Another sexual harassment case plagues the University of California at Berkeley, this time involving former assistant basketball coach, Yann Hufnagel, and a sports reporter covering the team. UC Berkeley fired Hufnagel Monday.
In a series a of legal documents published by Deadspin, the reporter (not affiliated with the university) alleged that beginning in November 2014, Hufnagel sexually harassed her and used his power as a source to try to exploit sexual behavior from her. This included telling her to come upstairs to his apartment after she drove him home and sending her sexually suggestive text messages.
To make matters worse, Deadspin reports, she ended up losing her job due to Hufnagel’s uncooperative responses to her questions.
Hufnagel responded on Twitter, saying he plans to clear his name.
Right now, the only focus should be on our basketball team! My time to exonerate myself of a fruitless claim by a reporter will come.
— Yann Hufnagel (@yhufnagel) March 14, 2016
This is not the first time UC Berkeley has faced a sexual harassment case. Just last semester, university professor Geoff Marcy resigned over allegations of multiple sexual harassment incidents over the course of his 16-year professorship.
But it doesn’t stop there. There is even an entire website devoted to chronicling UC Berkeley’s history of sexual harassment and assault on campus.
CBS News reports that University of California president Janet Napolitano is aware of the university’s growing list of sexual harassment cases and has started a committee to examine cases from all of the UC campuses.
The University of California’s policy on sexual harassment is available here. Read the full investigation here.