Chico State Provost Resigns After Professor’s Alleged Shooting Threats

The allegations that have surfaced about Chico State biology professor David Stachura are shocking to the core. As it turns out, they were also previously known by the school’s leadership.

Heads have rolled. Chico State Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Debra Larson announced her immediate resignation Friday. According to EdSource, she signed off on light disciplinary action after Stachura had an affair with a student, “clearing his way to promotion.”

Stachura allegedly threatened to shoot colleagues who had cooperated in an investigation into the affair. Records show he purchased two boxes of hollow-point bullets and over 50 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun shells at that time. He has called the timing a coincidence.

Stachura is currently on suspension while the university investigates the shooting threat allegations. 

A recent resolution passed by the Academic Senate recommends Stachura be fired and asks the campus to file for a gun violence restraining order against the professor under California’s “red flag” law. The Senate declined to pass a vote of no confidence in Larson, saying they needed to learn more about what took place. 

Image Credit: California State University, Chico