School fires official in sexual assault case

Cal announced the firing of Mohamed Muqtar on Thursday, after an investigation concluded that one of the staples of the athletic department for the past 25 years violated the university’s sexual violence and sexual harassment policy.

The investigation was triggered when former Cal basketball player and current WNBA guard Layshia Clarendon filed a lawsuit in January. Muqtar was initially placed on paid leave.

“Our thoughts are with the survivors and providing them with the resources they need through the healing process,” Cal said in a statement. “No one should be subject to unwanted advances or verbal or physical abuse, and we encourage any member of our campus community who has experienced sexual violence or sexual assault to reach out for help, which can include counseling, academic accommodations, information about the reporting process, and more. …

“Cal Athletics is committed to fostering a culture where everyone feels safe, welcome and respected, and the department, as well as the entire campus, has taken additional steps in recent years to address these issues. Through department-sponsored workshops, training and speaker series, coaches, staff and student-athletes have participated in formal training in sexual

violence awareness and prevention, bystander intervention, and campus reporting procedures. An environment of care and respect must be ingrained in our culture with the understanding that the type of behavior described in the findings report is inexcusable and will not be tolerated.”

Muqtar served in a variety of roles at Cal, including most recently as the assistant director of student services. Clarendon was at Cal from 2009-13 and has been outspoken about sexual assault since going public with her lawsuit in January.

ESPN originally reported Clarendon’s story. Clarendon — then 18 — said she accompanied Muqtar to his apartment, where she says he followed her into a bathroom and assaulted her.

“I want the shame to not be my own anymore,” Clarendon told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” when asked why she had decided — nearly a decade later — to file a lawsuit. “I want the shame to fall on him, because it’s not my shame to carry, but it’s something that I’ve had to carry. It’s a horrible thing to live in silence, to carry that pain and that weight and the guilt.”