BERKELEY, Calif. — For decades, the University of California, Berkeley, has been synonymous with liberal activism and social justice campaigns. But students, alumni and staff members say they have a hard time squaring that image with a spate of high-profile sexual harassment cases roiling the campus.

The dean of the law school stepped down this month after an investigation concluded that he hugged and kissed his executive assistant almost daily. An assistant basketball coach was fired, also this month, after the university determined that he had propositioned a reporter after shutting her in a parking garage. “With all candor, I was trying to trick her into going upstairs,” he told investigators.

In October, a renowned astronomer left the faculty after he was accused of buying students drinks, grinding with one on the dance floor and grabbing the crotch of a student from another university.

“This is supposed to be the pride of our state university system,” said Jennifer Reisch, a Berkeley Law graduate who said she was sexually assaulted when she was a student by a previous law dean at Berkeley nearly 16 years ago. “How is this happening?”