Fresno State disciplined one faculty member and two other staffers for sexual harassment and other complaints between 2016 and 2019, and they are among 54 California State University staffers named in sex harassment cases resolved between 2017 and 2021, EdSource reported Tuesday.
According to the report, Fresno State took the following actions:
- Assistant wrestling coach Israel Silva, who was accused of sexual harassment, inappropriately encouraging and/or allowing student-athletes to engage in inappropriate behavior and failing to report; and engaging in inappropriate physical and verbal conduct of a sexual nature, was fired.
- Gardening specialist Theodore Woods, who was accused of sexual harassment, unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature including inappropriate comments, asking personal questions, and holding the complainant’s hand and not letting go, was suspended for 10 days and ordered to attend three EAP sessions and online and in-person Title IX training, and to stay away from the complainant.
- Danny Wan, the coordinator of international admissions and recruitment who was accused of sexual harassment, creating an intimidating and hostile work environment, and spreading rumors about the complainant’s personal life, received a written reprimand.
EdSource requested records from the CSU system for sexual harassment cases and received them for 12 campuses, including Fresno State. Cases from another five campuses will be released later this month.
The public records request followed the resignation of CSU Chancellor Joseph I. Castro, who faced mounting criticism over revelations in a sex harassment case that he had failed to aggressively discipline his friend Frank Lamas, then vice president of student affairs, when Castro was Fresno State’s president and instead had written a letter of recommendation and paid him $20,000 in exchange for Lamas’ resignation.
Read the EdSource story here.
