7 accused of harassment left UC Berkeley; cases newly revealed

Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close 7 accused of harassment left UC Berkeley; cases newly revealed 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

A UC Berkeley swim coach sexually harassed a male co-worker over an 18-month period in 2014 and 2015 — loudly describing him as “my boyfriend” at a swim meet, subjecting him to repeated sexual comments despite his objections, asking him, “When are you coming to the dark side?” and offering him $300 for oral sex, according to public records released Tuesday by the campus.

But the coach, Todd Mulzet, was neither fired nor suspended. Instead, Mulzet, in his third year as coach of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams, had his pay cut.

Details about the campus investigation into his case and the light discipline were revealed in more than 400 pages of documents released by UC Berkeley on Tuesday night under a Public Records Act request from The Chronicle. The documents include 17 cases investigated by the campus Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination dating back to 2008 in which investigators concluded that harassment had definitely or probably occurred. Ten of the cases shed light on incidents not previously revealed to the public, including Mulzet’s.

7 employees departed

But while Mulzet didn’t lose his job, seven other employees in the newly revealed cases were fired or resigned under pressure.

Mulzet declined comment when reached by phone Tuesday night. The university’s report said he denied most of the accusations, and said he was just giving his co-worker a compliment that was not meant sexually.

Asked why the coach had not been punished more severely, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said he couldn’t discuss individual cases. But he said the university has been “quite explicit in our acknowledgment that our policies, practices and procedures need to improve.”

Those who lost their jobs included:

•Howard D’Abrera, an adjunct professor of statistics. The report said that in 2015 he sent a student a series of sexually harassing emails, one of which invited the student to go to Hawaii for a “dirty smoke-filled weekend of unadulterated guilty pleasure and sins.” D’Abrera also spoke of killing himself, offered other students vacations, and, before resigning, suggested that students boo the department chairman and turn their back on him when he came to class to look into D’Abrera’s conduct, the report said.

•Scott Anderson, a specialist in the program for disabled students who worked with students with psychiatric disabilities. According to the report, during a nine-month period in 2008-09, Anderson sent text messages and emails with sexual innuendos to a female student. One message included an attachment with a picture of whipped cream and handcuffs and asked the student what her plans were for Valentine’s Day.

“I’ll bring the cuffs,” Anderson wrote in an email. He told investigators he was trying to be humorous and provide encouragement to the student in his communications to her.

•Alan Wong, a massage therapist at the university’s Recreational Sports Facility, who sexually assaulted a female student in 2014 by touching her genitals while giving her a massage, the report said.

•Jeffrey Topacio, general manager of Cal Dining, who in 2015 bragged to co-workers about the size of his penis and directed a slur for homosexuals at a male worker who was weeping.

•Ernest Williamson, a campus custodian, who peeked through a space in a shower door in October 2010 to stare at a female student while she was showering, the report said. He denied it.

•James Kohlstedt, a painter. The investigation report said that in 2012, two employees reported walking in on Kohlstedt apparently having sex in a vacant on-campus apartment with a woman while another woman stood by, topless. The employees said they later returned to that apartment and found the toilet backed up with feces, with food wrappers strewn on the floor. The employees said Kohlstedt later gave them intimidating signals that they interpreted as an attempt to keep them from reporting the incident.

•Nori Castillo, assistant director of the university’s startup accelerator SkyDeck. He struck up a “flirtatious” relationship with a male student intern in 2013, the report said, persisted despite the intern’s objections, and texted sexually explicit pictures of himself.

Other disciplinary actions included:

•Brief suspensions of two staff superintendents for offensive comments in a conversation that was recorded in 2011. The men, Frank Narvaez and Chuck McCartney, spoke disparagingly about a female worker’s weight and said bedbugs “would have a feast” in her vagina, the report said. Narvaez was suspended for 30 days and McCartney for five days.

•A warning letter to Phillip Loya, who investigators found had “most likely” touched a fellow staff member inappropriately several times between December 2012 and April 2014, including one occasion when he put a hand on her thigh at a bar.

The incidents evoked the school’s admissions in recent months that it had known about harassment by some of its most eminent figures but took no serious disciplinary action until the public learned about their conduct.

Well-known cases

Professor Geoffrey Marcy, a renowned astronomer, and Law School Dean Sujit Choudhry both resigned under pressure after reports surfaced that they had sexually harassed students or underlings. Graham Fleming resigned as vice chancellor for research, but kept his job as a tenured chemistry professor, after an investigation found that he had “more likely than not” inappropriately touched and kissed a former employee.

The school has also announced its intention to fire Yann Hufnagel, an assistant men’s basketball coach, for allegedly harassing and frightening a female reporter. Hufnagel, who has denied the accusations, is on paid leave.

Along with the new reports Tuesday, UC Berkeley announced the formation of a Chancellor’s Committee on Sexual Violence, Harassment and Assault that will “examine and address culture issues” and report to Chancellor Nicholas Dirks by mid-October on proposed policy changes.

Chronicle staff writers Joaquin Palomino and Jill Tucker contributed to this report.

Bob Egelko, Kurtis Alexander and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email begelko@sfchronicle.com, kalexander@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com