HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031435.jpg

me up to a host of unfounded outside complaints and allegations that other faculty do not receive, each of
which the University has to respond to. The fact that I have remained a professor in all Universities with
which I have been associated, in good standing, and also an officer or an invited speaker at organizations like
CFI, which have strict harassment policies, is a confirmation of the fact that their experience validates a trust in
my behavior. I was asked to be an honorary director of CFI, and continue to be invited to their last 3 meetings
to speak, specifically because, as they have written me after the fact, the attendees universally appreciated my
talks, my courtesy, and graciousness in spending time with the attendees. If the purpose of your report is to
impugn my integrity or suggest I have a history of harassment, that too is false. As noted in one of your
'miscellaneous facts', as a scientist I try and remain skeptical, and rely on empirical evidence, rather than
allegations and innuendo by people whose motives I cannot judge. I also try and judge the facts in
context. The fact that Universities and other organizations employ me or have me on their boards, or invite me
to meetings is because they value my contributions and my actions.

The items you list are false or distorted. Item 1 refers to a consensual encounter in my hotel room in 2006
where we mutually decided, in a polite discussion in fact, that taking it any further would not be appropriate,
and there were respectful and platonic encounters afterwards. There is nothing to comment on in item 3, which
involves an anonymous 3rd party claim because I know nothing about it, there are no details provided, and it
clearly was not taken seriously enough to result in any university action. Item 4 is confusing. Are you saying
that because I decided I didn’t want to go out to a bar with a group of attendees that I was harassing them? The
second part did not happen. Re incident 5: The ‘female companion’ in this case is my wife, who accompanied
me on the cruise, and has attested to the fact that the claim is false. This is what I wrote at the time in response
to the blog in question, causing it to be taken down.

It is worth responding to Item 2 and 6 in more detail,

Re item 2: the student in question was interested in science communication, and on dozens of occasions came
to me, asked me to talk over coffee, or wrote to me with questions. When she asked about advice for after
graduation I DID tell her she was different than the other students in her year. The rest of them were interested
in going on to graduate school in physics, but she was interested in science communication so I told her that
she might want to take a different path. Since she was the only woman in her year, as I recall, I did ask her on
one of these occasions if that made it difficult for her in any way. I asked, because as a faculty member and
department chair I was interested in knowing what we could do, if necessary to encourage more women to go
into physics, and also because as someone she had asked for career advice from I wanted to know if that made
a difference to her. Re asking her for dinner.. I have gone back over emails from that period. I have numerous
requests from her asking me to go for coffee to talk, which I usually had to turn down because I was busy, and
on several occasions she asked me to have coffee with her off campus to talk, and I politely declined. I did let
her accompany me off campus one time to watch me do a BBC interview because she specifically requested it,
and I believe she found it useful. I did and do have coffee and meals with students on campus, and I see
nothing wrong with this. I try to treat students as respected colleagues if possible. I was shocked when I later
learned of the complaint she was apparently asked to lodge to the University, not least because there was no
inappropriate interaction but also because, well after the dates you listed on which she was apparently
offended, she continued to email me with joking questions or comments. Also, at a later AAAS
conference, again in 2008, for which she had asked, and for which I had written her a letter of
recommendation to attend, my wife and I gave her a lift in our taxi well out of our way in order to drop her
off at her hotel, and I note in an email response to her email about the conference, again in 2008, I expressed
that I would pass her regards along to my wife and vice versa. When the University later informed me of the
complaint I was shocked and concerned. When I spoke to the human resources person, including relating my
concerns and explaining the situation, I was told that no formal complaint of sexual harassment was
requested. By that time I learned of the complaint I had already announced my intentions to leave Case to
accept an offer at ASU—a very difficult decision for me because of my long-standing attachment to the
University, the excellent relations I had with my colleagues there— both among the faculty (many of whom in
physics I had hired while department chair)) and among the administration, along with a very attractive

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031435