Cal Athletics statement on the termination of Mo Muqtar

7,503 Views | 38 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by blungld
MoragaBear
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Staff
Our primary goal as an athletic department is to support and provide an outstanding student-athlete experience, and it pains us to hear about these actions by one of our employees who student-athletes turned to as a trusted adviser. The findings described in the report are appalling, wholly unacceptable and have no place in our department, on campus or anywhere.

Once the campus was made aware of the concerns, Mohamed Muqtar was placed on leave from the university, and the Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination (Title IX office) launched a thorough investigation, which concluded that he was found to have violated the university's sexual violence and sexual harassment policy, involving several former student-athletes. The disciplinary process has now concluded and Mr. Muqtar was terminated effective May 11, 2018.

Our thoughts are with the survivors and providing them with the resources they need through the healing process. No one should be subject to unwanted advances or verbal or physical abuse, and we encourage any member of our campus community who has experienced sexual violence or sexual assault toreach out for help, which can include counseling, academic accommodations, information about the reporting process, and more.

Those who wish to file a report may contact the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (Title IX office) and/or, for criminal matters, UCPD.

Support services include the confidential advocates at the campus's PATH to Care Center, which serves every member of our campus community impacted by sexual violence and sexual harassment, no matter when or where an experience took place. The center offers affirming and empowering support as well as guidance in navigating campus resources. Social Services at University Health Services/Tang Center also provides confidential counseling and other assistance.

Additional support and resource information is available at survivorsupport.berkeley.edu.Cal Athletics is committed to fostering a culture where everyone feels safe, welcome and respected, and the department, as well as the entire campus, has taken additional steps in recent years to address these issues. Through department-sponsored workshops, trainings and speaker series, coaches, staff and student-athletes have participated in formal training in sexual violence awareness and prevention, bystander intervention, and campus reporting procedures. An environment of care and respect must be ingrained in our culture with the understanding that the type of behavior described in the findings report is inexcusable and will not be tolerated.
Bobodeluxe
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No mo' Mo.

Will the donors be asked pay the bill?
barabbas
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Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
71Bear
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barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....
BearlyCareAnymore
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71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....
Criminals don't always go around looking like "bad guys". The best way he can be a great golden bear is by following the lead of our mascot and going extinct. He's damaged the schools reputation and deeply hurt several people.

I know he was well liked, but it is pretty obvious that the only reason this might be a sad day is that someone everyone thought was a great guy turned out to be otherwise.
TheSouseFamily
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ESPN is actually running a video story on this with Bob Ley with the web headline being "Cal AD Fired After Claredon's (sic) Claims". SMH

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/
CRBear
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TheSouseFamily said:

ESPN is actually running a video story on this with Bob Ley with the web headline being "Cal AD Fired After Claredon's (sic) Claims". SMH

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/
I'm writing this 25 minutes after your post and the headline currently reads: CAL ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE FIRED AFTER CLAREDON'S CLAIMS

It's an unfortunate original headline but it didn't stay up long.
blungld
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I spent a lot of time with Mo back in the day. It is pretty soul-crushing that there was a hidden side to him that caused this damage to the athletes and school he professed to love, and how it undoes a special set of memories for me.

Mo definitely was the "The Mayor". He knew everyone in the athletic community and acted like a father figure. Reading this article it does raise the question that was always under the surface then but somehow never needed an answer: what exactly does he do? He was just a person to hang with and get the inside scoop from and chill in his office. He made Cal cool and comfortable (or so we thought).

Knowing him meant hanging with the top Cal athletes former, present, and future along with Cal celebrities and donors. He was connected--but in an affable low key way. That sense of community--or so I thought--was one of things that made Cal special to me and became part of the background support for our creation of Bear Territory. Each episode we filmed, when traveling on the road, we'd see Mo. At every game, we'd see Mo. When we needed to get in touch with a famous athlete, Mo could hook it up.

He was always kind and approachable. It makes me sad and appalled that this was in some way an act, or at least part of an act that he also used to instill confidence and then entrap female athletes. I never saw any suggestion of this and would never ever have believed it. But I do not doubt these athletes.

My thoughts and well wishes go to all who suffered abuse. And I hope that Mo is able to find a way to repay this debt and do right by these victims, the university, and himself.
FloriDreaming
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71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....
And I would suggest that the truth is somewhere in between. Nobody is all good or all bad. He's human - all people do good and bad things, and if you think someone is all one or the other, you're an ignorant fool.

He's being held accountable for bad actions. That doesn't automatically mean the good things he did were fraudulent, but perhaps people had projected a positive illusion on him that wasn't earned. That doesn't make him a fraud, it makes the people who worshiped him delusional. That sort of delusion is a trait that's all too common in the Cal athletic family and doesn't serve anyone well.

It seems there is a lesson here for Cal fans about avoiding ascribing hero status on human beings, no matter how much you may personally like them.
75bear
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With all due respect, there is no gray here. It's pretty black and white - Muqtar is not a good person.
beeasyed
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barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
Cal's own internal investigation have found the claims to be substantiated. Set aside what you think you know.

http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/23520569/cal-report-substantiates-wnba-star-layshia-clarendon-sexual-harassment-claims-former-athletic-department-employee
BearlyCareAnymore
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Uthaithani said:

71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....
And I would suggest that the truth is somewhere in between. Nobody is all good or all bad. He's human - all people do good and bad things, and if you think someone is all one or the other, you're an ignorant fool.

He's being held accountable for bad actions. That doesn't automatically mean the good things he did were fraudulent, but perhaps people had projected a positive illusion on him that wasn't earned. That doesn't make him a fraud, it makes the people who worshiped him delusional. That sort of delusion is a trait that's all too common in the Cal athletic family and doesn't serve anyone well.

It seems there is a lesson here for Cal fans about avoiding ascribing hero status on human beings, no matter how much you may personally like them.
1. Let me get this straight. He used his position to worm is way into several female athletes lives. What he did to this one particular athlete was force his way into the bathroom, pin her against a wall, and digitally penetrate her. And you are in the "truth is somewhere in between. He's human. All people do good and bad things" camp.

2. No one worshipped the guy or ascribed hero status. He was a personable guy who supported the athletes and was fun to be around. There was no more reason for "Cal fans" to know the guy was sexually assaulting women then anyone else. But you choose to defend the guy who committed sexual assault against several athletes so that you can turn it around and use it in your lame crusade against Cal fans.

Excuse me while I go shower and wash off the filth from having to see this. This is slimy even for you.
okaydo
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I wonder if Rodgers will delete this?





bearister
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71Bear said:

...He was a fraud.....


I think classifying him as a fraud is a major upgrade. If she had timely made a criminal complaint and he was convicted at trial he would be "repaying his debt" and "doing right" by residing in state prison for three, six, or eight years.
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socaliganbear
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OaktownBear said:

Uthaithani said:

71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....
And I would suggest that the truth is somewhere in between. Nobody is all good or all bad. He's human - all people do good and bad things, and if you think someone is all one or the other, you're an ignorant fool.

He's being held accountable for bad actions. That doesn't automatically mean the good things he did were fraudulent, but perhaps people had projected a positive illusion on him that wasn't earned. That doesn't make him a fraud, it makes the people who worshiped him delusional. That sort of delusion is a trait that's all too common in the Cal athletic family and doesn't serve anyone well.

It seems there is a lesson here for Cal fans about avoiding ascribing hero status on human beings, no matter how much you may personally like them.
1. Let me get this straight. He used his position to worm is way into several female athletes lives. What he did to this one particular athlete was force his way into the bathroom, pin her against a wall, and digitally penetrate her. And you are in the "truth is somewhere in between. He's human. All people do good and bad things" camp.

2. No one worshipped the guy or ascribed hero status. He was a personable guy who supported the athletes and was fun to be around. There was no more reason for "Cal fans" to know the guy was sexually assaulting women then anyone else. But you choose to defend the guy who committed sexual assault against several athletes so that you can turn it around and use it in your lame crusade against Cal fans.

Excuse me while I go shower and wash off the filth from having to see this. This is slimy even for you.
doing ding ding

The whole shtick is weird.
WildBear
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I only met him two or three times, but I always thought there was something fishy about this guy--and it's my job to evaluate the mental health of people. He didn't seem to be as open or as welcoming to people who weren't of a certain ilk/class/sex/status, but that's the case with a lot of people, but with him, it was a bit different.
PtownBear1
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I don't know MM and have no bias either way, but the article on ESPN certainly raises some questions. Memory is a very tricky thing and I would be very weary of an allegation based on a memory that only came out many years later through therapy.

Regardless, the volume of complaints certainly seems to indicate a pattern of inappropriate behavior warranting termination even if he did not engage in sexual assault as Clarendon is alleging.
socaliganbear
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PtownBear1 said:

I don't know MM and have no bias either way, but the article on ESPN certainly raises some questions. Memory is a very tricky thing and I would be very weary of an allegation based on a memory that only came out many years later through therapy.

Regardless, the volume of complaints certainly seems to indicate a pattern of inappropriate behavior warranting termination even if he did not engage in sexual assault as Clarendon is alleging.


Yeah, you can't really get around the part where he started masturbating in front of a student inside his office at Haas.
mbBear
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Uthaithani said:

71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....
And I would suggest that the truth is somewhere in between. Nobody is all good or all bad. He's human - all people do good and bad things, and if you think someone is all one or the other, you're an ignorant fool.

He's being held accountable for bad actions. That doesn't automatically mean the good things he did were fraudulent, but perhaps people had projected a positive illusion on him that wasn't earned. That doesn't make him a fraud, it makes the people who worshiped him delusional. That sort of delusion is a trait that's all too common in the Cal athletic family and doesn't serve anyone well.

It seems there is a lesson here for Cal fans about avoiding ascribing hero status on human beings, no matter how much you may personally like them.
"All too common in the Cal athletic family." What does this mean?
beartothebone
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mbBear said:

Uthaithani said:

71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....
And I would suggest that the truth is somewhere in between. Nobody is all good or all bad. He's human - all people do good and bad things, and if you think someone is all one or the other, you're an ignorant fool.

He's being held accountable for bad actions. That doesn't automatically mean the good things he did were fraudulent, but perhaps people had projected a positive illusion on him that wasn't earned. That doesn't make him a fraud, it makes the people who worshiped him delusional. That sort of delusion is a trait that's all too common in the Cal athletic family and doesn't serve anyone well.

It seems there is a lesson here for Cal fans about avoiding ascribing hero status on human beings, no matter how much you may personally like them.
"All too common in the Cal athletic family." What does this mean?
It means he thinks we're all stupid
barabbas
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71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....


Your simplifying something you know little about. He's a hardly a fraud to the hundreds of Cal student athletes who he is friends. Apparently, you trust the campus' folks to play jury and executioner. Their record of judgment is littered with political spite.
socaliganbear
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barabbas said:

71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....


Your simplifying something you know little about. He's a hardly a fraud to the hundreds of Cal student athletes who he is friends. Apparently, you trust the campus' folks to play jury and executioner. Their record of judgment is littered with political spite.
How little (or much) did you know about his jerking off in front of a student inside the AD offices? Did you know more about this incident than us?
Bobodeluxe
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Insiders pay for that information.
BearlyCareAnymore
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PtownBear1 said:

I don't know MM and have no bias either way, but the article on ESPN certainly raises some questions. Memory is a very tricky thing and I would be very weary of an allegation based on a memory that only came out many years later through therapy.

Regardless, the volume of complaints certainly seems to indicate a pattern of inappropriate behavior warranting termination even if he did not engage in sexual assault as Clarendon is alleging.
I believe you've misunderstood the facts here. It is not that the memory came out in therapy years later. She's always known that it happened. It is that she didn't experience or recognize her psychological symptoms until years later. This is extremely common among people that go through an assault or abuse or some other traumatic event. They just try and deal with it, think they are fine, and then something triggers an emotional response, or it just all catches up with them. For instance, it is extremely common for those who are abused as children to have parenthood trigger a fear response - seeing themselves in their children and not wanting that abuse to happen to them and in that experience realizing that it had been really horrible for them. I think if you read her story again you will see that she is not claiming that she had forgotten it happened and then remembered it. She is claiming that her injuries didn't manifest until later.
BearlyCareAnymore
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barabbas said:

71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....


Your simplifying something you know little about. He's a hardly a fraud to the hundreds of Cal student athletes who he is friends. Apparently, you trust the campus' folks to play jury and executioner. Their record of judgment is littered with political spite.
I get that it is hard to accept that someone you know and like might be capable of horrible acts, and I for one am happy to give you the space to process it and come to terms with it. But this is not a he said/she said situation. It is a he said/several she's said situation. I have trouble imagining that he is the type of person that would inspire the level of conspiracy that would be required to frame him this totally.

Quite honestly, it is a classic, even clich, profile of an abuser to be extremely charming, friendly and to be well liked by many. Of course most charming, friendly, well liked people are just that. But the fact that someone is friends with hundreds just doesn't make being an abuser less likely.
barabbas
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WildBear said:

I only met him two or three times, but I always thought there was something fishy about this guy--and it's my job to evaluate the mental health of people. He didn't seem to be as open or as welcoming to people who weren't of a certain ilk/class/sex/status, but that's the case with a lot of people, but with him, it was a bit different.


Obviously, you didn't know him.
SRBear
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well...it seems a lot of people didn't "really" know him.
71Bear
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barabbas said:

71Bear said:

barabbas said:

Sad day. Mohamed is a great Golden Bear. This is a tough one for me to believe.
I would suggest that he is not so great, given the reason he was terminated. He was a fraud.....


Your simplifying something you know little about. He's a hardly a fraud to the hundreds of Cal student athletes who he is friends. Apparently, you trust the campus' folks to play jury and executioner. Their record of judgment is littered with political spite.
Oh, ok.... He is a man of unimpeachable character. He is the friend of the downtrodden. He is a saint worthy of the admiration of all those with whom he came in contact. Does that help?

The fact is he was terminated for reprehensible behavior. He is a fraud. In my opinion, he is the worst kind of human that trods this earth - a person who befriends individuals, gaining their trust and then betraying that trust in the most egregious manner. If there is a hell, he will find a niche reserved for human vermin.

I feel sad for you. Anyone as blind as you are regarding this matter deserves pity. I hope you seek help so you can better understand why this is such a huge issue........
bearister
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71Bear said:

... a person who befriends individuals, gaining their trust and then betraying that trust in the most egregious manner. ......


aka: a predator

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shadow-boxing/201406/3-signs-inconspicuous-predator-in-your-midst%3famp
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concernedparent
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barabbas said:

WildBear said:

I only met him two or three times, but I always thought there was something fishy about this guy--and it's my job to evaluate the mental health of people. He didn't seem to be as open or as welcoming to people who weren't of a certain ilk/class/sex/status, but that's the case with a lot of people, but with him, it was a bit different.


Obviously, you didn't know him.
The hills people choose to die on are fascinating. This guy is a sexual predator, whose nature has been corroborated by multiple athletes spanning two decades, and an in house investigation.
bearister
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concernedparent said:

barabbas said:

WildBear said:

I only met him two or three times, but I always thought there was something fishy about this guy--and it's my job to evaluate the mental health of people. He didn't seem to be as open or as welcoming to people who weren't of a certain ilk/class/sex/status, but that's the case with a lot of people, but with him, it was a bit different.


Obviously, you didn't know him.
The hills people choose to die on are fascinating. This guy is a sexual predator, whose nature has been corroborated by multiple athletes spanning two decades, and an in house investigation.

Wonder if he likes puddin?
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BearGreg
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Staff
An interesting question in our society today is the use or non use of the word "and" when describing people.

Example: Joe Paterno was a hall of fame football coach who positively impacted the lives of 1000+ student athletes AND he was a leader who abdicated his responsibility to young children and society in general by hiring, enabling and choosing to not investigate one his closest assistants who proved to be a horrific child molester.

bear2034
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I had to google Mohamed Muqtar, the original post didn't explain who he is.
71Bear
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BearGreg said:

An interesting question in our society today is the use or non use of the word "and" when describing people.

Example: Joe Paterno was a hall of fame football coach who positively impacted the lives of 1000+ student athletes AND he was a leader who abdicated his responsibility to young children and society in general by hiring, enabling and choosing to not investigate one his closest assistants who proved to be a horrific child molester.


Some things are black and white. There is no "and". One of those is abusing one's position/power in order to take advantage of others. Another is covering up malfeasance because it might reflect poorly on the party instigating the cover up.

In other words, Paterno was a fraud. He enabled an asst. coach's behavior by not taking action to stop it. He feared what publicizing the actions might have meant to his program/legacy.

Abusive behavior is wrong. Period. There is no "and".
okaydo
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oskirules said:

I had to google Mohamed Muqtar, the original post didn't explain who he is.

I wonder how many of us don't know who he is....I didn't really know about him (I might've heard about him before) before Rodgers posted that image above last summer.
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