Cal State Rehires Professor Fired for Exposing Himself

California higher-education officials have reinstated a Cal State Northridge geography professor who was fired after he admitted exposing himself to two female instructors.

Associate Prof. Darrick Danta will resume teaching when classes begin in September, said Jeff Stetson, a spokesman for the chancellor’s office of the Cal State University system.

Danta, 34, was fired by CSUN President James W. Cleary in November after the professor admitted that he exposed himself to instructors Carolyn McGovern-Bowen and Christine Rodrigue. His ouster prompted support from some faculty members who alleged that Cleary did not follow proper university procedures in the firing.

Danta said today his behavior toward the two women was “a joke.”

Danta appealed his case and was reinstated July 31 after an arbitration hearing between CSU counsel and the California Faculty Assn., the teachers’ union representing him, Stetson said. University officials refused to comment further on the case, saying it is a personnel matter.

It was the second time this summer that a CSUN professor has been reinstated after being fired by campus officials.

Last month, the State Personnel Board ordered CSUN to reinstate Eleazu S. Obinna, a Pan-African studies professor who was fired last summer for allegedly offering students “A” grades in exchange for selling raffle tickets to raise money for his nonprofit foundation. The state board also ordered Obinna suspended for 90 days.