Loyalty Oath
As a new California State University ASE employee, you will need to sign an oath of allegiance before you begin your employment. The oath requires public employees to make a declaration of loyalty to the government of the State of California and the United States of America. The oath requirement only applies to U.S. citizens. Because it is mandated by the California Constitution, no alterations or interlineations may be made to the text of the oath.
At San José State University, the California Loyalty Oath is part of the New Hire Packet which you will complete as part of the new employee process with University Personnel and appears as:
"I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter."
Signing the oath does not carry with it any obligation or requirement that public employees bear arms or otherwise engage in violence as confirmed by both the United States Supreme Court (Girouard v. United States (1946) 328 U.S. 61) and the California Attorney General's Office.
