EFTA02519677.pdf

From: Sent: To: Subject: Lawrence Krauss < Monday, February 26, 2018 4:33 PM jeffrey E. Re: URGENT: BuzzFeed News inquiry re allegations of sexual harassment by Lawrence Krauss thanks.. I don't know about others I will =elay this to Nancy. Lawrence M. Krauss Director, The Origins Project at ASU Co-Director,=Cosmology Initiative Foundation =rofessor School of =arth & Space Exploration and 85287-1404 Research Office: <mailto origins.asu.edu I twitter.com/Ikrauss1 I Physics Department Arizona=State University, P.O. Box 871404, Tempe, AZ Assistant (Jessica): Origins Office (Cynthia): > =nbsp; krauss.faculty.asu.edu -Origins Project 10 Year =elebration- Be a part of something 10 years in the making! April 5-9th 2018 — Visit for more info =/div> On =eb 26, 2018, at 8:28 AM, jeffrey E. <jeevacation@gmail.com> wrote: LAWRENCE !! Since the story =roke late last week in Buzzfeed about the numerous allegations of sexual harassment and creepy behavior by Lawrence Krauss, we've been treated to a litany of bad arguments in his defense, =any by his wife, who used a secondary Twitter =ccount to engage people on the issue. The arguments are almost =niformly illogical and disingenuous. l=propose you write an article debunking alien abductions using the =ame argument. these people didnt know one abother. =here are 100 of them. why should they lie. . =tc. TELL nancy to stop. you are getting =nto dangerous territory. . this is not a court of =aw.. facts DO NOT make a difference. . =s you can see there are now some others who have been too afraid to =ome forward in the article. . you are self inflicting =br class=""> On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 10:48 AM, Lawrence Krauss =span dir="ltr" class="">< <mailto > =rote: The correspondence from Ron Lindsey to Peter =ldhous. Lawrence M. =rauss EFTA_R1_01655978 EFTA02519677 Director, The =rigins Project at ASU Foundation Professor School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics =epartment Arizona State =niversity, P.O. Box =71404, Tempe, AZ =5287-1404 Research Office: <tel > , Assistant =Jessica): <tel Origins Office =Cynthia): <tel <mailto > =nbsp; origins.asu.edu <http://origins.asu.edu/> I twitter.com/Ikraussl I krauss.faculty.asu.edu <DA866543-7401-4A5A-8E5=-FD32E33A50EC.png> Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: Ronald Lindsay Date: February 26, 2018 at 7:17:07 AM PST To: <mailto Subject: Fwd: Fwd: URGENT: BuzzFeed News =nquiry re allegations of sexual harassment by Lawrence Krauss My =orrespondence with Aldhous. As usual, read from the bottom =p. Forwarded message From: Ronald =indsay < Date: Mon, =ec 11, 2017 at 7:21AM Subject: Re: Fwd: URGENT: BuzzFeed =ews inquiry re allegations of sexual harassment by Lawrence Krauss To: Peter Aldhous < Dear=Mr. Aldhous, Adam Isaak resigned because I had a public spat with his =irlfriend, Rebecca Watson, who had issued a public call for CFI =mployees to quit. (That dispute is a whole other story, tangential to =our Krauss piece, so I will not get into it here.) Timing is important =ere. The email from Pat was in March. The dispute with Watson started =n mid-May, after which Adam stopped showing up for work. (He said he =as sick & then went on vacation, or vice versa). He then then left =ome time in June. If the Krauss matter "pushed [him] over the edge," =hen he was tenaciously hanging on to the ledge for a few =onths. 2 EFTA_R1_01655979 EFTA02519678 The =mail from Pat Beauchamp was in the first person and Pat indicated she =as speaking for herself. (I found the email exchange last night; I will =orward it to you.) Adam had never been shy about expressing his =oncerns to me -- he asked for raises, complained about the hosts on the =odcast he was producing etc. The notion that he and Pat were working =ogether but that he decided he could not reveal his participation is =ifficult to credit. I will be traveling to my home this evening. Plan to reach my =ome by 7:45, but if I don't answer right away, please try a bit later. =y number is: <tel:i > Sincerely, R. =indsay On Sun, Dec 10, 2017 at 10:45 PM, =eter Aldhous < > wrote: Dear =r. Lindsay, Thank you for your response, which we will =onsider in detail. Shall we speak at 7.45pm Eastern tomorrow? Do let me know what number to call. To answer your question, the CFI =mployee who resigned was Adam Isaak. He told us that he helped Patricia Beauchamp draft an email to you outlining their concerns about inviting Lawrence Krauss on the 2014 cruise. He explained that his =esignation had a broader context, relating to his concerns about sexism and online harassment in the skeptical movement. But he said that CFI's continued embrace of Krauss, in the face of concerns expressed by staff, was what "pushed me over the edge." Sincerely, Peter Aldhous On 12/10/17 7:27 PM, Ronald Lindsay wrote: Dear Mr. =ldhous, Let me note a couple of =hings at the outset. First, I would be happy to speak to you regarding the allegations in your email. You can reach me at my cell phone number, which is However, I am unavailable tomorrow (Monday) because of prior commitments until approximately 7:45 PM. Next, you should =now that I'm not an employee of CFI nor do I have any authority to speak on behalf of CFI. I'm writing to you from my personal email account in part to underscore that point. I do retain a CFI email address in part as a courtesy to me and in part because it serves a business purpose (for example, I still receive occasional emails addressed to the president of the organization). 3 EFTA_R1_01655980 EFTA02519679 Turning to the substance of your allegations, first you should be aware that I take the issue of sexual harassment very seriously. This is confirmed by the fact that after I was hired by CFI as its in- house lawyer (a position I held prior to becoming president and CEO) I insisted that the organization adopt a comprehensive zero-tolerance harassment policy covering workplace harassment. Moreover, during the time I was president and CEO we had three separate state trainings for the entire staff on sexual harassment issues. In addition, where necessary, we did not hesitate to expend significant resources, including retaining outside investigators, to conduct serious, detailed inquiries into harassment claims. One such inquiry cost the organization over $40,000. Therefore, any suggestion that I do not personally take harassment claims seriously is amply disconfirmed by my record. Regarding the =lleged incident on the 2011 cruise, the first I became aware of it was when Pat Beauchamp, =FI's business manager and the employee responsible for cruise logistics, wrote to me in 2013 indicating she objected to inviting Lawrence Krauss on our upcoming Galapagos cruise. I found this strange, and I responded to her almost immediately asking the reasons for her objection. She gave two reasons. The first was that Krauss did not pay sufficient attention to the guests on the 2011 cruise. I had heard this concern from one guest myself; on the other hand, I also heard from several guests that they thought Krauss's presentations =ere excellent and a highlight of the cruise. Accordingly, I did not give this concern much weight. The second =eason was that Krauss had allegedly asked a female guest on the cruise to join him and his partner, apparently for some sort of sexual activity (I cannot recall whether Krauss was engaged or married or just seriously involved with his female companion at the time, although they were clearly romantically involved and seemed very much in love). This is the first I had heard of this proposition. No complaint by the guest or anyone else had been made to me at the time of the cruise, although I was on the cruise and clearly visible throughout the =ruise. I asked Ms. Beauchamp for =ontact information for this guest. I did call the guest and she substantially confirmed what Ms. Beauchamp had said. I apologized on behalf of the organization. The guest indicated although she was taken aback by Krauss's =roposition at the time, she did not want to pursue the matter further. I then got in contact with Krauss. Krauss denied the allegation. In light of the guest's reluctance to pursue the matter and Krauss's own denial and, importantly, =ecause between the time of the 2011 cruise and the Galapagos cruise we had instituted a policy regarding harassment at any CFI event, which covers not just employees, but speakers and attendees, I decided to go ahead with my plan and have Krauss as a speaker on the Galapagos cruise. Krauss was fully aware of our harassment policy regarding CFI events because we had had a discussion about it. Therefore, I expected him to comply with that policy on the Galapagos cruise. As far as I know he did, because we received no complaints about his conduct. Nor have we received any complaints about his conduct at other events. Let me just take a moment to highlight the 2012 policy, which you can find in full here, http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/cfis_new_policy_on_hostile_conduct_harassment_at_conferences/ along with the announcement I made explaining the rationale for the policy. This policy was, certainly at its time, arguably the strongest any nonprofit organization had regarding conduct at its events. Again, this policy shows that any suggestion that CFI, as an organization, or that I personally took a lax attitude regarding harassment is completely without factual =oundation. In your email you mentioned =hat one staffer resigned after I invited Krauss on the Galapagos cruise. l'= not aware of any staffer resigning because of that. If you give me a name I could comment on the reasons for the staffer leaving. Ms. Beauchamp remained an employee of CFI (and went on the Galapagos cruise with Krauss). You mentioned also the comments that were made to me in March 2012 by Melody Hensley. Let me give you the background for that. CFI was holding an event prior to the 2012 Reason Rally in DC. Richard Dawkins, Jessica Alquist, Jamie Raskin, and Lawrence Krauss were scheduled to speak at the event. Melody Hensley was heavily involved in the planning for the event and in fact was tapped to make introductions for the 4 EFTA_R1_01655981 EFTA02519680 speakers, including Krauss. (At the time she was in charge of the DC local branch.) During the planning for the event she gave no indication whatsoever that she had any hesitation about introducing or dealing with Krauss. (I will forward you some email correspondence confirming this.) As I recall, Krauss's schedule resulted in his planned arrival being a little later than the others. As it turned out, he was even further delayed. At some point when it became clear that Krauss was going to be late, Hensley turned to me and said, "I know why =rauss isn't coming; he's embarrassed to see me." I asked Hensley what she =eant by this. She said Krauss had made a pass at her several years earlier and she had rebuffed him. I asked for some details. She said she was in a hotel room with him (I can't recall whether she said it was Krauss's hotel room, but = think it was), and that Krauss tried to kiss her. She pushed him away and said she wasn't interested. I asked if Krauss persisted; she said he did not. Thinking out loud, I believe I said something to the effect of 'well, if you =ant to make a complaint you probably can, although I'm not sure our policy at that =ime would cover that.' Ms. Hensley said she was not interested in making a formal complaint. Ms. Hensley'= statement that I "responded to her with silence" is absolutely false and I categorically =nd unqualifiedly deny it. We talked about her concern, as indicated. Ms. Hensley= recall must be failing her. Given the passage =f time (six years), the fact that Hensley did not want to pursue the matter, the fact that Krauss desisted when Hensley indicated she wasn't interested, the =act that Hensley didn't even seem very bothered by the incident (as indicated, she had expressed no hesitation in seeing Krauss), and the fact that we had no policy covering conduct by nonemployees back in 2006 (in fact, CFI's =ero-tolerance policy covering employees themselves was not implemented until 2007, I believe -- I was just hired as the attorney in July 2006), I decided not to do any further about this particular incident. However, the incident, along with observations I heard at the Women in Secularism conference which we held later in the spring of 2012 (observations which did not mention Krauss, but rather some speakers at non-CFI events), was a factor in my thinking about the need for a policy covering conduct by invited speakers and guests at CFI conferences. Ms. Hensley made no other complaint to me about Krauss, nor did she ever express to me her belief that we should not invite Krauss to events. In closing, =et me state that any accusations stating that I neglected to take harassment complaints seriously are false. Furthermore, I would regard them as a malicious attack on my character and my professional reputation. Sincerely, Ronald A. =indsay Forwarded message - From: Ronald Lindsay < Date: Sun, Dec 10, 2017 at 9:15 PM Subject: Fwd: URGENT: BuzzFeed News inquiry re allegations of sexual harassment by Lawrence Krauss To: <mailto 5 EFTA_R1_01655982 EFTA02519681 Forwarded message From: Peter Aldhous =span dir="ltr" class="">< Date: Sun, Dec 10, 2017 at 8:13 PM Subject: URGENT: BuzzFeed News inquiry re allegations of sexual harassment by Lawrence Krauss To: =/b> <mailto Mr. =indsay: =br class=""> I'm a reporter for BuzzFeed News who =as been investigating sexual misconduct allegations against Lawrence =rauss. The =tory concerns Krauss's actions towards students while a =rofessor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, as well as his =onduct in non-academic settings as a prominent figure in the skeptics =ovement. I am reporting this story along with two of my colleagues on =he science desk, Azeen Ghorayshi and Virginia Hughes. Our =tory is about several allegations of sexual misconduct dating from 2006 =.0 2016. Our reporting also goes into how the various institutions =rauss has been affiliated with — Case Western, Arizona State =niversity, the Australian National University, the New College of the =umanities and the Center for Inquiry, for which you formerly served as =resident — have handled complaints and concerns about his =ehavior during this time. Our =tory is corroborated by emails, university documents, official =omplaints, testimony from victims and witnesses, and interviews with =ore than two dozen of Krauss's current and former academic =olleagues, students, and peers in the skeptics movement. I am =riting to you now because you are personally named in the story, and =ecause you had executive responsibility for CFI's actions =uring the time of some of the alleged incidents. I =anted to offer you the opportunity to comment and/or respond to the =ain facts we plan to publish regarding your involvement as the former =ead of CFI during this time. If you wish to comment on any of these =indings, we need to hear from you as soon as possible. We =re planning on publishing our story Tuesday morning US Eastern Time. =/span> Based =n our reporting so far, this is what we plan to publish that concerns =ou: One incident involving Krauss allegedly =ccurred in May 2011 on a CFI =ruise. =/span> Attendees had paid several thousand dollars to join a cultural =our of the Greek islands, featuring lectures from scientists and =riters, including Krauss. w Krauss allegedly propositioned a female =ruise-goer, who rejected an invitation to join him and his female =ompanion for sex in their cabin. 6 EFTA_R1_01655983 EFTA02519682 No complaint was made, but the incident was =eported to a CFI staffer =br class=""> at the time. CFI's leadership continued to embrace =rauss, making him an =onorary member of its board of directors in December 2011. =/span> But at least two staffers were sufficiently =oncerned about reports of Krauss's behavior that they urged you =ot to invite him on a 2014 cruise of =he Galapagos Islands. In June 2013, after you rejected their advice =nd invited him on the cruise, one of those staffers resigned. =/span> N At a conference in March 2012, another woman, =ho at that point was also an employee of CFI, told you about an =ncident in 2006 in which Krauss forcibly kissed and groped her in a =otel room. According to this woman, after she told you about this in =erson, you responded to her with silence. The woman later told two other employees in =FI's management about the incident, and expressed her =iscomfort at having Krauss continue to speak at events. x CFI continued to book Krauss as a speaker at =ts events. Again, =f you wish to comment on or clarify any of these points, please get in =ouch with us as soon as possible. If I do not respond immediately it is =ecause I am on another call, so please leave the best phone number to =each you. Thanks, Peter =ldhous <te <te Peter Aldhous, PhD Science reporter I BuzzFeed News tel: <tel cell: <te <mailto @paldhous <https://twitter.com/paldhous> www.peteraldhous.com <http://www.peteraldhous.com/> Ronald A. =indsay Senior Research Fellow Center for Inquiry 7 EFTA_R1_01655984 EFTA02519683 Cell: Peter Aldhous, PhD Science reporter I BuzzFeed News tel: <tel: cell: <tel <mailto @paldhous <https://twitter.com/paldhous> www.peteraldhous.com <http://www.peteraldhous.com/> please =ote The information contained in this =ommunication is confidential, may be attorney-client =rivileged, may constitute inside information, and is =ntended only for the use of the addressee. It is the =roperty of JEE Unauthorized use, disclosure =r copying of this communication or any part thereof is =trictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have =eceived this communication in error, please notify us =mmediately by return e-mail or by e-mail to jeevacation@gmail.com, and destroy this =ommunication and all copies thereof, including all =ttachments. copyright -all rights reserved 8 EFTA_R1_01655985 EFTA02519684