Content warning: Sexual violence

Thirty UCLA employees were found to have violated UC sexual violence and sexual harassment, or SVSH, policy in the past two years.

Documents obtained through a California Public Records Act, or CPRA, request made by The Daily Californian uncovered multiple incidents of unwanted physical advances, requests and comments of a sexual nature by UCLA employees. Nearly all the cases within this CPRA release were investigated under the new SVSH policy implemented in 2016. The exception was one case involving Professor Emeritus Sol Cohen, who was found to have violated an earlier version of the SVSH policy in 2013.

UCLA spokesperson Tod Tamberg said in an emailed statement that the campus is committed to maintaining an environment “free from” harassment or discrimination.

“UCLA views sexual harassment and sexual violence not only as violations of university policy, but also of the dignity of the individuals affected and, indeed, of our entire community,” Tamberg said in the statement.

These documents are part of a series of CPRA requests made by the Daily Cal in order to inform and update its database of more than 130 sexual misconduct cases throughout the UC system since October 2010.

UC Title IX investigations are established on a lower standard of proof — “more likely than not” — than in criminal investigations. The following story details six of the 31 Title IX investigations the Daily Cal received Friday. None of the respondents named in these cases could be reached for comment as of press time.

Remy Dahan: Investigation concluded September 2016

Former UCLA food service manager Remy Dahan was found by a Title IX investigation to have inappropriately touched coworkers during his time at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center, according to one of the reports.

In the report, a female coworker alleged that Dahan massaged her neck for “several seconds” after she told him, “Please don’t touch me.” The investigation found the allegations “more likely than not” to be true, and also concluded that Dahan showed a pattern of touching the complainant, as well as other employees.

Staff Diversity and Compliance Office Resolution Officer John Jividen said in the report that his investigation confirmed these allegations, despite his belief that it was not Dahan’s “intent” to engage in unwelcome sexual conduct.

A memo was sent to Dahan in September 2016, informing him that because he violated UC SVSH policy, he was required to attend a class on sexual harassment prevention and training the same month with Jividen. The memo also informed Dahan that “further violations … will not be tolerated.”

The Title IX investigation makes no mention of a forced resignation. He stopped working at UCLA, however, in January 2017, according to his LinkedIn page.

Joseph Babi: Investigation concluded December 2016

In another report, a female undergraduate student alleged that Joseph Babi, a current library assistant at UCLA, asked her personal questions, touched her and asked if he could take a picture of her.

Babi, who was 69 at the time, frequently spoke with the student, according to her statement in the report. Babi allegedly hugged the student, kissed her cheek and put her hair behind her ear and told her she was “pretty.”

Babi said he did not recall the specific events outlined in the student’s allegations, but that he does hug people, including the student, according to the report. Babi added that he has no sexual intent and sees himself as a “father figure” to students with whom he interacts.

Babi was suspended without pay from Jan. 9-20, 2017, and returned to work Jan. 23.

Carlo Arias: Investigation concluded March 2017

Multiple female staff members at UCLA alleged that Carlo Arias, a former management services officer in the department of medicine, directed sexual comments at them and touched them in an unwelcome, sexual manner, according to one of the reports.

The complainant, who was under Arias’ supervision at the time, alleged that Arias tried to hug her regularly, and his hugs were “past the point” of her comfort level, the report stated. She further alleged that he put his hand on her upper thigh and lower buttocks, and a witness supported her allegation.

Arias denied the allegation and said the complainant was reaching over him to grab his mouse, adding that the witness “misunderstood” what she was seeing. He added that he feels the complainant “spies” on him and has taken many of his comments “personally.”

The report concluded it was “more likely than not” that Arias touched the complainant in a sexual manner and that he regularly touched and massaged multiple women. UCLA sent him an intent to dismiss letter in March 2017 for “gross misconduct.”

Martha Mansoor: Investigation concluded June 2017

A Title IX investigation found that Martha Mansoor — a former supervisor at UCLA Health, which is a network of UCLA’s medical centers — sexually harassed her female colleagues. The investigation alleges that she “more likely than not” touched the buttocks and breast of the complainant without consent. The investigation also found that she made offensive comments about an “openly gay employee’s sexuality.”

On July 5, 2017, Mansoor was sent a notice of dismissal from her position at UCLA, effective July 13, 2017. A hearing to discuss this notice was held with Mansoor on July 12, during which Mansoor defended herself by explaining that touching and being affectionate was a part of her culture, among other defenses, according to the report. After this hearing, another notice of dismissal was sent to Mansoor on July 26, effective that same day.

After the investigation concluded, four of Mansoor’s former coworkers filed a lawsuit in June 2018 against UCLA and the UC Board of Regents, alleging that the university mishandled the complaints.

Tremeal Bradford: Investigation concluded September 2017

The complainant in another investigation alleged that Tremeal Bradford, a former assistant director in UCLA’s undergraduate admissions office and a UCLA alumnus, touched him in an unwanted sexual manner after giving him alcoholic drinks, a Title IX report stated.

The complainant, who came to know Bradford through their shared affiliation with a fraternity, alleged that Bradford continually gave him drinks at a party April 2, 2016. Although the fraternity’s name was redacted from the CPRA documents, Bradford is listed as a member of Alpha Phi Alpha on the UCLA chapter’s website.

The complainant said he eventually “passed out ish” after 2 a.m. the morning of the incident and laid his head back. Shortly after closing his eyes, he felt a hand on his thigh, according to the investigation report.

After pulling his leg away and saying, “Stop,” the complainant said he felt a hand on his leg again and then on his penis, the report stated. The complainant alleged that when he arose from the couch, Bradford was the only one in the room and was seated on the couch beside him, according to the report.

Bradford said in the report that everyone at the party “drank and hung out” for a while, and he did not recall any interactions with the complainant on that evening. Bradford further denied bringing alcohol to the party, stating he believed everyone at the party to be 21 years or older.

The day after the incident, Bradford reportedly sent the complainant numerous text messages and tried calling him multiple times, the complainant said in the investigation report. Bradford said he was focused on purchasing concert tickets the following morning, and so did not reach out to the complainant, according to the report.

The complainant said he felt the need to report Bradford’s behavior after he allegedly saw Bradford trying to interact with young men at a different fraternity event, according to the report. The report found the complainant to be more credible than Bradford regarding the inappropriate touching.

Bradford was asked to not attend fraternity events May 1, 2016 — one month after the alleged incident. His employment contract with UCLA ended Jan. 31, 2018, and will not be renewed because of the findings of the Title IX investigation.

Sol Cohen: Investigation concluded June 2013

Sol Cohen, a professor emeritus in UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, was found by a Title IX investigation to have expressed romantic interest in a female graduate student. He has since retired in compliance with an agreement he made with the UC Board of Regents in 2014.

The graduate student alleged that Cohen hugged her and held her hand, invited her to spend time together at his pool and told her she looked “fetching,” according to the report. She added that Cohen allegedly asked her to call him “captain” instead of “professor” and became upset when she did not comply with this request.

These occurrences took place about eight years ago when she was in one of his classes, the report stated. According to the report’s findings, the incidents “deprived the student of access to educational opportunities.”

The investigation into these incidents concluded that Cohen was in violation of both the UC SVSH policy and the UC Faculty Code of Conduct in 2013. The following year, Cohen reached a settlement agreement with the UC regents, which laid out plans for Cohen to attend harassment sensitivity training, remain out of contact with specified students and ultimately “irrevocably and voluntarily resign” from his tenured position, according to the report. The agreement also required Cohen to retire by 2015 with emeritus status.

Tamberg said in his statement that an agreement of this manner was reached in Cohen’s case but not in others because each case is “investigated and adjudicated” depending on presented evidence.

Last year, in response to a different CPRA request, the Daily Cal obtained hundreds of pages of UC Title IX investigations, in which the Cohen case was not included despite the fact that the investigation ended prior to the release of these other documents. Upon this realization, the UCLA campus included this investigation report in the most recent round of Title IX CPRA releases to the Daily Cal, according to Tamberg.

Contact Rachel Barber and Anjali Shrivastava at [email protected].