After a series of scandals led to the fall of the chancellor and multiple university leaders, the California State University system on Monday released a scathing report acknowledging years of mishandling hundreds of sexual harassment complaints and vowing to correct the “institutional betrayal and grave disappointment” of how the country’s largest public university system responds to sexual abuse.
The report was released the same day that jury selection began in the criminal trial of former San Jose State head athletic trainer Scott Shaw, accused by more than two dozen former female athletes of sexually assaulting them under the guise of treatment. He faces six federal charges.
“What we heard at many CSU universities were deeply held feelings of anger, grief, and pain,” the report stated. “Across all constituencies, we heard grave disappointment and sorrow in what many viewed as institutional betrayal.”
The report was commissioned by California State in March of last year, after a series of high-profile incidents — including the resignation of the former university chancellor — caused the nation’s largest four-year university system to take a deeper look at its response to sexual misconduct, discrimination, and retaliation.
It came one day before a report from the California state auditor’s office was set to release its own investigation into the university system, one that found Cal State failed to investigate multiple accusations of sexual misconduct due to “questionable judgment” and other mishandlings, as first reported by the Los Angeles Times late last week.
In the latest report, law firm Cozen O’Connor found the university system’s weak reporting infrastructure, inconsistent recordkeeping, a lack of formal standards, and a dearth of quality control — along with fears of retaliation and a glaring void of trust with the Cal State’s senior leadership — were just some of many issues affecting the university system’s Title IX response.
Some of those, the report said, are due to external factors, such as an “avalanche of federal and state” regulations, an increasingly complex legal landscape, and a lack of funding to carry new policies out. But many other issues were deemed a result of inadequate university responses, such as the 2021 investigation of former San Jose State athletics trainer Scott Shaw.
“We the students do not trust the University,” said one respondent to the report’s survey, as quoted in the investigation. “Our information and experiences have been mishandled. The University almost always does nothing…Reporting has never solved anything for myself or my peers.”
The O’Connor report found that across the university system, those charged with responding to reports of sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination are understaffed and under resourced — and that students and staff often describe those teams as “delayed and ineffective.”
At San Jose State, for example, nearly 260 reports of sexual misconduct, assault, and similar cases were filed during the 2021-22 academic year — but by the end of that time period, 0% of those reports had resulted in a formal investigation.
The report includes 10 full pages of recommendations for San Jose State alone on how to improve its response to sexual harassment complaints. Each page contains roughly a dozen action items, from improving documentation and case management to expanding communication options for students.
“Although San José State has invested heavily in growing its Title IX and Gender Equity Office,” the report said, “some members of the San José State community continue to express distrust and skepticism about the Title IX function.”
Former San Jose State President Mary Papazian and former Athletic Director Marie Tuite both resigned in the wake of the scandal revolving around the athletic trainer, who was first cleared of wrongdoing in 2010 after 17 female swimmers brought forward allegations. That initial investigation was deemed by the U.S. Department of Justice as deeply flawed. Shaw remained at the university until he voluntarily resigned in 2020, during which time more women lodged complaints about him. He is facing six federal civil rights charges involving four victims who came forward within the 5-year statute of limitations. Shaw has pleaded not guilty.
Much of the O’Conner report aligns with the state auditor’s, which — according to an early analysis by the Los Angeles Times — reported more than 1,200 sexual harassment reports were made against Cal State employees from 2018-22. The vast majority of those complaints were never investigated, despite the fact that just 150 employers accounted for a third of all reports.
This is a developing story. Check back soon for more updates.