From: Alexander F. Mayer alex.mayer@comcast.net Subject: Communications relevant to our proposed meeting (2 of 2) Date: June 30, 2010 at 11:51 AM To: mjc@berkeley.edu Mr. Celaya: If you scroll down to the bottom, I have added highlighting for you of the key paragraph applicable to UCPD. As an aside, it may interest you to know that I had a security clearance at age19. Alex Begin forwarded message: From: Alexander F. Mayer <ALEX.MAYER@JAYPRITZKER.ORG> Date: June 30, 2010 11:10:17 AM PDT To: John Kubiatowicz <kubitron@cs.berkeley.edu> Cc: chancellor@berkeley.edu, fhellman@berkeley.edu Subject: Re: "What's the story?" Hi Kubi, Thanks for asking. Pardon that this is a bit long for an e-mail, but this is "the story" as requested: Have you read the paper yet? A couple of weeks ago when I was at Stanford someone stated, "The next few months are going to be interesting; it's going to be a battle between scientific integrity and scientific politics." What you refer to as "a nuclear option" was already taken by persons in the Astronomy Department, I do not yet have a copy of the e-mail that was apparently sent out Monday 28 June, but I have heard about it. This e-mail apparently literally alleges that I am a potentially dangerous criminal (i.e., someone to be feared and not to be communicated with). It is a textbook case of defamation of character in an attempt to prevent what may be interpreted as "whistle-blowing" (simply by reporting scientific facts). On Tuesday 22 June I was editing the paper on campus in the 6th floor lounge in the astronomy building. This has been my regular place of work for years on the rare occasions when I am on campus. Ms. Dexter Stewart knows me as a regular. Some years ago, I even gave out a few ballpoint knows me as a regular. Some years ago, I even gave out a few ballpoint pens that incorporate laser pointers (exceptionally good swag) to a few grateful professors. While I was there, a Prof. Ma (who I do not previously know) came into the lounge with some students for a discussion coincidentally related to cosmology. During a break (the student speaking had to retrieve a reference from an office) I had the brief opportunity to show the group the graphs in the paper from my laptop and to explained their implication. The discussion resumed for about the next 30 minutes and I quietly listened. After everyone left, I had the idea of leaving a hardcopy of my new draft with professor Ma for criticism. I went to a secretary and asked if it was possible for her to print a copy from the file on my flash drive. She agreed. The flash drive was inserted and she was just about to print the file when Prof. Graham accosted me. I introduced myself and told him I was printing a few pages to give to Prof. Ma. He apparently left for a few moments to speak to her and upon returning his response was to order the secretary to call the campus police. When the secretary began calling the police I immediately agreed to leave and went to the elevator. While waiting for the elevator out in the hallway with Graham, I told him that he should Google me and that he would feel "silly" about this misunderstanding. We also discussed the recent Sawangwit & Shanks article. A recall overhearing the secretary speaking to Campus Police on the phone, communicating to the effect that "everything was OK." Obviously, a recording of this conversation was made and should be retained as evidence. I sent the following e-mail that night (actually early Wednesday morning as you can see from the Date: field). (This communication is continued after the following Forwarded message.) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Alexander Mayer < amayer@gmail.com > Date: Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 2:32 AM Subject: Critical relevance of the Sawangwit & Shanks paper to the UC Berkeley Astrophysics & LBL Communities To: jrg@astro.berkeley.edu , cpma@berkeley.edu Cc: tom.shanks@durham.ac.uk , utane.sawangwit@durham.ac.uk , shaun.cole@durham.ac.uk To: Prof. James Graham, Department Head, UC Berkeley Astronomy Prof. Chung-Pei Ma, UC Berkeley Astronomy Cc: Prof. Tom Shanks, Durham Univ. Physics Mr. Utane Sawangwit, Durham Univ. Physics Prof. Shaun Cole, Durham Univ. Physics James and Chung-Pei, As I mentioned on campus today, it is certain that the concerns about WMAP data analysis discussed by Sawangwit & Shanks are justified (see http://arxiv.org/abs/1006. 1270v1 & http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.0524 ). However, in advance of reviewing the attached brief paper, they likely did not realize the extent of the problem they have uncovered. Attached is a draft article intended to communicate to the broad technical audience of SCIENCE. I welcome pre- submission peer review and criticism from the UC Berkeley Community including Astronomy, Physics and LBL. You may forward this communication to relevant individuals who you think should be immediately aware of these ideas and may wish to comment. It will be immediately clear to you that the status quo in astrophysics and cosmology will no longer be viable as of the September 2010 academic year. Starting with department leadership, the entire staff needs to start preparing for this forthwith. Regards, Alexander F. Mayer Jay Pritzker Fellow in Theoretical Physics AFMayerSCIENC E100623.pdf _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A FULL WEEK after the alleged incident, following which I have not returned to campus, (Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri, Sat., Sun., Mon.) the entire Astronomy Department was apparently spammed with an e-mail that alleges that I am a potentially dangerous criminal * and includes a photograph of me taken from my website! * Whoever sent that e-mail is not behaving rationally and is certainly not acting in the interest of the university, quite to the contrary. I have a background related to law enforcement through two years of volunteer work for the Eagle County Sheriff when I lived in Colorado. In particular, involving Campus Police to achieve what most people would interpret as personal ulterior motives is a gross misuse of authority and puts officers of the UCPD at potential legal risk because they are inclined to trust "orders" from a professor to take police action. A police department is like the military; officers must follow orders expediently based on trust that what they may be asked to do by a person in authority is legal and that accusations made are factual. I was born in Oakland, grew up in Piedmont and had my first summer job at Berkeley (LHS). What has occurred in the past week is an outrage and a disgrace to everything that the University of California at Berkeley stands for. Your friend, Alex On Jun 29, 2010, at 6:09 PM, John Kubiatowicz wrote: On 6/29/2010 10:34 AM, Alexander F. Mayer wrote: Dear Prof. Birgeneau, I would like to meet with you for about 15 minutes at your earliest convenience to discuss a recent incident on campus. This is a serious matter and I feel that it would be prudent for me to ensure that you are properly informed about this event and to seek your counsel. Ok, Alex. What's the story? This email seems like a nuclear option (no pun intended). --KUBI-- -- Professor John Kubiatowicz Computer Science Division 673 Soda Hall Berkeley, CA 94720-1776 <kubitron.vcf>