EFTA02525559.pdf

From: Lawrence Krauss Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2018 5:28 AM To: jeffrey E. Cc: Lawrence Krauss Subject: Fwd: CLARIFICATION: response to your email Importance: High JEE: HERE IS MY PROPOSED EMAIL.. GOING to NEIL TUROK. =nbsp;Comments welcome Dear Neil and Michael: Attached is a copy of some =orrespondence from Buzzfeed, which has followed on six months of =orrespondence, following on a claim that two universities I am =ffiliated with had previously shown to be false. Buzzfeed =roduced 5 false allegations off the web which I subsequently =emonstrated to be false, in an attempt to suggest a history of sexual =arassment by me. Following that Buzzfeed searched for other defamatory =xamples, and through someone at Perimeter received the following =laim. —At the Perimeter Institute's "Quantum to Cosmos" Festival in October =009, a woman made a formal complaint of sexual harassment against you. =he institute immediately removed you from the premises and banned you =rom ever coming =ack. =/blockquote> =/div> =div class=""> After I disputed =his claim, they came back with the following claim, which they said was =n the record by someone from Perimeter: In October of 2009, you went to Waterloo, Ontario, to be a =uest speaker at the Quantum to Cosmos Festival at the Perimeter Institute. EFTA_R1_01865384 EFTA02525559  During the event, a sexual harassment complaint was filed =gainst you. You were immediately removed from the premises and banned =rom ever coming back. The institute would not provide more details to respect the =omplainant's privacy. =/span> <=div> </=iv> I disputed this, and included an email from you, Neil as a =emonstration that it was false (I redacted the information that was not =elevant to them): Begin =orwarded message: From: "Neil Turok" < Subject: Holden XXX Date: March 31, 2011at 9:30:26 AM MST To: c •M il Dear Larry, I hope you're doing very well. It =as nice to have you at PI for the Q2C Festival and I do hope you'll be =ble to visit again soon. I'm writing in regard to Holden =XX, who I have been working with recently =E244 With my best wishes, Neil Subsequent=to that, Buzzfeed came back with the following: Thank you for sending =he email from Neil Turok. We have raised this with the Perimeter =nstitute, which has clarified its position, as follows: 2 EFTA_R1_01665385 EFTA02525560  During the event, a sexual harassment complaint was filed =ith the administration against you. In 2012, as part of a =ormal review of its internal policies, the institute made a decision =hat you would not be invited to return. As =ou can see, the original claim by Buzzfeed, which they claimed was =erified 'on the record' by Perimeter, was false. =nbsp;l believe this final claim is false, and I would like confirmation =rom you.. It may be a fine point, but I believe it is important. =nbsp;Originally Michael informed me immediately after the event that =here was a complaint of inappropriate communication with one of the =taff, something I indicated then and reiterate now, I am not aware of =t all, but be that as it may, he informed me at the time by email that =ith no further communication with that person, the matter was closed. =nbsp; Several years later I was invited to give another public lecture =ut your outreach coordinator later rescinded the invitation, although I =as reimbursed for that. As you are aware, I subsequently =iscussed this with Neil in Vancouver in that year, and inquired about =xactly what it was all about, and informed him that either a formal =rocedure to resolve any issue in which I could participate and respond =ight be appropriate, or the matter should be dropped. Neil said he =ould explore the matter, and neither he, nor anyone else, ever =ontacted me following that. I have never been informed of =nything like Buzzfeed has claimed. Indeed I have been invited back to =erimeter for scientific meetings by various colleagues in the =ntervening years. I am very concerned by this claim =elow, for obvious reasons. First, the original Perimeter source =rovided false and defamatory information to Buzzfeed, changing a story =nly after I provided counter- evidence. Second, as you are aware =erimeter has never contacted me about any such proviso in the interim. =nbsp;The only document I ever received was in 2009 from michael =ssuring me the matter was closed, whatever it was. I would find =t highly irregular if any formal procedure took place with such an =utcome without my knowledge or without any due process, and without =ubsequently informing me. I expect the correct statement, if =here is one, is that there was a complaint from someone at Perimeter =bout inappropriate communication at the final party or while being =riven back to the hotel after it (for all I know it may have been about =eligious issues), and that 3 years later a decision was made by the =utreach coordinator, perhaps in collaboration with others, not to =nvite me back at that time for a public lecture. Please confirm my =nderstanding of this issue for me if you will. As you can =magine, making this public is embarrassing enough for me, especially =ince I personally maintain whatever I may have said wasn't =nappropriate, and there was certainly no sexual harassment by any =efinition of that word.. indeed there was nothing sexual in any =iscussion I know of. Nevertheless, if something is to be =eported, indicating that it was a communication issue, and there was no =ormal ban on my returning to Perimeter (especially as nothing along =hese lines was ever communicated to me and I have received invites =ince that time) is less damning than suggesting otherwise. As =uzzfeed has tried, at every turn, to misrepresent facts in the worst =ossible light, it is important for me to not allow them to continue to =o this. For example, they contacted my university and asked if =here any claims fo sexual harassment against me at the University, and =hough the University said there were not, but that there was an =xternal allegation about a remote event that had been discredited (the =ne I mentioned above), Buzzfeed announced they would report that they =ontacted the University with a request for information about sexual =arassment allegations and were not given any information in =eturn.. 3 EFTA_R1_01665386 EFTA02525561  Last, it could be of course that Buzzfeed has reiinterpeted =tatements from Perimeter staff, but if a member of your staff made the =riginal false allegation to Buzzfeed (violating confidentiality in the =rocess I expect) I would like you to at least be aware of this and act =ccordingly. Thanks very much for your prompt and immediate attention to =his request. Lawrence Krauss 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 Universit P.O. Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 Research Office Assistant (Jessica): Ori ins Office C nthia =nbsp; origins.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> Begin=forwarded message: From: =/b>Peter Aldhous Subject: =/b>Re: =LARIFICATION: response to your email Date: =/b>February 13, 2018 at 2:54:26 PM =ST To: =/b>Lawrence Krauss Dr. Krauss: 4 EFTA_R1_01665387 EFTA02525562  Thank you for sending the email from Neil Turok. We have =aised this with the Perimeter Institute, which has clarified its =osition, as follows: During the event, a sexual =arassment complaint was filed with the administration against you. =/span> In 2012, as part of a =ormal review of its internal policies, the institute made a decision =hat you would not be invited to return. If you wish to further comment on or clarify any of these =oints, please get in touch with us by tomorrow (Weds). Thanks, Peter Aldhous = span> On 2/12/18 8:20 AM, Lawrence Krauss wrote: Although I wasn't going to bother and shouldn't= need to, just one example among many: in this case 17 months after Q2C, email from the Director of the Perimeter Institute. I don't know how it could be much =learer.. (I have redacted out the rest of the body of the letter because it refers to a hiring issue that is irrelevant to =ou).. Begin forwarded message: From: "Neil Turok" < Subject: Holden XXX Date: March 31, 2011 at 9:30:26 AM MST To: Dear Larry, I hope you're doing very well. It was nice to have you at PI for the Q2C Festival and I do hope you'll be able to visit again soon. I'm writing in regard to Holden XXX, who I have been working with recently ... With my best wishes, 5 EFTA_R1_01665388 EFTA02525563  Neil On Feb 9, 2018, at 3:04 PM, Lawrence Krauss > wrote: Oh yes, definitely and demonstrably.. I dispute everything except the first bullet point, with substantial evidentiary email communication... so you had =etter alert whoever went on the record at the perimeter institute about the consequences of making false allegations. LMK Lawrence M. Krauss Director, The Origins Project at =SU Co-Director, Cosmology =nitiative Foundation =rofessor School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics Department Arizona State =niversi , P.O. Box =71404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 Research Office: Assistant (Jessica): Ori ins Office Cynthia): =nbsp; origins.asu.edu I -Origins Project 10 Year =elebration- Be a part of =omething 10 years in the =aking! April S-9th 2018 — Visit for more =nfo <https://www.originsl0year.com/> <image002.png> On Feb 9, 2018, at 12:44 PM, Peter Aldhous wrote: Dr. Krauss: To clarify, we plan to publish each of the following =tatements, which have all been confirmed on the record by the Perimeter =nstitute: 6 EFTA_R1_01685389 EFTA02525564  In October of 2009, you =ent to Waterloo, Ontario, to be a guest speaker at the Quantum to =osmos Festival at the Perimeter =nstitute. N During the event, a sexual harassment complaint was filed =gainst you. You were immediately removed from the premises and banned =rom ever coming back. The institute would not provide more details to respect the =omplainant's privacy. Do you dispute any of these statements? If you'd like to further clarify your position on =hese statements, please contact me before 12 noon Pacific on Saturday, =eb 10. Peter Aldhous Peter Aldhous Science reporter = BuzzFeed News tel: cell PGP Fingerprint: 225F B2AF 488E 6E3D B1EA 7F9A B96E BF7D 9CB2 9B16 Send secure =ips On =hu, Feb 8, 2018 at 12:00 PM, Lawrence Kraus <mailto > wrote: Peter: Got your phone call yesterday shortly before I finished a lecture and then headed to the airport to return home late last night, as I had indicated in my last email. I am responding below to your issues, which are yet again false and/or misleading. I cannot keep doing this. = have told you repeatedly that there is no basis for a story here. I =nd others have responded to false allegations, but you and your colleagues have continued to 7 EFTA_R1_01665390 EFTA02525565 barrage me, my family, and my colleagues with a series of false allegations and innuendo for the past 6 months. So it =eems you have decided to produce some kind of defamatory story, independent of evidence to the contrary, and you are asking me to help you do your work to write it. I don't =now what else to say. I =sk you again to stop this harassment, and not write a story based on false and misleading defamatory allegations to justify some foregone conclusion that might defame me and/or other individuals or groups, and in the process can hurt genuine efforts by many of us to address important issues, from encouraging diversity in STEM education around the world, to fighting ideological efforts that endorse sexism, racism, homophobia or attempt to suppress free speech and free thought. =nbsp; MAK On Feb =, 2018, at 9:48 AM, Peter Aldhous <peter.aldhous@buzzfeed.com> wrote: Or. Krauss: Since our earlier correspondence, further incidents have =ome to our attention. I've outlined the details below and would =ery much like to include your response to each in our story. =/span> —At the Perimeter Institute's "Quantum to Cosmos" Festival in October 2009, a woman =ade a formal complaint of sexual harassment against you. The institute =mmediately removed you from the premises and banned you from ever =oming back. I am not made aware of any formal complaint of sexual harassment against me at Perimeter, which would have resulted in either formal proceedings or letters or emails to me. I did attend the "Quantum to =osmos" Festival for several days and was never 'removed from the premises'. After I left I received thanks and further assistance from the staff. Nor was = banned from returning to Perimeter. I =ave maintained a collegial relationship with various colleagues there who have invited me to return on several =ccasions. Peter Aldhous, =h0 Science reporter I BuzzFeed =ews tel: cell 8 EFTA_R1_01665391 EFTA02525566 Lawrence M. Krauss Director, The Origins Project at =SU Co-Director, Cosmology =nitiative Foundation =rofessor School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics Department Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 = Research Officer Assistant (Jessica): Origins Office (Cynthia) origins.asu.edu -Origins Project 10 Year =elebration- Be a part of =omething 10 years in the =aking! April 5-9th 2018 — Visit for more =nfo <image002.png> Peter Aldhous Science reporter = BuzzFeed =ews tel: cell PGP Fingerprint: 225F B2AF 4B8E 6E3D B1EA 7F9A B96E BF7D 9CB2 9B16 Send secure tips Lawrence M. Krauss 9 EFTA21_01665392 EFTA02525567 Director, The Origins Project at ASU Co-Director, Cosmology =nitiative Foundation =rofessor School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics Department Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287.1404 Research Officel I Assistant (Jessica): Origins Office (Cynthia): origins.asu.edu -Origins Project 10 Year Celebration- Be a part of something 10 years in the =aking! April 5.9th 2018 =E24$ Visit for more info <https://www.originsl0year.com/> Peter Aldhous, PhD Science reporter I BuzzFeed News tel: cell 10 EFTA_R1_01665393 EFTA02525568