WNBA Star Claims Assault, Negligence at Cal-Berkeley

On Wednesday, WNBA’s Layshia Clarendon filed suit in the Alameda County Superior Court alleging sexual assault by University of California-Berkeley assistant athletic director Mohamed Muqtar and negligence on the part of university regents.

According to Clarendon, Muqtar frequently socialized with student-athletes off-campus during her years at Cal-Berkeley (she attended from 2009 to 2013) and it was not uncommon for him to buy students dinner.

In her suit, Clarendon alleges that she was invited to Muqtar’s apartment during her freshman year, where she was followed into the bathroom and assaulted.

Clarendon never reported the assault during her time at the university, but a former Cal-Berkeley instructor has anonymously affirmed that she heard numerous allegations from student-athletes of inappropriate behavior on the part of Muqtar.

The source told ESPN that she approached athletic department officials with these concerns twice during her tenure, and both times was told nothing could be done unless the women came forward publicly with details.

When asked what prompted her to come forward now, Clarendon told ESPN that her primary goal was to hold Muqtar accountable.

“I want the shame to not be my own anymore. 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,” she said.

"My biggest hope is that he never does this to anyone else … [I]t feels there is a big level of responsibility there for me, to make sure this doesn't continue.