Outgoing Cal State San Bernardino President Tomás Morales will collect a six-figure salary over the next year in a newly created consulting role, despite stepping down amid a discrimination and harassment lawsuit that cost the university system $12 million to settle.
Cal State Chancellor Mildred Garcia announced Wednesday that Morales will spend the coming year advising the university system on international education initiatives and global partnerships as part of a standard executive transition program. He will be paid $343,920 for the one-year assignment, which begins in August.
The trustees also voted unanimously to bestow Morales with the title of president emeritus, an honorary designation recognizing his 14 years of service to the San Bernardino campus.
Morales announced last August that this would be his final year leading the university, and his departure officially took effect at the close of the spring term. His exit came after a 2023 lawsuit accused him, along with former Palm Desert campus dean Jake Zhu, of gender-based discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Two former administrators, Clare Weber and Anissa Rogers, claimed they were pushed out of their jobs after raising concerns about a gender pay gap and a hostile work environment. Cal State settled the case for $12 million while denying any wrongdoing.
Because the university system determined Morales remained “in good standing,” he qualifies for the transition program, which is generally closed off to executives found to have violated policy or engaged in serious misconduct.
Weber, who said she was terminated weeks after emailing Morales to request a raise she believed would help close a gender-based pay disparity, argued the university’s handling of the matter sends the wrong message.
“Male Cal State employees are protected when they behave badly, when they mistreat women, when they harass women, when they retaliate against them,” Weber said. “The tendency is to protect the university.”
Morales’ office did not respond to requests for comment.
During his year in the transition role, Morales will be required to submit monthly progress reports to the chancellor’s office detailing his work, according to university policy. He is also expected to assist incoming Cal State San Bernardino President S. Terri Gomez as she takes over the role Aug. 3. Gomez currently serves as provost and vice president of academic affairs at Cal Poly Pomona.
“President Tomás Morales has served Cal State San Bernardino with distinction for 14 years, demonstrating exceptional leadership on behalf of the university and his students,” Garcia told trustees.
Gomez’s new contract includes an annual salary of $426,916, a $60,000 yearly housing allowance and a $1,000 monthly auto allowance. She earned $338,255 in base pay in 2024, according to Transparent California salary data.
Morales, meanwhile, was among the highest-paid employees in the Cal State system last year, earning $527,834 — the sixth-highest salary systemwide, trailing only the chancellor and four other campus presidents, according to the State Controller’s Office. By comparison, the average Cal State employee earned $39,870 in 2024. Only 69 of the system’s nearly 119,000 employees earned more than the $343,920 Morales will collect during his consulting year.
The California Faculty Association’s San Bernardino chapter pushed back on the arrangement this week, calling on Cal State to investigate administrators involved in the discrimination allegations and to withhold transition benefits from Morales, according to a social media post from the union.
Cal State spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith confirmed that during the transition period, Morales will move into the university’s Management Personnel Plan, which grants him the same employment rights and benefits as other university managers. She did not respond to questions about what position, if any, Morales is expected to take once his consulting assignment ends next August — a detail that, under 2022 board policy, should typically be determined in advance.
No trustees on the committee asked questions or offered comment following Garcia’s announcement of Morales’ new role.
Original source: CalMatters
