LOS ANGELES — California State University paid $600,000 this year to settle a claim with a Sonoma State provost who reported retaliation and sexual harassment allegations involving the campus president and her husband, according to records in the case obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Lisa Vollendorf, then the university’s provost, reported to Cal State system officials that several women alleged they were sexually harassed by Patrick McCallum, a prominent higher education lobbyist who is married to Sonoma State University President Judy Sakaki, a legal claim filed with Cal State shows.
Though not a CSU employee, McCallum is an official university volunteer who participates in campus events with his wife. Vollendorf is a longtime higher-education administrator and was recently appointed as president of SUNY Empire State College in New York.
