Fwd: board statement..
Dear =melia,
The =ccusations against Lawrence have caused us considerable distress (no =oubt you are in the same boat). I am particularly concerned that, =ccording to the BuzzFeed article, Lawrence was aware of the pending =tory since at least December yet did not alert us that the story was =oming.
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 =esolved. I am cc'ing Lawrence on this message (along with the =elevant Stanley Foundation staff).
I have =ent an email to all participants in the Tempe event letting them know =hat we were unaware of these accusations.
Further, = request that you do not publish any video from the Tempe workshop or =he Perry event. If you proceed with publishing video from either, I ask =hat you remove all references to the Stanley Foundation in any form, =emove the faces and comments from all Stanley Foundation staff =including my intro at the Perry event), and blur out the Stanley =oundation logo anytime it appears on screen.
I also =ecommend that you seek specific consent from all participants in the =empe workshop before publishing their images or comments in video or =ther form.
l=deeply regret this turn of events, and I hope you understand our =osition.
Thanks
Keith
Keith Porter
President
The Stanley Foundation
<mailto:
Office
Cell:
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Dear Keith:
I am very concerned by your letter, =ndicating your actions and requests, a number of which seem both =nappropriate and unprofessional. I understand your shock and =oncern upon seeing the Buzzfeed story but I believe your response was =nappropriate for a number of reasons. Let me outline them:
In December Buzzfeed =ontacted my University and me with almost everything that was in =he story. I provided counter-evidence including information from =SU and ANU, another University I am affiliated with that investigated =he Australia allegation. As a result of this I received a note =rom Buzzfeed that they were not publishing the story. Buzzfeed =ontinued to pester my institution for information, but as there was =one, and as essentially the entire story is false ( the =ounter-evidence we provided is not included in the story) there was no =xpectation that a story would appear. I had in fact related my =oncerns about Buzzfeed to Rachel Bronson in November, which prepared =er for the slanderous call she received from them shortly after making =alse claims and asking why she allowed me to be associated with the =ulletin. She understood that the allegations were false and had been =ealt with. Moreover, a lawyer who I had contracted because of concerns =bout Buzzfeed had prepared and sent a cease and desist letter to them =o stop their harassment. We had no expectation that they would =ublish false stories after being informed that they were false, and for =11 of these reasons it would have been inappropriate to bring this =ersonal matter up to you or your organization at the time. =nbsp;
I =m very disappointed that you decided to send a letter to all =articipants about this without consulting me or my staff. This was =nprofessional 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.
Your reaction regarding the workshop =s also of 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 is too late to completely undo some =f what has been done, but I would request two
things.
(a) First, that you write the =articipants a letter of apology indicating that your original email was =ent before the matter was discussed the me and the Origins team. =hat I have reported to you that not only are the accusations =alse, but that ASU had been aware of them and had dismissed them. =nd that you have been informed that Buzzfeed had been informed of =his, along with counter-evidence provided to them, prior to publication =nd in December had indicated they were not going ahead with =ublication. For this reason, this issue was not discussed with you =rior to the meeting.
(b) That you reconsider your requests =egarding the workshop. We would certainly be willing to remove =ny video of you personally, but your other requests are inappropriate =nbsp;And as we said earlier, we would never use any video of any =articipant at the workshop without their explicit =ermission.
Sincerely,
Lawrence Krauss
Lawrence M. Krauss
Director, The =rigins Project at ASU
Co-Director, Cosmology =nitiative
Foundation Professor
School of Earth =amp; Space Exploration and Physics Department
Arizona =tate University, P.O. Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404
Research Office: | Assistant (Jessica):
Origins Office (Cynthia): =80.965.0053
<mailto
origins.asu.edu
=elebration-Be -Origins a part Project =f something 10 Year 10 years in the making! April =-9th 2018 — Visit for more =nfo
<image002.png>
<mailto
Lawrence M. Krauss
Director, The Origins Project at ASU
Co-Director,=Cosmology Initiative
Foundation =rofessor
School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics =epartment
Arizona State University, P.O. Box =71404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404
Research Office: Assistant (Jessica)
Ori ins Office C nthia)
origins.asu.edu
=elebration-Be -Origins a part Project =f something 10 Year 10 years in the making! April =-9th 2018 — Visit for more =nfo
<image002.png>
Hi,
It wasn't Buzzfeed that =ontacted me, but I received an email from a woman who ranted about the =ulletin having you on the Board and sent me a excel spread sheet of =arassers claiming you were on it. It wasn't Buzzfeed, but =t seemed part of a whisper campaign that I found very =nappropriate.
Rachel
damn.. ok.. sigh, that is in a way disappointing. =nbsp; Sounds like a similar rant that ASU had received months =arlier.. Well, we cannot use that in a case against buzzfeed I =uess. It wasn't Virginia Hughes from Buzzfeed then...
LMK
Lawrence M. Krauss
Director, The =rigins Project at ASU
Co-Director, Cosmology =nitiative
I am happy to say we know of no incident, nor had any reason to believe there would be one.
what I would like you to say is something to the effect that =ou reluctantly accept my request to be put on leave as Chair of the =oard of Sponsors until this current uproar dies down and the various =rganizations investigating the facts have reached their conclusions. =nbsp;That the board lauds my impeccable professionalism during my =ime.. (or whatever the words weres).. that you appreciate my =ontributions, and that in all the time I have been on the board there =as never been a complaint from anyone, quite the opposite, that you =herefore know of no incidents, and on the basis of the Bulletin's=experience, you have been given no independent reason to believe that =here are any. You hope that this will be resolved, and I can end =y voluntary leave and once again return to the board and continue the =mportant work we have been doing together.
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: =████████ | Assistant (Jessica): ████████
Origins Office (Cynthia): █████████
███████████mailto:███████████ =nbsp;
origins.asu.edu | ██████████████████████████████
-Origins Project 10 Year =elebration-
Be a part of something 10 years =n the making!
April 5-9th 2018 – Visit for more info
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I can use this as the =asis for my response. Once you send over your note, I can send =ou a draft of my response based on this one.
Rachel
FYI
Lawrence M. Krauss
Director, The Origins Project at ASU
Co-Director,=Cosmology Initiative
Foundation =rofessor
School of =arth & Space Exploration and Physics Department Arizona=State University, P.O. Box 871404 Tem e AZ
85287-1404 Research Office:
Assistant (Jessica):
<mailto
=nbsp;
Origins Office (Cynthia):
origins.asu.edu |
Project 10 Year =elebration-Be a part of something 10 years in the making! -Origins April 5-9th 2018 — Visit for more info
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