WNBA’s Layshia Clarendon sues UC Berkeley, saying she was sexually assaulted by college employee

Atlanta Dream star Layshia Clarendon filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday, alleging she was sexually assaulted by a longtime employee of the UC Berkeley athletic department during her freshman year at the college.

In the suit, Clarendon claims she was assaulted by the assistant athletic director for student services, Mohamed Muqtar, now 61, whom she saw “as a mentor and father figure.”

ESPN was the first to report the suit, which claims negligence against the university’s regents and names Muqtar as a defendant. According to the suit, the school did not investigate “allegations of Muqtar sexually harassing and assaulting athletes [that] surfaced as early as 2007 and/or 2008.”

“My biggest hope is that he never does this to anyone else,” she tweeted Wednesday. “That no one else has to suffer under his hand, or him violating their bodies again. That this would be the end of him assaulting people. #TimesUp”

Clarendon added: “It feels there is a big level of responsibility there for me, to make sure this doesn’t continue. And he doesn’t continue to harm other people.”

Muqtar, who has worked for Cal’s athletic department for more than 25 years, has been placed on paid leave, the school said in a statement Wednesday night.

“Cal Athletics is and will always be committed to fostering a culture where everyone feels safe, welcome and respected,” the university said in its statement. “Layshia holds a special place in our history for her contributions to Cal women’s basketball both on and off the court and we are saddened to hear of the allegations that are coming to light today.”

Clarendon played basketball for the Golden Bears from 2009 to 2013, leading the team to the Final Four her senior season. This year, she made the WNBA All-Star team for the first time in her five-year career.

Clarendon wrote an essay published by the website Mic in April titled, “As a sexual assault survivor, I walked alone in my shame for years.” She said Wednesday that she hopes the lawsuit will help her overcome that feeling.

“I want the shame to not be my own anymore, because it’s not my shame to carry, but it’s something that I’ve had to carry,” Clarendon tweeted. “It’s a horrible thing to live in silence, to carry that pain and that weight and the guilt.”

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii