Cohen

The Appellant Dean Cohen is a tenured professor at the San Bernardino Valley College (the “College”), a public community college established by the State of California. This controversy arose when, at the conclu *970 sion of grievance procedures initiated against Cohen by a student, the College determined that Cohen had violated its sexual harassment policy (the “Policy”) and imposed various disciplinary penalties upon him.

Cohen filed the instant lawsuit on February 18, 1994 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the College, the Board of Trustees of the College (the “Board”), the Faculty Grievance Committee of the College (the “Grievance Committee”), and various individual officials of the College for violation of .his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Cohen asserts that he was punished for his classroom speech under a sexual harassment policy which gave him insufficient notice that his conduct was prohibited and that his rights to free speech, academic freedom, and due process were violated.

The district court dismissed the College, the Board, and the Grievance Committee from the lawsuit on the basis that…