To The Federalist Society at Stanford Law School:

Standing in solidarity with survivors of sexual assault and relationship abuse, and continuing the campaign to hold Joe Lonsdale accountable for his predatory actions, we, the undersigned, write to you asking that you cancel the upcoming event, “Regulation in Silicon Valley – A Conversation with Joe Lonsdale.”

We are not the first to make this call to action, and this event would not be the first to disinvite Joe Lonsdale. We want to acknowledge all of the labor of previous survivors, organizers, and activists whose work lays the foundation of this letter. Lonsdale and these organizations disregard for survivors’ safety are unacceptable, and the labor should not have to continually fall on survivors to speak out.

In 2017, Women in Computer Science canceled their event with Joe Lonsdale after being informed of his predatory past. This March, fraternity Phi Kappa Psi canceled an event with Lonsdale, a member of the fraternity, as a result of overwhelming pressure from woman of color activists Theresa Gao, Jasmine Sun, and Sasha Perigo on Facebook, Twitter, and in the Daily.

The authors (Jasmine Sun, Theresa Gao, Sasha Perigo, Shanta Katipamula, ASSU Executive President, Kimiko Hirota, ASSU Co-Director of Community Centers & Diversity, Maia Brockbank, ASSU Co-Director of Sexual Violence Prevention, Emma Tsurkov PhD candidate, ASSU Co-Director of Sexual Violence Prevention) of the Stanford Daily Op-Ed, “Stanford Doesn’t Trust Joe Lonsdale to Mentor Students —You Shouldn’t Either”, sum up the circumstances that led to Lonsdale’s mentoring ban well:

“The New York Times Magazine meticulously detailed the misconduct by Lonsdale that led to the mentoring ban. Lonsdale first met Ellie Clougherty ’13 in 2011 while she was a sophomore. He subsequently asked her to meet for drinks in the fall of her junior year to learn more about her professional “ambitions.” In early 2012, Lonsdale asked Clougherty if she needed a mentor for a course she was enrolled in on entrepreneurship. Shortly afterward, Lonsdale was switched to become her official mentor. The Times reports that, during the class, Lonsdale had an inappropriate sexual relationship with Clougherty, which he failed to disclose to the University. One of Clougherty’s friends recounted to the Times how she felt uncomfortable watching Lonsdale treat Clougherty like “pretty wallpaper” at gatherings of male Silicon Valley executives. After their breakup in 2013, Clougherty sought counseling for physical and emotional abuse, and she ultimately left Stanford to finish her studies online. Lonsdale denies all claims of abuse.”

There is a striking financial, institutional difference in power between a 21 year old student and a 29 year old Silicon Valley billionaire, especially at a school like Stanford whose STEM departments, funding, faculty and overall interests are so aligned with Silicon Valley.  As the op-ed states,”regardless of whether this relationship was physically abusive, it was harmful to both Clougherty and other Stanford women, and a violation of University policy.”

As mentioned in the op-ed, “Lonsdale is just six years into his 10-year ban from mentoring. If he took his policy violation and consequent ban seriously, he would not push the boundaries of the restriction.” Clearly, allowing Lonsdale to speak on this campus while there is still a ban against him undermines any support given to survivors, because it sends out a message that no one is held accountable for their actions.

We ask that you reconsider this event, as having Lonsdale on this campus is harmful to survivors because it gives a platform to someone who does not take his violations of campus policy seriously. We stand in support and solidarity with survivors and urge the campus community to join us to think about the values that guests like Joe Lonsdale bring along with them to campus.

Signed,
Concerned Students of Stanford University

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Stanford NAACP

Students Support for Workers Coalition

Student for the Liberation of All People

Stanford American Indian Organization

Stanford Asian American Activism Committee

Asian American Students' Association

Sigma Psi Zeta Sorority, Inc.