Zumwalt

Plaintiff Eugene Zumwalt is a professor of English at California State University, Fresno, formerly known as Fresno State College. (See Ed. Code, § § 23600-23601.) The trial court granted his petition for a writ of mandate directing the defendants (primarily the state college trustees and the president of the college) either to reinstate him as chairman of the English department or to give him a statement of cause for removal and an opportunity for hearing before the State Personnel Board. Defendants appeal.

According to the trial court’s findings of fact, Dr. Zumwalt was nominated as chairman of the English department by a vote of his departmental colleagues and appointed to that position by the then academic vice president of the college effective September 1, 1969. He commenced serving as chairman in September 1969. In December 1970 he was removed from the chairmanship on orders of the college president, Norman Baxter. No reason for the removal was given. The action was accomplished by acting dean Rea, who handed Dr. Zumwalt a letter relieving him of his duties, and by campus policemen who changed the lock on the office doors and sealed the filing cabinets. The letter…