In 2015, Tyann Sorrell’s physical and mental health slowly deteriorated in response to what she describes as frequent inappropriate touching by her boss, the dean of the prestigious law school at the University of California at Berkeley. Sorrell, then the executive assistant to dean Sujit Choudhry, had trouble sleeping, started losing her hair, and began suffering from severe anxiety and depression.

She formally accused him of sexual harassment in March that year, but the university failed to put Choudhry on leave and forced Sorrell to use her personal sick days to avoid contact with him. Sorrell fell apart.

“My whole body went into shock,” the 41-year-old mother of five said during a recent wide-ranging interview at her attorney’s office in Oakland. “I was suicidal. I was done … It was all on me to try to figure out my relief and my protection.”

Although she said it was not her intention, Sorrell’s case brought national scrutiny to the elite northern California university, damaged the reputations and careers of numerous high-profile academics and sparked widespread debate about faculty misconduct and gender discrimination on US college campuses.

But she has reluctantly accepted her position at the center of the sexual harassment scandal with a case that has paved the way for other victims to come forward. As she explains it, she was left with no choice but to file a lawsuit against the school, which failed to protect her from her harasser and went to great lengths to shield Choudhry after he was found guilty of misconduct.

Emails that Sorrell and her attorney shared exclusively with the Guardian shed new light on the ways in which UC Berkeley officials failed to support her during the investigation, backing her claims that she was effectively punished for reporting harassment. And in a lengthy interview on Monday, Claude Steele, who resigned this month as UC Berkeley’s executive vice chancellor and provost in the wake of the harassment scandals, admitted that he had “regrets” about the handling of Sorrell’s case – his first remarks on the controversy since stepping down.

In March, Choudhry stepped down as dean after Sorrell filed her lawsuit, though he remains on faculty. He continues to deny that his actions were inappropriate and claims he will be vindicated in court.

Sorrell’s documents and Steele’s remorseful remarks raise fresh questions about the university’s handling of faculty complaints after months of disturbing revelations that have led critics to compare the university’s actions to the Catholic church’s cover up of widespread sexual abuse by priests.

‘I became his tool’

In her complaint and in the interview, Sorrell detailed the ways in which the university denies basic protections to victims at every step – and forces them to pursue litigation if they want a safe workplace free of contact with powerful men found guilty of harassment by the school’s investigators.

Sorrell spoke out months after Geoffrey Marcy, a famous UC Berkeley astronomer, resigned, following reports he had avoided serious discipline despite the university’s determination that he had repeatedly sexually harassed students.

The university also recently released records of 19 employees who the school determined violated sexual harassment policies. The reports showed that while some staff members lost their jobs, no faculty members were fired for harassment.

Sorrell graduated magna cum laude from UC Berkeley in 2010 with an undergraduate degree in American studies – one of her proudest moments, considering she was also raising her five children at the time. She said she had always dreamed of attending law school, but after graduation decided to continue as an executive assistant and began her job at the law school in 2012.

“I had high hopes for myself,” said Sorrell, who said she enjoyed her first two years working in the dean’s office.

But when Choudhry took over as Berkeley law dean in July 2014, Sorrell said there were immediate problems. “The way he addressed us was very demeaning.”

As documented in the university’s investigation report, Sorrell said her workload increased dramatically and that Choudhry repeatedly gave her demoralizing tasks, treating her like his personal “maid”. Eventually, Choudhry began hugging and kissing her without her permission and soon began touching her on a “near daily” basis and “multiple times per day”, according to the lawsuit. He also allegedly began coming up behind her while she was typing, rubbing and caressing her arms and shoulders.

“I became his tool, his utility,” Sorrell recalled. “He had access to me, not limited to my body, to treat me ... in ways that made him feel comfortable irregardless of my comfort zone.”

In one of the worst cases, Choudhry took Sorrell’s hands and put them on his waist before kissing her – an incident that sent her to the bathroom crying, the lawsuit says.

Although Sorrell had told supervisors on staff about the touching, the complaint says, no one talked to Choudhry and the harassment did not stop. After she felt she could no longer tolerate his behavior, Sorrell wrote an email to Choudhry in March 2015 expressing her concerns about the touching, which triggered a formal university investigation into her harassment allegations.

Tyann Sorrell with her lawyer, John Winer. Sorrell said of her experience with Sujit Choudry: ‘I became his tool, his utility. He had access to me, not limited to my body.’ Photograph: Ramin Talaie/The Guardian

‘A very promising career’

Terrified of going back to work for the dean while the investigation was pending – Sorrell wondered if she would have to schedule his meetings with investigators – the assistant inquired about what options she had to avoid contact with him.

According to the lawsuit, Sheri Showalter, human resources director, told her she could use her own accrued sick and vacation days to take time off – a move that seemed like a punishment, especially considering that the dean was allowed to continue his job without interruption.

Although Steele, the resigned provost, declared last month that he had granted Sorrell paid administrative leave – which is substantially different than requiring her to use her limited sick days – emails Sorrell shared reveal that she had to fight to get paid leave approved. Even after officials decided to retroactively approve paid leave weeks after the investigation began, Showalter required that Sorrell continue sending medical records and further suggested she could eventually lose her paid leave, the emails show.

“Because the investigation and related findings have not yet been completed ... your paid administrative leave is currently provisional pending the outcome of the investigation,” Showalter wrote in a 7 May email. “Depending on the outcome of the investigation it may result in a change of your pay status.”

The implication to Sorrell was clear: if the university ruled in Choudhry’s favor, she could be on the hook for the time she had taken off – during which she was doing extensive therapy as she was trying to work through the mental health effects of the harassment and the university’s response.

It was a slap on the wrist for him and slap on the face to me Tyann Sorrell

“This is by far the most outrageous treatment I’ve ever seen a claimant receiving after they’ve reported harassment,” said John Winer, Sorrell’s lawyer.

In July, the university concluded that Choudhry had violated sexual harassment policies. The report noted that the dean had admitted to the touching, including holding her hands to his waist, though he disputed the frequency that Sorrell cited. Steele eventually decided Choudhry’s punishment: he would suffer a 10% salary reduction to $373,500 for one year, and he had to write an apology letter to Sorrell.

In Steele’s official sanctions letter to Choudhry, the provost said the dean demonstrated a “significant failure of judgment”, but also complimented him, saying: “You have a very promising career … with your innovative ideas, high energy, and enthusiastic citizenship, and I trust that you will grow into the kind of leader that we both know you can be.”

Sorrell, meanwhile, had no communication with the provost about his decision not to terminate Choudhry until months later, when Steele agreed to meet with Sorrell at her request. During that meeting, Sorrell alleges in her lawsuit, Steele said he decided not to terminate Choudhry because he did not want to ruin his career.

“It was a slap on the wrist for him and slap on the face to me. I knew I was expendable,” Sorrell said, recalling that she felt physically ill when she learned that Choudhry’s punishment was a temporary pay cut. “I knew my job was over with. I felt completely diminished.”



Unable to return to a job in which she would have to work very closely with the man found guilty of harassing her, Sorrell felt she had no choice but to file a formal lawsuit, alleging that she suffered harassment, retaliation, distress and other charges.

‘I do have regrets’

In a lengthy phone interview on Monday, a week after his resignation made national headlines, Steele said he felt he could no longer stand by his punishment decision and the university’s treatment of Sorrell.

“I would not defend those sanctions. At the time, we thought they were adequate. They were carefully done,” he said. “We did a great deal of work coming up with that. I’m not confident that they really rendered justice or a sense of fairness … I do have regrets about the impact on her.”

Steele admitted that Sorrell was initially forced to use sick days – a decision that he said was made months before he learned about the case.

“I want to convey a great deal of sympathy to Ms Sorrell about this. I think we could’ve done a much better job,” Steele said.

He argued, however, that the 10% pay cut sanction was not motivated by concerns about Choudhry’s reputation and refuted that he implied that to Sorrell in their meeting. “In no way was I trying to protect his career over the safety of Ms Sorrell.”

Steele further claimed that he did not resign because of the harassment controversy – he cited his wife’s health in his official statement – though he admitted that the scandals had been a challenge for the administration.

He was also adamant about rejecting another charge that plagued his office in the final month before his resignation. In March, it was revealed that Steele had received a nomination to the Berkeley law faculty from Choudhry at the same time that the sexual harassment investigation was under way – a conflict of interest that Winer, Sorrell’s attorney, described as the worst he has ever observed in his career.

“These were genuinely independent processes that had nothing to do with each other,” Steele said.

I want to convey a great deal of sympathy to Ms Sorrell about this. I think we could’ve done a much better job Claude Steele

In a statement, UC Berkeley chancellor Nicholas Dirks said it was “absolutely untrue” that Steele gave Choudhry lighter sanctions in return for a faculty appointment, saying that Dirks himself had suggested that Steele join the law faculty.

Choudhry, who recently filed a formal grievance with the university challenging their investigations, did not respond to a request for an interview. His attorney, William Taylor, argued that the former dean was unaware that his conduct was offensive to Sorrell, and that “when it was called to his attention, he immediately stopped”.

Taylor said of Choudhry’s touching: “They were gestures of support. They were made in good faith.”

For Sorrell, she said it was never her intention to spark newsworthy resignations and administrative scandals. She said she just wanted access to a safe workplace, pointing out that if the university had prioritized her protection, the scandal would have never exploded: “[The university] was willing to at any cost preserve a career. And now look at how many careers are destroyed.”

If you have information about this story contact: sam.levin@theguardian.com