Sexual assault investigation leads to firing at Cal
Civil suit by basketball player launched investigation that found misconduct involved at least seven female athletes
After a months long investigation sparked by a star basketball player’s allegations of sexual assault, UC Berkeley has fired a longtime official in its athletic department for conduct involving at least seven female athletes, bringing the university’s long struggles with sexual harassment into the #MeToo era.
Mohamed Muqtar, 61, who served as assistant director of student services, was let go May 11, according to a story first reported by ESPN. It is not clear when the university was first informed of claims against him; ESPN reported that a former Cal instructor said she had twice in the past raised concerns with the athletic department after hearing from female athletes but was told nothing could be done unless the athletes themselves came forward.
Muqtar’s alleged behavior, which involved no
fewer than seven women athletes over 20 years, finally burst into the open in January when Layshia Clarendon, a standout guard at Cal who currently plays professionally in the WNBA, filed a civil suit that launched a fourmonth investigation.
The news, coming a day after Michigan State University agreed to pay $500 million to settle lawsuits brought by 332 victims of Larry Nassar, is only the latest embarrassment for Cal, a school that prides itself on being one of the country’s top public universities. Over the past three years, several prominent Cal employees have been brought down by sexual harassment cases, including renowned astronomer Geoff Marcy and former law school dean Sujit Choudhry.
Last year, a campus committee recommended major changes to how Cal investigates and disciplines faculty members accused of misconduct after a series of embarrassing cases surfaced.
Cal officials said in a statement Thursday that an independent office found Muqtar had violated the school’s sexual violence and harassment policy.
“It pains us to hear about these actions by one of our employees who student-athletes turned to as a trusted adviser,” the statement read. “The findings described in the report are appalling, wholly unacceptable and have no place in our department, on campus or anywhere.
“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 accom- modations, information about the reporting process, and more.”
Clarendon, 27, played at Cal from 2009-2013, leading the Golden Bears to their only Final Four appearance in her senior season. Clarendon was the ninth player picked in the 2013WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. An All-Star in 2017, she now plays for the Atlanta Dream.
The athletes who talked to ESPN portrayed a situation in which Muqtar frequently socialized with the students off campus.
Clarendon’s suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, alleged that Muqtar assaulted her when she was a freshman at Berkeley. She told ESPN that she met regularly with Muqtar during her freshman year.
“There were times he would talk about inappropriate things, but at the moment, that felt like me talking to my friend, talking to someone I could trust,” Clarendon told ESPN.
Clarendon, who came to Cal from San Bernardino, said one night Muqtar invited her back to his apartment to watch a music video. She alleged that Muqtar walked in on her in the bathroom, pinned her against a wall and digitally penetrated her. Clarendon told ESPN that she asked to leave his apartment immediately after the incident and Muqtar drove her home.
Clarendon never told anyone at Cal about the alleged assault. Last year, she wrote an essay for an online publication, Mic, announcing that she was a sexual assault survivor.
“I denied this reality for a long time because I didn’t want any of it to be real,” Clarendon wrote. “It’s still difficult to come to terms with my experience. Denial felt safer than having to process and work through my reality. … It felt counter to everything I valued about myself: strong, independent and smart.”
ESPN reported that according to interviews with other Cal athletes, Muqtar’s alleged behavior “ranged from harassment — including latenight phone calls during which the women interviewed believed he was masturbating — to physical assault.
“Most stories had a similar pattern: a period of grooming followed by casual inquiries into sexual activity, latenight calls, masturbation (over the phone and in his office, with the door closed) and sometimes escalation to physical assault.”
One former Cal basketball player who requested anonymity told ESPN that Muqtar allegedly masturbated in front of her while in his office at Haas Pavilion.
Other alleged victims who talked to ESPN were Kristy Begin Patterson, a swimmer during the 1999-2000 season, Tess Zatica McCoy, a volleyball player from 1999 to 2004, and Jenna Rais, who swam for Cal from 2001 to 2004.
After the suit became public in January, Clarendon tweeted, “I want the shame to not be my own anymore, 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.”
Clarendon, who married her girlfriend last year, continued, “My biggest hope is that he never does this to anyone else. That no one else has to suffer under his hand, or him violating their bodies again. That thiswould be the end of him assaulting people.”
Her case was dismissed earlier this month because the statute of limitations expired. But ESPN reported Clarendon’s attorney planned to appeal the ruling.
Muqtar did not immediately respond to emails from this news organization asking for comment.