FRESNO (KMJ) — Fresno State faculty and staff have been officially welcomed back to campus, but the Fall Assembly took place under the shadow of what President Joseph Castro described as “turbulence” from earlier in the year.
“While we have undoubtedly been on an upward trajectory in so many different ways, we are living in an era of American history that feels more turbulent than we’ve ever experienced,” said Castro.
“This turbulence has been experienced right here at Fresno State because of incidents involving a few employees.”
The comments on Monday come following Twitter posts made in April by English Professor Randa Jarrar, describing Barbara Bush as “an amazing racist,” shortly after the former first lady’s death was announced (click here to read more).
Castro told those gathered that he is committed to defending employees’ freedom of speech against calls that it should be restricted.
“There were some on campus and in our community who love Fresno State, just as much as all of us do, and they were asking me to take steps to inhibit the freedom of speech of our employees because of the inappropriate and offensive content of the speech expressed by employees on their personal social media channels.
“While this view is understandable and well intended, where would we draw the line?”
President Castro declared that decisions made during his tenure would always be fully consistent with the First Amendment.
The assembly inside the Save Mart Center marked the start of the fall semester. Classes are scheduled to start on Thursday for the estimated 25,200 students enrolled, a record number in the college’s 108-year history.
Hear the story from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
