FRESNO, Calif. — A former coach and instructor at Fresno City College filed a lawsuit against the State Center Community College District’s chancellor, Carole Goldsmith. It’s part of mounting criticism against Goldsmith, who has faced recent pressure to step down.
Plaintiff Ed Madec, a former tenured professor and basketball coach at the community college, is alleging Goldsmith and a campus police officer, Callie Olivas, orchestrated arrests that tarnished his career and ultimately led to his dismissal.
“The conduct of Goldsmith and Olivas showed an illegal motive and intent as well as a reckless or callous indifference to the plaintiff's federally protected rights,” states the lawsuit, filed in October in Fresno County Superior Court. “Goldsmith and Olivas acted with malice, oppression, and fraud in seeking to violate Madec’s Fourth Amendment rights.”
The lawsuit stems from incidents that began in 2020, when Madec was placed on leave and then fired for allegedly violating the district’s policies and bylaws. The violations involved providing impermissible snacks and spending an excess amount of money on team meals.
He was later reinstated.
Then, in 2023, Madec was arrested twice for allegedly making a verbal threat against campus leaders during one of his classes.
He reportedly said to students, “If I didn’t have my family, I would or could have hurt the people responsible for my termination in 2020.”
After the arrests, campus officials posted notices that alleged Madec was a “suspect” and a threat to students and staff on campus. He was fired again in June 2024, and a judge later upheld his termination.
Earlier this year, however, a judge dismissed the criminal case against him for a lack of evidence.
“The Court, per the Hon. Brian Alvarez, found that there was no probable cause to charge Madec with a crime,” Madec’s lawsuit states. “When issuing his ruling, the Court stated that the charges ‘didn’t pass the smell test.’”
In court filings, Madec didn’t deny making the statement, but rather claimed he was experiencing a “mental health episode.”
In his lawsuit filed in October, Madec also alleges Goldsmith directed police officers to arrest him, both times, against his constitutional rights, and that she orchestrated his arrests because she wanted to characterize him as a dangerous person. He also alleges the action damaged his reputation.
“Plaintiff is informed and believes that the arrest and subsequent descriptions were intended to make Madec radioactive to the college sports programs that frequently hire top JC coaches like Madec,” the lawsuit states. “No reputable program is going to hire a coach charged with threatening to kill students and administrators.”
Madec is requesting a judge overturn the decision to uphold his termination, as well as compensation and punishment to Goldsmith and Olivas.
District spokesperson Jill Wagner declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying it’s an ongoing confidential personnel matter.
“While we cannot comment on pending litigation, we can say that any disciplinary action or personnel decision we take is guided by law, district policy, and our unwavering commitment to campus safety,” her statement reads. “In this case, an administrative law judge upheld the district’s decision to terminate Mr. Madec after a thorough review of the evidence.”
The district also provided KVPR with a copy of the administrative law decision, which upheld Madec’s termination on the basis of alleged “immoral conduct, dishonesty, and evident unfitness for service.”
The lawsuit is not the first to be filed against Goldsmith or the community college district in the last couple of years. According to KVPR’s reporting, the district has seen a sharp increase in legal expenses since 2018 potentially linked to a number of lawsuits filed by students and faculty that allege forced retirement, discrimination, wrongful termination and First Amendment violations.
Madec’s lawsuit was filed just a month before hundreds of members from the State Center Community College faculty union came together for a no-confidence vote against Goldsmith.
That same day, Goldsmith announced her intent to retire, but not until September 2026, after officials said she would work on initiatives such as affordable housing.
“With a capable leadership team in place and a clear path forward, this feels like the right moment to make room for the next leader to continue the District’s momentum,” Goldsmith said in her retirement statement. “I leave knowing the organization is in good hands and ready for what’s next.”
