Stephen Silver

Background

About Stephen Silver

Since 2008, I've been a proud member of the California State University system's legal department, which advises the CSU headquarters and the 23 campuses that comprise the CSU. And since 2019, I've led the department's newly created Civil Rights unit and served as part of the department's leadership team. As head of the Civil Rights unit, I oversee the legal department’s support to clients throughout the CSU on matters in which an employee or student has been accused of discrimination, harassment or retaliation, including sexual assault and other forms of sexual misconduct. As this is an evolving area of the law, I also work closely with other CSU departments to continually update relevant policies and procedures, and to conduct trainings and presentations for CSU administrators. Equally important, I serve as the general counsel for a CSU campus, currently California State University, Chico (Chico State). In that role I advise the president and top administrators on legal issues such as workplace discrimination, employee and student discipline, open records requests, and procurement and construction. I also manage the outside lawyers who represent the campus in litigation and partner with colleagues who handle disciplinary and tenure denial appeals. In the past, I have served as campus counsel for San Jose State, Humboldt State, Fresno State and Cal State Bakersfield.