Cohen v. Board of Trustees

Opinion

ASHBY, J.

Appellant Floyd Cohen appeals from a judgment denying his petition for a writ of mandate to compel respondent officials of the California State University and Colleges to process a grievance under Education Code section 89542.5.

Appellant is a tenured professor in the mathematics department of California State University, Long Beach. The dean of the school of letters appointed appellant chairman of the mathematics department for the academic year 1976-1977 and reappointed him for the academic year 1977-1978. Appellant was informed that the continuation of this appointment would be contingent upon a favorable review in the spring of 1978 of his chairmanship of the department.

In January 1978 the faculty of the mathematics department was polled: “Shall Professor Cohen continue to serve as Mathematics Department Chair?” The results of the poll were: yes, 19; no, 22. On February 1, 1978, the dean of the school of humanities notified appellant that his appointment as department chairman would not be continued beyond the 1977-1978 academic year.

1

On February 27, 1978, appellant filed a written grievance seeking “a due process review of my performance as Chair,” citing then Education Code section 24315, now section 89542.5, relating to the establishment of grievance procedures for all academic employees.

On March 3, 1978, the associate vice president of academic affairs notified appellant that he was not entitled to a grievance hearing because his complaint concerned his academic-administrative assignment, not his academic status. The executive committee of the grievance panel concurred.

[544]

On June 20, 1978, appellant filed a petition for writ of mandate to compel the executive officer of the grievance committee to process the grievance, and to reinstate appellant as chairperson pending the grievance procedure. The trial court denied the petition.

Discussion

Education Code section 89542.5 (formerly § 24315, enacted in 1975) requires the trustees of the California State University and Colleges to establish grievance procedures for all “academic” employees. Appellant contends he was entitled to utilize the grievance procedures to review his removal from the departmental chairmanship. This argument is without merit. Insofar as his retention of the departmental chairmanship is concerned, appellant was not an “academic” employee within the meaning of the statute.