UC settles sex assault case for $1.15 million

Chancellor George Blumenthal, third from left in this 2014 file photo, addressed what happened with the faculty member in a statement on the campus website.

Chancellor George Blumenthal, third from left in this 2014 file photo, addressed what happened with the faculty member in a statement on the campus website. Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close UC settles sex assault case for $1.15 million 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The University of California will pay $1.15 million to a former UC Santa Cruz student to settle her claim that a professor raped her when she was his student in 2015, and that campus officials knew the man had a history of pursuing students but did nothing to stop him.

According to the claim, another student who worked at UC Santa Cruz was involved in the assault.

Attorneys for the former student, Luz Portillo, say the settlement could be the largest awarded to an individual in a campus sexual assault case. Although The Chronicle does not typically identify victims of sexual assault, Portillo, now 24, said she wants to go public because she would have liked to know when she was assaulted that she was not alone.

“Sexual assault has been a very common theme in higher education, and it should not be happening,” Portillo said. “If me coming forward helps any other victim, that’s the best thing I could have done.

Portillo, who was 21 when she was assaulted, said the impact “is spread across all aspects of my life — not only academically, but personally. I’m still working very hard to overcome it. It’s been a very, very trying time.”

Portillo’s complaint says that in May 2015, she was wrapping up the last two classes of her major in Latin American and Latino Studies and preparing to graduate. The assistant professor teaching the classes held one of them at Woodstock’s Pizza in downtown Santa Cruz, and after he and the students “consumed several beers,” according to the complaint, he invited Portillo and another student who was employed by the campus to go with him to the Loma Prieta Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains on June 13.

“While at the wine-tasting event (the assistant professor) encouraged Claimant to consume large quantities or wine, causing her to become severely intoxicated and lose her memory,” according to the complaint.

The three then went to the home of the student-employee, “where they supplied Claimant with more wine,” says the complaint. The two employees then “engaged in non-consensual sex acts” with the student who was drunk and not fully conscious.

Her attorney, John Kristensen of Los Angeles, said Portillo woke up naked and aware that she had been raped.

It was graduation day.

“I was in the hospital and missed graduation,” Portillo said, adding that the assistant professor went to the graduation and served as master of ceremonies for the Chicano-Latino ceremony.

But Portillo also immediately reported what happened to the campus office that handles violations of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination and harassment on campuses that receive federal funding. And she reported it to police.

Officials at the UC office of system-wide President Janet Napolitano declined to comment, referring questions to UC Santa Cruz but said the settlement would be paid through a university-wide insurance program.

UC Santa Cruz officials declined to answer questions, referring a reporter to a statement posted on the campus website Tuesday by Chancellor George Blumenthal and interim Provost Herbert Lee.

The statement addressed what happened with the faculty member, not the student worker.

“As soon as these allegations were reported, the campus acted swiftly to address the victim’s claims, which appeared to be clear violations of the UC Santa Cruz policy on sexual violence and sexual harassment,” the statement said.

Blumenthal and Lee said the campus cooperated with police and placed the faculty member on leave during the campus Title IX investigation. The faculty member resigned June 1 as disciplinary proceedings began.

Portillo sees things differently.

“This happened to me on June 13 (2015), and the professor wasn’t removed until August,” she said. “It was not immediate at all — and there was always some reason why it was delayed.”

The assistant professor could not be reached for comment.

As for the student-employee, Portillo said she doesn’t know what happened to her, except that “I was always afraid that I might run into her on campus.”

The Santa Cruz County district attorney never pressed charges against either employee, said Kristensen, Portillo’s attorney. He said his own investigation revealed that the assistant professor had intimate relationships with two other students. UC policies prohibit employees from having personal relationships with students and others they supervise.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov