NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
Fresno, CA Title IX – 9 – Defense Lawyers
|Last Updated on: 5th October 2025, 04:22 pm
The CSU system processed 1,847 Title IX complaints in 2023, with Fresno’s campus reporting 127 cases – higher per capita than most CSU campuses. The Central Valley’s conservative culture creates unique dynamics where consensual relationships become Title IX cases when families discover them. Agricultural families sending first-generation students to college often intervene when relationships cross cultural or religious lines, transforming personal matters into institutional investigations.
Understanding CSU Fresno’s Specific Procedures
CSU Executive Order 1097, not just federal Title IX, governs Fresno State’s process. This adds layers beyond federal requirements: mandatory reporting by all employees (not just Title IX staff), broader definition of responsible employees, and “trauma-informed” investigation approaches that presume complainant credibility. The Title IX Coordinator, located in the Thomas Administration Building, Room 139, coordinates with University Police, Student Affairs, and Academic Affairs simultaneously.
The “single investigator model” CSU Fresno uses means one person investigates, makes credibility determinations, and recommends findings. No hearing, no cross-examination opportunity despite 2020 federal regulations requiring them. California law under SB 493 allows CSU to maintain this process, denying rights guaranteed at other universities. Your case gets decided by someone who’s never met you, based on written statements you couldn’t challenge.
Todd Spodek here – represented a Fresno State engineering student accused by ex-girlfriend after he started dating someone new. The investigator, trained in “trauma-informed” techniques, interpreted the complainant’s inconsistent timeline as “typical trauma response” rather than credibility issue. No hearing to challenge this interpretation. Student suspended two semesters, lost internship at Foster Farms, engineering career derailed. We’re now in federal court challenging the process, but damage is done.
The Central Valley’s Unique Cultural Dynamics
Fresno’s demographics – 48% Hispanic, large Hmong and Armenian populations, significant conservative Christian community – create specific Title IX patterns. Cross-cultural relationships face additional scrutiny when families pressure students to file complaints. The substantial Mormon population from farming communities uses Title IX to enforce religious standards, filing complaints about consensual activities that violate church teachings.
International students, particularly from India (Fresno State’s largest international demographic), face devastating consequences. F-1 visa status depends on continuous enrollment. Title IX suspension triggers SEVIS termination, forcing departure within 15 days. No appeal process stays removal. Your education investment – averaging $45,000 per year for international students – evaporates while facing deportation.
The ag science programs, Fresno State’s signature strength, have close-knit cohorts where Title IX allegations spread instantly. Viticulture and enology students work together at campus wineries, creating unavoidable contact despite no-contact orders. Dairy science students share 4 AM milking shifts at the campus farm. These programs become untenable after allegations, forcing major changes that delay graduation by years.
Fresno City College’s Different but Equally Problematic Process
FCC at 1101 E. University Avenue follows California Community College procedures, different from CSU’s. Their Title IX Coordinator operates from the Student Services Building with fewer resources, often one person handling all investigations. The community college’s open enrollment means complainants and respondents might not be students – community members using facilities can file complaints against students.
FCC’s connection to workforce development programs – nursing, police academy, fire academy – means Title IX findings destroy professional careers before they start. Nursing students lose clinical placements at Community Regional Medical Center. Police academy candidates become unemployable with Title IX findings. The vocational focus makes consequences immediate and permanent.
The timeline at FCC is theoretically 90 days but practically indefinite. Investigators juggle multiple roles, conducting investigations between other duties. Your case competes with hundreds of other student conduct matters. Meanwhile, you’re blocked from registering for sequential courses, destroying program completion timelines in fields requiring specific course sequences.
California’s “Affirmative Consent” Standard
California Education Code § 67386, the “Yes Means Yes” law, requires affirmative consent – conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. Silence doesn’t equal consent. Lack of resistance doesn’t equal consent. Previous relationships don’t imply consent. This standard, stricter than Title IX requires, governs all California colleges.
The practical impact: normal intimate interactions become violations. That progression from kissing to touching requires separate consent verification. Being intoxicated negates consent ability, but campus culture revolves around parties where everyone drinks. The standard criminalizes normal college behavior while pretending to protect students.
Fresno State’s amnesty policy supposedly protects students reporting sexual assault from alcohol violations, but respondents get no such protection. Admit drinking before consensual activity? You’ve admitted inability to consent, supporting the complaint against you. The system incentivizes complainants to mention alcohol, guaranteeing findings against respondents.
The Interim Suspension Trap
Within 24 hours of complaint receipt, Fresno State can impose interim measures: campus ban, housing relocation, class schedule changes, activity restrictions. These aren’t punishments officially, but feel identical. You’re banned from campus pending investigation, but the library, advisors, and financial aid office are on campus. Your education effectively ends before any finding.
Fighting interim measures requires showing they’re “unreasonably burdensome,” but courts defer to university safety concerns. That campus ban preventing graduation? Reasonable for “community safety.” Moving from apartment-style housing to traditional dorms? Reasonable to separate parties. The interim measures become permanent through institutional inertia.
One client, a viticulture graduate student, was banned from campus vineyards where his thesis research grew. Two years of grape cultivation destroyed by interim measures. By the time we got the ban modified, the vines were dead, research ruined, degree impossible. He now works retail, $200,000 education wasted.
Federal Court Challenges from Fresno
The Eastern District of California, where Fresno federal cases file, sees increasing Title IX due process challenges. Judge Dale Drozd has issued preliminary injunctions against CSU campuses for process violations. Judge Ana de Alba questions “trauma-informed” credibility determinations. The federal courthouse at 2500 Tulare Street offers hope when campus processes fail.
But federal litigation takes years, costs tens of thousands, and rarely provides meaningful relief. Courts might order new investigations, but with same biased investigators using same flawed processes. Injunctive relief preventing suspension might come after the semester ends. Damage awards require proving deliberate indifference, nearly impossible standard.
The Ninth Circuit’s recent decisions provide mixed guidance. Sometimes recognizing due process rights, sometimes deferring to educational institutions. The circuit’s size means different panels reach opposite conclusions on identical issues. Your case’s outcome depends on which three judges get assigned.
Take Action Before the Investigation Escalates
559-500-3393
If you received notice from CSU Fresno’s Title IX office, the 60-day clock is running but extensions are inevitable. Every day without representation strengthens their narrative. The investigator is scheduling interviews, gathering evidence, building a case while you’re figuring out what’s happening.
FCC students face even tighter timelines with semester-based programs. Miss this semester’s sequence, wait a full year to continue. Nursing cohorts don’t wait. Police academy classes proceed without you. Your career timeline destroyed by administrative delay.
The Central Valley’s legal community is small. Attorneys who challenge universities risk alienating institutional clients. You need counsel willing to fight regardless of political consequences, who understands both federal requirements and California’s unique standards.