Just 16 days after San Jose State and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement on sexual misconduct involving a former athletic trainer, President Mary Papazian announced Thursday she’d resign at the end of the semester on Dec. 21.
Papazian, who began her position on July 1, 2016, is the fifth president to serve SJSU since sexual abuse allegations from female swimming and diving student-athletes against Scott Shaw were first brought to light in 2009.
The Justice Department substantiated sexual misconduct and retaliation claims against whistleblowers in its Sept. 21 report and stated the risk was recognized by the university for years.
“This harassment was preventable. The heightened risk of sexual harassment within SJSU Athletics was known, but in neither its 2009-10 or 2020-21 investigations, nor in the intervening years when employees reminded SJSU of the ongoing threat, did SJSU take necessary steps to identify the scope of the problem or the extent of the victims, or reasonable steps to prevent the harassment from recurring,” the Justice Department stated in its report.
Kenneth Mashinchi, senior director of strategic communications and media relations, said SJSU disputes the department’s findings that the 2020-21 investigation launched by Papazian “failed.”
In a Sept. 28 email, Mashinchi said there wasn’t “widespread knowledge” of student-athlete sexual misconduct reports from Shaw, which opposes the Justice Department’s claims that SJSU had a heightened risk of sexual harassment while Shaw remained employed for more than 11 years.
Shaw was director of sports medicine from 2008 to his resignation in August 2020.
Papazian said she will continue to participate in and support the ongoing external Title IX investigations surrounding Shaw by the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s office.
“This transition does not [affect] our intention and obligation to understand what occurred and how the university responded at the time,” Papazian stated in a Thursday campuswide email. “I made a promise to our community and to the affected student-athletes and their families, and I plan to honor it.”
Papazian said as she’s stepping down, the campus’ best interest continues to be at the “forefront” of her every decision.
“I truly love this university and believe this choice will allow the focus to be positively and solely on our talented, diverse, and outstanding campus. It has been my great honor and privilege to work with the exceptional SJSU students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners,” Papazian stated in a Thursday university blog post. “I am incredibly grateful to the entire SJSU and San José communities for the opportunity to serve at what I consider to be one of the best and most transformational universities in the country. Thank you.”
SJSU counselor education professor Jason Laker said Papazian needs to stop trying to escape fault by saying the sexual abuse cases happened before she got to SJSU because it’s “not the point.”
“It's been fairly common for her to make sure to mention that this happened before she got here, [it’s] kind of become her thing,” Laker said. “At some point, you have to ask yourself, when you hear a leader saying that over and over again, that does not sound like a leader who's going to take responsibility for something.”
Laker said the lingering repercussions of the sexual misconduct cases and whistleblower retaliations continue to affect the campus community regardless of when they occurred.
“The federal [Justice Department] has affirmed that this all happened and that the university failed in multiple ways,” said Laker, who was vice president for student affairs from 2010-14. “That is on her. That is on her.”
He said he believes Papazian is the worst university president SJSU has had since he was first employed by the university in 2010.
“She's been more effective at her positioning, which can make a person more dangerous if they're operating in a corrupt manner because they would have more social capital,” Laker said. “So she has been very effective at getting herself in those places, you know, to frame out a story about being a great leader and so on. But that's all external.”
A recent swimming and diving alumna, who wished to remain anonymous for privacy concerns, said she thinks Papazian’s resignation was necessary to prevent similar misconduct from perpetuating in the future.
“I feel as though that with what happened with the Shaw [investigations], it is a good move to clean house to prevent this type of situation from happening again,” the alumna said in an Instagram message.
However, many community members have publicly supported Papazian in light of her resignation.
“President Papazian’s decision to resign from the presidency reflects her compassionate leadership,” said California State University Chancellor Joseph Castro in SJSU’s Thursday statement. “While professionally and personally difficult, this step demonstrates her commitment to the university moving forward. We are grateful for the innovative educational services and cutting-edge resources that she and her team have put into place, which have positioned San José State University as a transformational higher learning institution.”
Castro will meet with campus stakeholders before he names an interim president during Papazian’s transition period. The CSU Board of Trustees will start a national search for the 31st SJSU president afterward, according to a Thursday university blog post.
Papazian will remain in the office of the president and complete her duties until the semester concludes, according to the SJSU Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) webpage.
After Dec. 21, she will assist the CSU executives on matters related to the CSU and prepare for her return to a teaching position, according to the university’s FAQ webpage.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo also spoke publicly about Papazian’s resignation outside Martin Luther King Jr. Library Thursday morning: “President Papazian has been an invaluable and trusted partner for our City, and an inspiring community leader. I can only hope that the tremendous progress that the university made under her watch . . . will continue under her successor.”
Liccardo said he particularly hopes to continue to see the expansion of opportunities given to underserved students.
Papazian, who became the 30th president and third woman to lead SJSU, capitalized partnerships with industry and technology giants such as International Business Machines Corporation, LinkedIn, PayPal and Adobe to elevate campus technology and provide SJSU students access to innovative enterprise resources, according to the SJSU blog post.
Under her leadership, SJSU was named the No. 1 Most Transformative University by Money Magazine in Fall 2020.
While supporting entrepreneurial activity, Papazian established the SJSU Division of Research and Innovation in 2019, which is leading the growth of the university’s intellectual-property portfolio of patents, copyrights, trademarks and licensing agreements, according to the blog post.
Laker said despite her awards, Papazian damaged her own standing at the university.
He said Papazian was “insular,” meaning she didn’t thoroughly share information with others and, respectively, she didn’t treat the university hierarchy as a shared governance.
Laker described shared governance as a democratic hierarchy in which university groups including an academic senate, executive administrators and student governments work together, which he said is crucial for successful university morale and spirit.
“She has not shown respect. She has not demonstrated a respect for shared governance, which includes things like give and take,” Laker said. “That includes things like if the senate feels that strongly that [a policy] passes unanimously or close to it and then she won't sign it. That is just not acceptable.”
He said while it is in her power to veto, it isn’t something a democratic leader does.
Laker specifically referenced a university document updated Aug. 27 that includes policies and resolutions that are either waiting for Papazian’s signatures or have already been vetoed.
Nine have been vetoed since she took office, according to the SJSU Pending Policy Log.
While the swimming and diving alumna said she is concerned about lag time and miscommunication related to Title IX investigations that may emerge from the position change, she hopes whoever assumes the role of SJSU president will be much different than Papazian.
“We need someone who will crack down on injustice as soon as it is brought up,” the alumna said.
Laker said he would like the search for a new president to be an open search, which would allow community members the opportunity to meet candidates.
He also said he hopes the new president is transparent and kind-hearted.
“Everything that I said [Papazian] failed at, [her successor] would be the opposite,” Laker said.
