Garnel

Five members of the economics faculty of San Jose State University sued the university president, and other officials, seeking a writ of mandate and injunctive and declaratory relief to overturn a decision of the president excluding the economics department from participation in certain consultative procedures relating to academic matters. The trial court sustained demurrers to the first and second causes of action; a bench trial on the third cause of action resulted in a judgment for the defendants; the plaintiffs appealed.

In April of 1974, the university promotions committee of San Jose State University recommended to the president of the university that the department of economics should be excluded from participation in personnel review functions; apparently the recommendation was based on a determination that department members had improperly blocked the promotion of a colleague. Upon receiving this recommendation, the administration requested the social sciences policy committee, composed of department chairmen, to form a committee of inquiry to investigate whether the economics department was in fact unable to conduct properly its self-governance functions.…