Sonoma State administration violated the temporary restraining order filed by the Sonoma County Superior Court, according to a source who requested to remain anonymous. The Joseph Saveri Law Firm, representing the seven student-athletes who filed the lawsuit against Sonoma State, confirmed the school’s actions are in violation.
The Temporary Restraining Order, filed on April 15, halted Sonoma State from proceeding with the discontinuation of academic programs until May 1, where a preliminary injunction hearing will take place.
David Seidel, a lawyer at the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, who serves as the attorney on behalf of the seven Sonoma State student-athletes who filed the lawsuit against SSU, said they received information from faculty and staff indicating actions were taken after April 15. Seidel confirmed these actions violated the restraining order.
“They were taking action to implement these discontinuations before they had gone through the process,” said Seidel, “So we did raise that with opposing counsel from the judge.”
Seidel confirmed there was activity on the campus’s Curriculog — the campus’s online curriculum management systems — to move forward with program discontinuation from administrators after April 15.
Seidel also said department chairs of departments slated to be eliminated had their request for classes — submitted to the registration portal — declined by administration.
“Those efforts [to submit classes] were denied because they were moving forward with the discontinuation in the registration process,” said Seidel.
– Update April 29 – 5:30 p.m. –
Don Romesburg, department chair of women and gender studies, confirmed this violation.
“I submitted to our dean a full course schedule for Fall 2025,” said Romesburg, “This reflected what courses WGS would mount if the administration was not actively discontinuing our program and department. The administration refused to mount the schedule as proposed.”
Romesburg also said the administration told Women and Gender Studies when tabling at decision day on April 26 that their program is a “suspended program, it will not be possible for students to sign up to be a WGS major.”
Romesburg said a returning student who is re-enrolling at SSU for Fall 2025 confirmed this as well.
“After leaving many years ago just prior to completing all the requirements for graduating with a WGS major, she had to sign up for a completely different major just to get in the system, since the system would not allow her to declare the WGS major. We are having to go through an appeal process just to get her into the system as a returning WGS major.”
Romesburg also said he heard during the period under the restraining order that the administration has tried to get student governance to move IRA funding away from the “discontinued” programs.
“In other words, from my perspective as WGS chair and as a faculty member, SSU’s administration is proceeding during the TRO with discontinuation as if nothing changed when the judge told them to pause the process,” said Romesburg.
– Update April 29 – 7:30 p.m. – Correction: A previous version of the article stated that WGS was not allowed to table on decision day. They were just told the program was no longer accepting majors.
– Update April 30 – 8 p.m. The Star reached out to SSU administration through email to ask about these violations. SSU Vice President for Government Relations and Strategic Communications Jeffery Keating responded by instruction of the cabinet and Interim President Emily Cutrer.
“SSU is in complete compliance with the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by the court, and the court confirmed that during the special hearing on April 18,” Keating wrote in response.
“The court’s TRO specifically permitted SSU to continue with any actions needed to comply with the University’s academic discontinuation process, and the judge made clear no restoration or reversal of any actions taken as of the order’s date were required. Further, no actions in the workflow software of Curriculog cause program discontinuation. Presidential approval is required. Again, SSU is in full compliance with the TRO, and at the upcoming hearing the university will demonstrate that its actions, although challenging, have been taken in compliance with all policies and made with the best interest of our students and campus community in mind,” Keating continued.
Live updates will be posted to this article as more information becomes available.
