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

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Mr. Lindsay:

I'm a =eporter for BuzzFeed News who has been investigating sexual misconduct =negations against Lawrence Krauss.

The story concerns =rauss's actions towards students while a professor of physics =t Case Western Reserve University, as well as his conduct in =on-academic settings as a prominent figure in the skeptics movement. I =m reporting this story along with two of my colleagues on the science =esk, Azeen Ghorayshi and Virginia Hughes.

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

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

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

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

Based on our =eporting so far, this is what we plan to publish that concerns =ou:

One incident involving Krauss =llegedly occurred in May 2011 on a CFI =ruise.
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Attendees had =/span>paid several thousand dollars to join a cultural =our of the Greek islands, featuring lectures from scientists and =riters, including Krauss.
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Krauss allegedly =ropositioned a female cruise-goer, who rejected an invitation to join =im and his female companion for sex in their cabin. =/span>
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No complaint was made, but =he incident was reported to a CFI staffer at the time. =/span>
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CFI's leadership =ontinued to embrace Krauss, making =im an honorary member of its =oard of directors in December 2011.
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But at least two =taffers were sufficiently concerned about reports of Krauss's =ehavior that they urged you not to invite him on a 2014 cruise of the Galápagos Islands. =/span>
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In June 2013, after you =ejected their advice and invited him on the cruise, one of those =taffers resigned.
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At a conference in March =012, another woman, who at that point was also an employee of CFI, told =ou about an incident in 2006 in which Krauss forcibly kissed and groped =er in a hotel room. According to this woman, after she told you about =his in person, you responded to her with silence.
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The woman later =old two other employees in CFI's management about the incident, =nd expressed her discomfort at having Krauss continue to speak at =vents.
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CFI continued to book Krauss =s a speaker at its events.

CFI continued to book Krauss =s a speaker at its events.

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

Dear Mr. =Idhous,

Let me note a couple of =hings at the outset. First, I would be happy to speak to you regarding =he allegations in your email. You can reach me at my cell phone number, =hich is-

Next, you should know that ='m not an employee of CFI nor do I have any authority to speak =n behalf of CFI. I'm writing to you from my personal email =ccount in part to underscore that point. I do retain a CFI email =ddress in part as a courtesy to me and in part because it serves a =usiness purpose (for example, I still receive occasional emails =ddressed to the president of the organization).

Turning to the substance of your allegations, first you =hould be aware that I in-house take the lawyer issue (a of position sexual harassment I held prior very to becoming =eriously. president This is confirmed =nd CEO) by I insisted the fact that that the after organization I was hired adopt by CFI a =s its comprehensive =ero-tolerance harassment policy covering workplace harassment. =oreover, during the time I was president and CEO we had three separate =tate trainings for the entire staff on sexual harassment issues. In =ddition, where necessary, we did not hesitate to expend significant =esources, including retaining outside investigators, to conduct =erious, detailed inquiries into harassment claims. One such inquiry =ost the organization over $40,000. Therefore, any suggestion that I do =ot personally take harassment claims seriously is amply disconfirmed by =y record.

Regarding the alleged =ncident on the 2011cruise, the first I became aware of it was when Pat =eauchamp, CFI's business manager and the employee responsible =or cruise logistics, wrote to me in 2013 indicating she objected to =nviting Lawrence Krauss on our upcoming Galapagos cruise. I found this =trange, and I responded to her almost immediately asking the reasons =or her objection. She gave two reasons. The first was that Krauss did =ot pay sufficient attention to the guests on the 2011 cruise. I had =eard this concern from one guest myself; on the other hand, I also =eard from several guests that they thought Krauss's =resentations were excellent and a highlight of the cruise. Accordingly, = did not give this concern much weight.

The second reason was that =rauss had allegedly asked a female guest on the cruise to join him and =is partner, apparently for some sort of sexual activity (I cannot =ecall whether Krauss was engaged or married or just seriously involved =ith his female companion at the time, although they were clearly =omantically involved and seemed very much in love). This is the first I =ad heard of this proposition. No complaint by the guest or anyone else =ad been made to me at the time of the cruise, although I was on the =ruise and clearly visible throughout the cruise.

I asked Ms. Beauchamp for contact information for this guest. = did call the guest and she substantially confirmed what Ms. Beauchamp =ad said. I apologized on behalf of the organization. The guest =ndicated although she was taken aback by Krauss's proposition =t the time, she did not want to pursue the matter further. I then got =n contact with Krauss. Krauss denied the allegation. In light of the =uest's reluctance to pursue the matter and Krauss's own =enial and, importantly, because between the time of the 2011 cruise and =he Galapagos cruise we had instituted a policy regarding harassment =tanyCFl event, which covers not just employees, but speakers =nd attendees, I decided to go ahead with my plan and have Krauss as a =peaker on the Galapagos cruise. Krauss was fully aware of our =arassment policy regarding CFI events because we had had a discussion =bout it. Therefore, I expected him to comply with that policy on the =alapagos cruise. As far as I know he did, because we received no =omplaints about his conduct. Nor have we received any complaints about =is conduct at other events.

Let me just =ake a moment to highlight the 2012 policy, which you can find in

full =ere,

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/cfis new_poliry on hostile conduit harassment at conferences/ along with the announcement I made explaining the =ationale for the policy. This policy was, certainly at its time, =rguably the strongest any nonprofit organization had regarding conduct =t its events. Again, this policy shows that any suggestion that CFI, as =n organization, or that I personally took a lax attitude regarding =arassment is completely without factual foundation.

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

you should wish in retrospect not to have responded at =11.

and=i was right. in all instancees as if you in your nuttiness decide =o file this lawsuit you keep banging on about, that =entence will carry the day

Thanks... I am not replying =r egging them on.. I will speak to Nancy.. I wish in retrospect I =ad not sent him a note using the words "false with malicious =ntent" as you recommended.. I had a piece about that in =y long response, explaining that I explained to him it was my language =ot the Unversity's, because their investigations showed the =laim was false, and I argued that was malicious.. =nbsp;

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

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

LMK

yes

but =ou did tell me to write him those words.. but you are correct about =any things..

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 =een treated to a litany of bad arguments in his defense, many by his =ife, who used asecondary Twitter =ccount https://twitter.com/NancyMDahlPhD/With_replies 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 =nflicting

thanks.. I =on't know about others I will relay this to =ancy.

Lawrence M. Krauss
Director, The =rigins Project at ASU
Co-Director, Cosmology =nitiative
Foundation Professor
School of Earth & Space =xploration and Physics Department
Arizona State =iversity, P.O. Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404
Research Office: <tel: > | Assistant:
Origins =ffice (Cynthia): <tel: >
<mailto: >
origins.asu.edu | twitter.com/lkrauss1 | krauss.faculty.asu.edu

(Jessica):

<tel:

Year Celebration-Be a part of something 10 years in the making! -Origins Project =0 April 5-9th 2018 — Visit for more =nfo https://www.originsl0year.com/

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

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

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

thoughts?

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, Tempe, AZ
85287-1404 Research Office: I Assistant (Jessica): = Origins Office (Cynthia): =
=nbsp;
origins.asu.edu I twitter.com/Ikraussl krauss.faculty.asu.edu

Project 10 Year =elebration-Be a part of something 10 years in the making! 5-9th 2018 — Visit for more info April 5-9th 2018 — Visit for more info

-Origins

April

=/div>