust and buy-in needed for the enormity of this endeavor,” it wrote in the report. “As such, the (task force) believes that engaging an outside consultant as a change agent with the requisite skill set as in project management, assessment, and organizational change leadership will be needed.”

CSU interim chancellor Jolene Koester said in a June 2022 statement announcing the assessment that the CSU had fallen short in ensuring that its campuses were safe environments for students, faculty and staff, and committed to recommendations in the assessment.

“We will act upon their recommendations to tighten up our culture and compliance — developing, communicating and implementing clear policies related to misconduct, investigations, adjudications and sanctions,” Koester said. “We will work to remove barriers to reporting, better educate constituents regarding their Title IX obligations, address instances of retaliation and ensure access to survivor advocates, effective employee assistance programs and physical and mental health care services.”

But allegations continue to pile up, without investigation. For instance, The Los Angeles Times reported last Sunday that the CSU was notified of accusations that the president at Cal State Fullerton had inappropriately touched students but never initiated an investigation.

The reports should have been sent to the chancellor’s office and investigated by parties outside the university because they involved the most powerful official on campus, according to experts interviewed by The Times.