ASU professor Lawrence Krauss: Sex-misconduct allegations are 'absurd,' 'libelous'

A day after Arizona State University professor Lawrence Krauss was put on paid leave amid allegations of sexual misconduct published in a BuzzFeed article, he issued a lengthy statement denying the claims.

Krauss on Wednesday said the Feb. 22 article paints a false picture of him and his relationships with others "through a mosaic constructed largely out of anonymous hearsay and a web of often vague innuendo." 

He said the allegations detailed in the story “are not credible and do not accurately convey me or my interactions with others.”

The 63-year-old Krauss, who is internationally known as an outspoken atheist and for his work on the symbolic "Doomsday Clock," acknowledged in his statement that he can be brash and outspoken, sometimes obnoxious. He apologized to anyone he made feel intimidated or uncomfortable. 

But he maintains that the BuzzFeed article "ignored counter-evidence, distorted the facts and made absurd claims about me." He said it defamed him and "by association the skeptical and atheist community in general."

RELATED: ASU professor put on leave amid allegations of sexual misconduct

The article described wide-ranging allegations of inappropriate behavior over the last decade, "including groping women, ogling and making sexist jokes to undergrads, and telling an employee at ASU, where he is a tenured professor, that he was going to buy her birth control so she didn’t inconvenience him with maternity leave.”

Krauss, in his statement, called the maternity leave allegation "absurd" and "particularly disturbing to me." He says he grew up in Canada and has lived in Australia, both countries that provide maternity-leave policies that "vastly exceed the unfair policies that are prevalent in the United States." 

"I have often spoke of the need for more, not less, support for health and human services for women and men in this regard in the U.S.," he wrote in his statement. 

Krauss goes onto write that he is not going to let a "libelous article stop me from trying to continue my work, and to maximize my positive impacts."

One of the allegations detailed in the BuzzFeed report was a woman who accused Krauss in 2006 of trying to force himself on her in a hotel room. The woman told BuzzFeed she struggled to push him off and rushed out of the room. 

Krauss, in his response, said the encounter was consensual and concluded with the mutual decision not to proceed toward sex.

Another allegation included in the story described witnesses seeing him touch the breast of an unidentified woman while taking "selfie" photos in November 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.

Krauss said in his statement that three universities, including ASU, looked into the complaint and concluded the claim was unsubstantiated. ASU told BuzzFeed that "it did not find a violation of university policy" regarding the incident.

Late Tuesday, ASU issued a statement saying Krauss had been placed on paid leave.

University officials said they began a review of the professor's conduct after they were contacted for the BuzzFeed article.

"In an effort to avoid further disruption ... as the university continues to gather facts about the allegations, Krauss has been placed on paid leave and is prohibited from being on campus for the duration of the review," ASU said in a written statement.

On Tuesday, Krauss resigned as chairman of the elite Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' board and reiterated that denial in a resignation letter to the board. 

Krauss is a theoretical physicist who was recruited to ASU in 2008 to become the inaugural director of the Origins Project. The research project explores questions about origins of the universe, human origins and origins of consciousness and culture. 

The Origins Project sponsors an annual Origins Symposium where it brings together leading scientists and thinkers for discussions and presentations. 

On Wednesday, the Origins Project announced that its 10th anniversary celebration scheduled for next month at the Boulders Resort in Scottsdale has been canceled. 

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 or anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com.