Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Another part of the puzzle: Why the 'new editor' left in 2009.

I'd previously not found this on the web. It provides a good reason for why the new editor who replaced Barry Williams left. That the subsequent and current editor, Tim Mendham had been a long-term member of the inner-circle, including being the Editor before handing over to Barry W. It was noted in the Magazine that Tim M "was wearing 5 hats": Editor, Public Officer, Archivist, Treasurer and ???.

The timing, especially in relation to being Deregistered, would be interesting to know. Stollznow seems to have a history of questionable behaviour.

Sceptics fight defies belief, SMH 'The Diary", 30-June-2009. Reformatted for readability.
Bent spoons have been flying in the offices of the Australian Skeptics after the editor of its national magazine The Skeptic, Karen Stollznow, left Australia to return to the US, leaving accusations of sexism in her wake and declaring the organisation "a gentleman's club for curmudgeons”.
Inspired by the American debunker of the paranormal, James Randi, the group is best known for its annual Bent Spoon Award, bestowed for the worst "paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle". But the group is being forced to defend itself against Stollznow's charge that "scepticism in Australia is still for cantankerous bearded bespectacled old men”.
Stollznow, an Australian who is a research associate at the University of California, Berkeley, was appointed executive officer, which encompasses the editor's job, in the middle of last year.
But after arriving in Sydney in January, she resigned in April.
Stollznow told the Diary she was unhappy at not being given a contract or an office and that "meetings and correspondence were rife with inappropriate and sexist comments about women”.
She also says the group has withheld pay.  [emphasis added]
The president of Australian Skeptics, Eran Segev, denied the organisation was sexist and said the dispute was the result of "a gap of expectations”.
This included the start date, which he said had led to the pay dispute.
"We think she did a wonderful job with the magazine," he said.
Stollznow says she "will do whatever I have to do" to recover the money she believes is owed.
2013/4 Update

It seems a bad idea to mix business with pleasure, but in the world of Professional Skeptics, it seems especially dangerous. In late 2013 Karen Stollznow took out a sexual harassment case against an ex-partner she worked with.

Ben Radford sexual harassment case. Proof of falsified documents, a measured, rational and detailed response to the allegations.

Please donate to Ben Radford's legal fund.  [KS had reportedly collected $20,000 in donations.]

Benjamin Radford, Center for Inquiry — Albuquerque, NM

Karen Stollznow, pix, plus married to a Matthew Baxter  Bryan & Baxter, Denver, CO.

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