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My resignation letter to the
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
(publishers of Skeptical Inquirer magazine)



The full background story of my falling out with CSI and Skeptical Inquirer can be found here.

April 23, 2018
Attn: Barry Karr, Executive Director

Barry:

It is with great regret that I must hereby sever my formal affiliation with CSI, namely my more than quarter-century position as a Scientific Consultant. Having misused an earlier letter of mine in the Jan/Feb Skeptical Inquirer's climate-science "exchange," Ken's* rejection of my last letter is the specific precipitating factor.

Though I worded the following much more charitably in my rejected letter, Ken's introductory depiction of me in that "exchange" was no less than a lie (premeditated or not) of omission, and his refusal to allow me to defend against Michael Mann's personal affronts and direct challenge was equally appalling.

As I noted to Ben Radford* in related correspondence, my response (in contrast to Michael Mann's style) said nothing about Mann's reputation as a bully whose brand of adversarial science is viewed by some in his field as pathological. And as I also commented, "The newsletter that I edited for 26 years was a dinky rag compared to your magazine, but I cannot imagine denying anyone -- much less a listed Scientific Consultant to my organization -- the opportunity to answer such a direct challenge."

Ben certainly has my permission to share our entire correspondence, but I inferred unequivocally from his responses that he is in general agreement with me about the propriety of Ken's decisions with regard to both my earlier letter and the last one, and that he made Ken well aware of such -- to no avail. Perhaps Ken's historically sound sense of fairness has been clouded by his friendships with Mann and some others among the CSI Executive Council's [Correction: I meant among the CSI Fellows'] growing roster of anti-AGW activists.

My mentor, Phil Klass, must be grieving in his grave over what has been happening within CSI since the breaching of the firebreak between it and CFI*. Unfortunately, I don't anticipate the pendulum swinging back anytime soon, if ever.

But things were nice while they lasted, and I thank you all for that.

--Gary

cc:  Ken Frazier
       Ben Radford

*Notes: Kendrick Frazier was the editor of Skeptical Inquirer from 1977 until his death in 2022 (Benjamin Radford was his deputy editor). The Center for Inquiry (CFI), of which CSI (formerly CSICOP) is a subsidiary, advocates and lobbies for progressive causes.


 
I did shortly thereafter receive this gracious response from Karr
(which he cc'ed to Frazier and Radford):

Gary,

I am sorry that you are resigning as a CSI Scientific Consultant. Thank you for your many contributions over the last 26 years - 26 Years!! I have greatly appreciated your work on numerous topics - from UFOs, medical issues, and of course alleged psychics like Noreen Renier.

We will update our listings, but I see no need to take you out of my rolodex. I plan, unless you tell me otherwise, to keep you in my medical email list, for example.

Thank you again and Best Wishes to you!

Barry Karr

 
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