For roughly six months in 2014-2015, UC Berkeley men’s basketball assistant coach Yann Hufnagel sent sexually harassing text messages to a local female reporter, an investigation by the school’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination has found -- a persecution that culminated in a February 2015 incident in which he “propositioned her for sex" in his apartment building's parking garage.
According to a March 14, 2016, report, Hufnagel responded to her rebuffs by thwarting her professionally, providing faulty information as she pursued a story, with this newfound lack of access ultimately costing her her job.
“[He] was creating a situation in which he would have had power over me.”
The redacted investigation, which was published by Deadspin on Tuesday (and can be found at the end of this post), specifies that the harassing messages began 16 months ago, in November 2014. They persisted until May 2015, more than two months after the aforementioned scene in the parking garage, in which the alleged victim demanded that Hufnagel let her “the fuck out,” as the garage door had closed and he was the sole party able to open it once more. For "about 15 minutes," the “scared” reporter sat in the car as Hufnagel “talked about oral sex” and “kept insisting” that she come up to his apartment.
Hufnagel’s case is part of a much-needed, much larger sexual harassment and violence bust at Cal, which has seen even a former law school dean disciplined for his egregious breach of conduct. In the same vein, the university cut ties with Hufnagel on Monday, upon the close of its seven-month examination into the allegations. For what it's worth, Hufnagel went on to deny responsibility on Monday, tweeting that the accusations were “fruitless.”
Just like the ensuing investigation, the Hufnagel-reporter dynamic itself was a long, protracted affair. If you were ever curious what it looks like when a man with power harasses a reporter, taking advantage of his greater authority and her professional need for access, look no further. This, at least according to the school’s findings, is what was happening in Northern California for all those months in 2014 and 2015.
The Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination’s full investigation is below. But here are just a few examples of what this illicit attempt at quid-pro-quo looked like, as journalistic access was somehow seemingly -- and sickeningly -- associated with sexual compensation.
According to the accuser, 90 percent of the “harassment” was “via text,” often in situations in which, per the report, Hufnagel would “turn” her attempts to gather information for articles into “sexual innuendoes.” She was put into a position in which she needed to repeatedly “'deflect'” his “‘use … [of] power.’”
The first time she noticed Hufnagel’s “'inappropriate'” and “'flirtatious'” behavior was just two weeks after they were first introduced, in November 2014. On the night of the parking garage incident three months later, they had arranged at a meeting at a bar/restaurant called "Jupiter." According to the reporter, Hufnagel, after a couple drinks, "'insisted'" that she drive him home.
Her memory of the rest of the night is worth quoting at length:
As soon as I drove in[to the parking lot], the garage door closed behind me, and he motioned for me to pull over into a spot – but not just a normal spot, a spot where my car would have been stacked on top of another car, and I would have needed assistance (obviously) if I had wanted to leave and get my car down ... [He] was creating a situation in which he would have had power over me – he would have had the power to dictate if/when I could leave, had I not first realized what was happening. I told him that I did not need to pull my car into that spot. He told me I did, and again informed me: ‘You’re coming up.’ Notably, he never asked me, as a question.”
Tug-of-wars over their meeting locations, specifically, occurred with seeming frequency. She, for example, would text him asking to meet at a Starbucks. He would respond by suggesting meeting in her apartment instead. And then he would go further, suggesting that they also engage in three-way sexual intercourse.
Eventually, the situation erupted. In late March, Hufnagel supposedly gave the reporter bad information on a story -- leading her to write an ill-informed, professionally detrimental article. It appears as if she saw his misdirection as part of a personal vendetta. He effectively shrugged off that accusation, claiming he was treating her like the rest of the media pack.
Accusations, investigations and aftermaths in cases like this are, inherently, messy and multidimensional. There’s no clean-cut version of an alleged half-year harassment. And while we may never know the full story -- we’ll never be in the Jupiter bar that February night, we’ll never be in that parking garage with the two of them -- it is important to note how quickly (two weeks!) the relationship between the person holding the power and the one seeking necessary professional assistance devolved into this contentious, upsetting, far-too-common abusive dynamic.
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