Item 4/your query

Robin:

Here is the allegation from buzzfeed which I remembered today seemed to fit to a false blog story which you had related to me and warned me about based on our experience at a conference in Iowa when you were exec. director of the Dawkins Foundation. I would greatly appreciate it if you could write to me about your eyewitness experience at that event.

Thanks very much for your attention in this matter.

Lawrence

Dear =awrence,

You are correct, I remember the incident at the bar with the student organizer very well. I was the one responsible for persuading you to come to Iowa for the conference - but had promised I would buy you a scotch if you agreed to be part of the program. We met at the bar at the hotel =nd Michael and Suzy from RDF joined us at first. Slowly some other people drifted in and joined us - one of them was the head of the Secular Student Alliance - and then a couple of students associated with that organization joined our table. I think they were delighted to get the opportunity to meet you The women you mention, she sat across from you and was very chatty with you - very friendly. =nbsp;She was trying to convince you to come up to go to the hot tub and you replied that you did not pack any swim trunks, and she replied that you didn't need any - a towel would be just fine.

I had the sense you were a =ittle uncomfortable and both trying to be nice but also trying to change the topic. At one point, you leaned over and asked me 'Is she hitting on me?" I replied that indeed she was =rom my perspective. Then a few minutes later =ou said she was rubbing her leg against yours. By then you were obviously not =omfortable - and she continued to invite you to the hot tub. You continued to decline - and it =as by that time becoming annoying. She finally realized that you were not about to go with her, so she left (the other students had left by then as well). After she left you =aid again how she was rubbing up against you with her feet - and you jokingly (or maybe half-jokingly) said to me something along the lines of keeping you safe from her during the conference.

It might have been a year later = I saw a post by that student organizer who had hit on you at the bar and she had written that you had been the one who was hitting on her and tried to turn it into you being offensive. I alerted you to her accusation, and =hile nothing came of it at that time, I had said that if you needed a witness to that evening I would certainly step up as her accusations were completely false. I personally =hink she was offended that you declined her offer to go to the hot-tub.

I think the reason why that evening stands out so well in my mind is that her flirting with you was so blatant and you were so uncomfortable with the situation. =nbsp;If there is a need, you can provide the person from Buzzfeed with my contact information. This week is extremely busy with all day meetings the rest of the week, but I will make the time to clarify the truth.

Please give my best to Nancy and enjoy your trip to Peru.

cheers
Robin

Please confirm receipt. Thanks.

LMK

I had a long chat with Robin yesterday. The one thing she wasn't able to provide was more information about the blog post -- which we were not aware of. Obviously, if we can locate a post that was not disclosed to us previously, that's important.

Did Robin happen to send you a link, or provide any more details about it that would help us find it? And can you remember when Robin told you about this?

I guess the ideal situation would be if Robin had emailed you at the time and sent a link to the post, outlining her concerns about its veracity. Are you able to look through your archives and see if you have that?

I don't have that info.. I think she called me at the time, and I have no idea when it was, but it was some time.. some months maybe, after the conference. In any case, I don't see why that is important or relevant at this point. It is obvious from Robin's report that the episode she was referring to is the same one you were referring to.. same conference.. same location.. and her report demonstrates that the actual events differ from those reported in your item..

In all the cases where external validation was possible the claims you listed have been shown to not be factual and the facts don't validate the thesis of your investigation. There is no history or trend here, and organizations are not trying to gloss over or ignore accusations. I know that you have devoted time to this, but as someone with science background you know that research doesn't always produce results that meet initial expectations but can still be useful. Perhaps there is a useful story out there about how frequently false allegations do occur in certain communities, how institutions get caught up with having to deal with and investigate them, often negatively impacting on the rights of the accused, and how the media can get sucked in to enabling this.

Right now I am really trying to work hard to do good things. Just had a Skype session with students in Bangladesh who are interested in science. It is important to help them. I really want to get on with the work I do that is useful.

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 85287-1404
Research Office:
Assistant (Jessica):
Origins Office (Cynthia):
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