EFTA02519558.pdf

From: Lawrence Krauss Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2018 1:19 AM To: Lawrence Krauss Cc: Keith Porter; Jablanski; Patty Papke; Lawrence Krauss Subject: Re: Tempe workshop Dear =eith: ennifer Smyser; Ben Loehrke; Danielle I =eread my note to you, and realize that I too may have acted before my =ead was fully calm, and I apologize to you for that. While I am =isappointed that you proactively communicated to all the participants =efore writing to Amelia, or me or Rachel, but what is done is done, and =t was probably inappropriate for me to ask you to write a follow-up =etter. It should be up to you to decide how you would proceed following =ur communication. (For what it is worth, I did have a brief =onversation with Ben near the end of the meeting expressing to him =fforts by a news organization to defame me, in the context of the =iscussion we all had the night before.) In any case, I am very =orry you felt blindsided, but given what I described in my letter below =t certainly didn't seem appropriate at that time to talk widely =bout something that had no credibility or seemed to have no likelihood =f appearing. As=far as the video of the public event is concerned, once again, we will =efinitely remove you from the film if you wish. But at this time =t seems to us to be disingenuous to retroactively remove all evidence =hat Stanley was one of the supporters of the event, which after all, =ent very well and was on a topic that all of us care about. =ertainly the Stanley Foundation can make different decisions in the =uture about partnering with Origins, but I at least do not think it is =ppropriate to try and change the realities of the past, by erasing =vidence of what I believe were all of our honest efforts to cooperate =o produce something we could all be proud of. I hope you agree. =nbsp; Sincerely, Lawrence Lawrence M. =rauss Director, The Origins Project at ASU Co-Director, Cosmology Initiative Foundation Professor School of Earth & Space Exploration and Ph sics =epartment Arizona State University, P.O. Box =71404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 Research Office: Assistant (Jessica) Drigins Office (Cynthia): origins.asu.edu -Origins Project =0 Year Celebration- Be a part of =omething 10 years in the making! April 5-9th 2018 — Visit for more info <https://www.originsl0year.com/> EFTA_R1_01655811 EFTA02519558 On Feb 26, 2018, at 10:59 AM, Lawrence Krauss =rote: Dear Keith: I am very concerned by your letter, indicating your actions =nd requests, a number of which seem both inappropriate and =nprofessional. I understand your shock and concern upon seeing the =uzzfeed story but I believe your response was inappropriate for a =umber of reasons. Let me outline them: 1. In December Buzzfeed contacted my University and me =ith almost everything that was in the story. I provided =ounter-evidence including information from ASU and ANU, another =niversity I am affiliated with that investigated the Australia =negation. As a result of this I received a note from Buzzfeed =hat they were not publishing the story. Buzzfeed continued to =ester my institution for information, but as there was none, and as =ssentially the entire story is false ( the counter-evidence we provided =s not included in the story) there was no expectation that a story =ould appear. I had in fact related my concerns about Buzzfeed to =achel Bronson in November, which prepared her for the slanderous call =he received from them shortly after making false claims and asking why =he allowed me to be associated with the Bulletin. She understood that =he allegations were false and had been dealt with. Moreover, a lawyer =ho I had contracted because of concerns about Buzzfeed had prepared and =ent a cease and desist letter to them to stop their harassment. =e had no expectation that they would publish false stories after being =nformed that they were false, and for all of these reasons it would =ave been inappropriate to bring this personal matter up to you or your =rganization at the time. 2. I am very disappointed that you decided to send a letter =o all participants about this without consulting me or my staff. This =as unprofessional as well as being discourteous to both me, my Origins =olleagues, the ASU Origins Project itself, and all of the =orkshop participants. What you have effectively done is to =ropagate what we believe was slander to a broader audience, and without =ny substantiation was extremely inappropriate for you to do in the =ontext of your position as a representative of the Stanley Foundation, =ndependent of any personal anger you may felt. It would have =een appropriate to consult us first. It is unprofessional to =espond personally in the heat of anger, and any decision about this =hould have waited till calmer heads prevailed. 3. Your reaction regarding the workshop is also =f some concern here. Allegation, and indeed allegation by =uzzfeed of all places, is just that. There should not only be a =resumption of innocence but you should note that all organizations that =ave looked at these claims, including ASU and the Origins Project, have =ismissed them. ASU was aware of all the allegations and chose to take =o action because there was no evidence. I am saddened that you, =n behalf of your organization acted so rashly as to email participants, =nd now want to remove Stanley's name from an event that everyone =nvolved felt was professional and wonderful and had nothing at all to =o with the Buzzfeed story. You are essentially impugning the =rigins Project and ASU because of your concerns about me, valid or =ot. And for your information, I have never been accused or found =n violation of sexual harassment regulations by any organization with =hich I have been associated. I have not been 'banned'=from universities or institutes, as I informed the Buzzfeed reporter =long with documentary evidence. I have never groped, assaulted, =r harassed anyone. It =s too late to completely undo some of what has been done, but I would =equest two things. 2 EFTA_R1_01655812 EFTA02519559 (a)= First, that you write the participants a letter of apology =ndicating that your original email was sent before the matter was =iscussed the me and the Origins team. That I have reported =o you that not only are the accusations false, but that ASU had been =ware of them and had dismissed them. And that you have been =nformed that Buzzfeed had been informed of this, along with =ounter-evidence provided to them, prior to publication and in December =ad indicated they were not going ahead with publication. For this =eason, this issue was not discussed with you prior to the =eeting. (b)=That you reconsider your requests regarding the workshop. We =ould certainly be willing to remove any video of you personally, but =our other requests are inappropriate And as we said earlier, we =ould never use any video of any participant at the workshop without =heir explicit permission. Sincerely, Lawrence Krauss Lawrence M. =rauss Director, The Origins Project at ASU Co-Director, Cosmology Initiative Foundation Professor School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics =epartment Arizona State University, P.O. Box =71404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 Research Office: I Assistant (Jessica): Ori ins Office C nthia) origins.asu.edu -Origins Project 10 Year =elebration- Be a part of something 10 years in the making! April 5-9th 2018 — Visit =or more info <image002.png> On Feb 26, 2018, at 7:26 AM, Keith Porter <mailto > wrote: Dear Amelia, The accusations against Lawrence have caused us considerable =istress (no doubt you are in the same boat). I am particularly =oncerned that, according to the BuzzFeed article, Lawrence was aware of =he pending story since at least December yet did not alert us that the =tory was coming. 3 EFTA_R1_01655813 EFTA02519560 Offic Cell: This =ailure to disclose is unprofessional and, as I am informing you =ow, forces us to sever all ties with Lawrence. By extension this means =e need to sever ties with the ASU Origins project until the problem is resolved. I am cc'ing Lawrence on this message (along with the =elevant Stanley Foundation staff). I have rent an email to all participants in the Tempe event letting them know =hat we were unaware of these accusations. Further, I request that you do not =ublish any video from the Tempe workshop or the Perry event. If you =roceed with publishing video from either, I ask that you remove all =eferences to the Stanley Foundation in any form, remove the faces and =omments from all Stanley Foundation staff (including my intro at the =erry event), and blur out the Stanley Foundation logo anytime it =ppears on screen. I also recommend that you seek specific consent from all =articipants in the Tempe workshop before publishing their images or =omments in video or other form. I deeply regret this turn of events, =nd I hope you understand our position. Thanks Keith Keith =orter President mailto 4 EFTA_R1_01655814 EFTA02519561