Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination

Following widespread criticism of the university’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations, members of the Chancellor’s Senate/Administration Committee on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment hosted a listening session with students Friday to address campuswide concerns regarding policies and sanctions on sexual violence.

Following the dismissal of assistant Cal men’s basketball coach Yann Hufnagel in light of his violation of UC sexual harassment policy, UC Berkeley’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination, or OPHD, released a redacted review Monday that it conducted regarding the actions taken by the athletics department in wake of the incident.

In a lawsuit filed May 19, Nicole Hemenway, who graduated in 2015, revealed a series of disturbing details about her relationship with Blake Wentworth, her former thesis adviser and South and Southeast Asian studies professor. She accused Wentworth of sexual harassment — citing instances of inappropriate comments, physical contact and unprofessional behavior.

Former UC Berkeley School of Law dean Sujit Choudhry filed a grievance letter with a campus faculty committee Friday, alleging that administrators violated campus policies by launching a second disciplinary process against him in the aftermath of recent sexual harassment allegations against him.

UC Berkeley’s Title IX office is investigating more than twice the number of sexual misconduct claims as UC Davis and UC Merced combined, and three times as many complaints as UC Davis alone.

After former Cal assistant men’s basketball coach Yann Hufnagel submitted more than 900 text messages to UC officials Monday to contest the finding that he had violated UC sexual harassment policies, he submitted a letter of resignation Thursday afternoon, according to campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof.

As UC Berkeley grapples with a slew of sexual harassment scandals, recently released reports show that 19 UC Berkeley employees were found to have violated university sexual misconduct policy since 2011.

In a letter sent March 24, tenured faculty of the department of South and Southeast Asian studies, or SSEAS, condemned the slowness of an investigation into a case of alleged sexual harassment by Blake Wentworth, an assistant professor in the department.

Recent revisions to UC Berkeley’s response to sexual harassment and sexual assault were welcomed by campus officials and student leaders, many of whom felt the changes were long due.

Carla Hesse will serve as the interim lead on UC Berkeley’s response to sexual harassment and assault claims as the campus begins to address mounting criticism of its mishandling of sexual harassment cases.