Re: URGENT: BuzzFeed News inquiry re allegations of sexual harassment by Lawrence Krauss

Dear Mr. Aldhous,

Let me note a couple of things 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 <tel: > . However, I am unavailable tomorrow (Monday) because of prior commitments until approximately 7:45 PM.

Next, you should know 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).

Turning to the substance of your allegations, first you should be aware that I in-house take the lawyer issue (a of position sexual harassment I held prior very to becoming seriously. president This is confirmed and CEO) by I insisted the fact that that after organization I was hired adopt by CFI as its 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.

Mr. Lindsay:

I'm a reporter for BuzzFeed News who has been investigating sexual misconduct allegations against Lawrence Krauss.

The story concerns Krauss's actions towards students while a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, as well as his conduct in non-academic settings as a prominent figure in the skeptics movement. I am reporting this story along with two of my colleagues on the science desk, Azeen Ghorayshi and Virginia Hughes.

Our story is about several allegations of sexual misconduct dating from 2006 to 2016. Our reporting also goes into how the various institutions Krauss has been affiliated with — Case Western, Arizona State University, the Australian National University, the New College of the Humanities and the Center for Inquiry, for which you formerly served as president — have handled complaints and concerns about his behavior during this time.

Our story is corroborated by emails, university documents, official complaints, testimony from victims and witnesses, and interviews with more than two dozen of Krauss's current and former academic colleagues, students, and peers in the skeptics movement.

I am writing to you now because you are personally named in the story, and because you had executive responsibility for CFI's actions during the time of some of the alleged incidents.

I wanted to offer you the opportunity to comment and/or respond to the main facts we plan to publish regarding your involvement as the former head of CFI during this time. If you wish to comment on any of these findings, we need to hear from you as soon as possible. We are planning on publishing our story Tuesday morning US Eastern Time.

Based on our reporting so far, this is what we plan to publish that concerns you:

• One incident involving Krauss allegedly occurred in May 2011 on a CFI cruise.

• Attendees had paid several thousand dollars to join a cultural tour of the Greek islands, featuring lectures from scientists and writers, including Krauss.

• Krauss allegedly propositioned a female cruise-goer, who rejected an invitation to join him and his female companion for sex in their cabin.

• No complaint was made, but the incident was reported to a CFI staffer at the time.

• CFI's leadership continued to embrace Krauss, making him an honorary member of its board of directors in December 2011.

• But at least two staffers were sufficiently concerned about reports of Krauss's behavior that they urged you not to invite him on a 2014 cruise of the Galápagos Islands.

• In June 2013, after you rejected their advice and invited him on the cruise, one of those staffers resigned.

• At a conference in March 2012, another woman, who at that point was also an employee of CFI, told you about an incident in 2006 in which Krauss forcibly kissed and groped her in a hotel room. According to this woman, after she told you about this in person, you responded to her with silence.

• The woman later told two other employees in CFI's management about the incident, and expressed her discomfort at having Krauss continue to speak at events.

• CFI continued to book Krauss as a speaker at its events.

Again, if you wish to comment on or clarify any of these points, please get in touch with us as soon as possible. If I do not respond immediately it is because I am on another call, so please leave the best phone number to reach you.

Dear Mr. Lindsay,

Thank you for your response, which we will consider in detail. Shall we speak at 7.45pm Eastern tomorrow? Do let me know what number to call.

To answer your question, the CFI employee 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 resignation 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."

Dear Mr. Aldhous,

Adam Isaak resigned because I had a public spat with his girlfriend, Rebecca Watson, who had issued a public call for CFI employees to quit. (That dispute is a whole other story, tangential to your Krauss piece, so I will not get into it here.)

Timing is important here. The email from Pat was in March. The dispute with Watson started in mid-May, after which Adam stopped showing up for work. (He said he was sick & then went on vacation, or vice versa). He then then left some time in June. If the Krauss matter "pushed [him) over the edge," then he was tenaciously hanging on to the ledge for a few months.

The email from Pat Beauchamp was in the first person and Pat indicated she was speaking for herself. (I found the email exchange last night; I will forward it to you.) Adam had never been shy about expressing his concerns to me -- he asked for raises, complained about the hosts on the podcast he was producing etc. The notion that he and Pat were working together but that he decided he could not reveal his participation is difficult to credit.

I will be traveling to my home this evening. Plan to reach my home by 7:45, but if I don't answer right away, please try a bit later. My number is: █████████.

LAWRENCE !!

Since the story broke 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, many by his wife, who used a secondary Twitter account to engage people on the issue. The arguments are almost uniformly illogical and disingenuous.

I propose you write an article debunking alien abductions using the same argument. these people didn't know one another. there are 100 of them. why should they lie. . etc. TELL nancy to stop. you are getting into dangerous territory. this is not a court of law. . facts DO NOT make a difference. . as you can see there are now some others who have been too afraid to come forward in the article. you are self inflicting

LAWRENCE, Im not sure if you have decided to commit reputational hari kari. its ok with me. but these consequences were discussed ad nauseum with you. if four or five ASU students decide together to complain all bets off. . and you are egging them on.

Melody Hensley
"A" (who wishes to remain anonymous, though I'm almost positive I know who

it is) Nora (a student at Case Western) Melanie Thomson (who witnessed him grab another woman's breast at a skeptic's conference in Australia, along with Michael Marshall and Jo Alabaster. Four former employees of Arizona State's Origins Project (anonymously). They include a 19 year old undergrad with two witnesses confirming her story of his creepy behavior.

That's 13 separate people who either were the victims or the witnesses of their victimization. They come from multiple universities, three different countries, at a variety of events over a long period of time. As a result of some of those investigations, two institutions — Case Western Reserve University and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics — banned him from their campuses. And both Arizona State University and Australian National University said on the record that he lied about what their investigation of those complaints concluded.

This is not a he said/she said. It's a he said/13 other people said and three major educational institutions said. And those aren't the only ones. I know of several other people with similar stories who are afraid to talk about them in public for fear of being attacked just like the accusers are now being attacked.

My correspondence with Aldhous. As usual, read from the bottom up.

you should wish in retrospect not to have responded at all.

and i was right. in all instances as if you in your nuttiness decide to file this lawsuit you keep banging on about, that sentence will carry the day

and I am sorry but Nancys actions are just as i asked not to do. you cant win this argument. you must understand that. you have lost. now keep the damage to a minimum. you like to win i understand. you cant here

The correspondence from Ron Lindsey to Peter Aldhous.

thanks.. I don't know about others I will relay this to Nancy.

Lawrence M. Krauss
Director, The Origins Project at ASU
Co-Director, Cosmology Initiative
Foundation Professor
School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics Department

Thanks... I am not replying or egging them on.. I will speak to Nancy.. I wish in retrospect I had not sent him a note using the words "false with malicious intent" as you recommended.. I had a piece about that in my long response, explaining that I explained to him it was my language not the university's, because their investigations showed the claim was false, and I argued that was malicious..

thank you. and of course I was never banned from those institutions.. I should make that clear in my long response as well..

I believe what you are seeing is from the usual suspects, but indeed, probably not best to confront them any more directly.

LMK

yes

but you did tell me to write him those words.. but you are correct about many things..

ok.. I understand. My lawyer Adam said he would look over this stuff.. Here is what he said:

"Your instincts are right. Let me study all the things you sent me.

A lawsuit, which should not be entered into lightly, has three special advantages which are 1. It is the reaction someone who is truly innocent would do; 2. It stops behavior in its tracks under advice of counsel; and 3. The factual background section can be viewed as a backgrounder for the media. "

thoughts?

I just had a long talk with Nancy about this. thanks.

Lawrence M. Krauss Director, The Origins Project at ASU Co-Director, Cosmology Initiative Foundation Professor School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics Department Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871404, Tempe, AZ origins.asu.edu twitter.com/lkraussl krauss.faculty.asu.edu Celebration-Be -Origins a part Project of something 10 Year 10 years in the making! April 5-9th 2018 — Visit for more info