The physicist Lawrence Krauss has announced that he will retire from Arizona State University (ASU) in May next year for “new and different challenges and opportunities”. Krauss was put on paid leave by ASU in February following allegations of sexual misconduct that first came to light through an investigation by Buzzfeed. The ASU then opened a review into the allegations “to discern the facts”. Following Krauss’s decision to retire, that review has now closed.
Krauss is a prominent theorist and cosmologist who has written several popular-science books and appeared in TV documentaries. He was also the founder of the ASU’s Origins Project, but after the allegations emerged, Krauss stepped down as director. In late September, the ASU announced that the Origins Project was being “transitioned” into the Interplanetary Initiative and would be led by Lindy Elkins-Tanton who is director of the ASU’s school of Earth and space exploration. Krauss also resigned in February as chairman of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which is best known for its “Doomsday Clock”.
In a statement on Twitter on 21 October, Krauss noted that the ASU had accepted his request to retire on 16 May 2019 – shortly before he turns 65 – and that the university has now closed its review process following a “conciliation procedure”. Krauss says that he chose to retire because, he claims, the regulations of the Arizona Board of Regents say that he would only be able to “test the credibility of my accusers” if he first agreed to be dismissed. “The nature of the review process I experience included incomplete access to evidence and accusations during the investigations, no opportunity to cross-examine witnesses or be represented by a lawyer during the investigation interviews,” Krauss notes.
However, the ASU denies that Krauss would have had to be first dismissed before he could present his own case. “[Krauss’s] description of our review process is inaccurate. It does provide an opportunity for the person against whom allegations are made to have a hearing at which they can present witnesses and evidence in their own defense and cross-examine adverse witnesses,” says an ASU statement sent to Physics World. “Should he have chosen to move forward with the review process, this would have taken place before any final decisions were made regarding dismissal. Krauss chose to retire rather than to move forward with that process.”
The statement adds that Krauss will keep “whatever retirement benefits he had accrued as of the date of his retirement, but will not accrue more” adding that he now remains on leave and will not teach, “nor is he allowed to take any actions on behalf of ASU”.
Moving on
An ASU report, which was obtained under a public-records request from BuzzFeed and made public yesterday, outlines instances of misconduct that have been levelled at Krauss. The 33-page document then lists a catalogue of instances where Krauss was alleged to have violated the ASU’s policies, including a complaint that he had “touched the breast of another female attendee at a convention in Australia while the female was taking a selfie photograph of the two”.
The incident is alleged to have occurred on 26 November 2016 during a gala reception and dinner at the end of the first day of the event. The document also details how Krauss allegedly “propositioned” a woman “for a threesome” as he discussed her potential “involvement/employment with the Origins Project”. Krauss, the report states, “acknowledged that this conversation occurred but characterized it as a joke”.
The ASU report, dated 31 July, includes a covering letter written to Krauss by Mark Searle – ASU’s executive vice-president and university provost. In the letter, Searle notes that the investigations found that Krauss had violated the university’s policies on discrimination, harassment or retaliation and its code of ethics. “Your behaviour as found in the determinations is unprofessional, reflects a failure of leadership and is extremely disappointing,” says Searle, adding that he had passed the findings on to the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for “appropriate responsive action”.
All we want as victims, survivors and supporters is a fair and transparent process
Emma Chapman
In his 21 October statement on Twitter, Krauss maintains his innocence to the allegations. “To be clear, I have never harassed or assaulted anyone and have most certainly not exhibited gender discrimination in my professional dealings at the University or elsewhere,” he states, adding that he has not received any complaints from his students, staff, colleagues or participants in Origins events from the university. “I am confident an appeals process that impartially examined all evident, including the evidence I had prepared for the conciliation process, would lead to an outcome in my favour,” he adds. Kraus says that the “experience over the past seven months” has led him to believe that even “following such an outcome” he cannot continue to work at the ASU.
‘No excuse’
Emma Chapman, from Imperial College London, who is a campaigner on sexual misconduct in higher education, told Physics World that there are “several worrying and common factors” in the agreement between Krauss and the ASU. This includes the “acceptance that retirement benefits will be kept despite a previous finding of fault” and that the agreement “requires every employee of ASU to refrain from making disparaging statements regarding Krauss’s reputation”. Chapman, who is a member of the 1752 Group – a UK research and lobby organization that aims to end sexual misconduct in higher education – says that such an “institution-wide gagging order” occurs regularly in even the most serious cases of sexual misconduct.
Lawrence Krauss banned from Arizona State University campus following misconduct allegations
“The issue with settlements like this is that it strikes at the heart of fair justice and prevents accountability on the perpetrator and indeed the institution for their role in enabling the behaviour,” says Chapman. “All we want as victims, survivors and supporters is a fair and transparent process, that is always carried out to conclusion and the outcome made public.” Chapman adds that without this there can be no lessons learned and “no confidence” in preventing sexual misconduct from happening again. “I find it absolutely incredible that after one year of very high media exposure on issues of sexual harassment, even within academia, a university has still chosen to pursue this route,” she says. “There is no excuse anymore.”
