The TED Talks empire—known for short, viral video speeches by leading figures in technology and other fields—has been grappling with reports of sexual harassment internally and at conferences where predatory male behavior has allegedly gotten worse, according to a story in The Washington Post.
Citing interviews and internal emails, the Post reports at least five people, including a past main stage speaker, told TED officials they were harassed and groped during the organization’s flagship conference in Vancouver in April.
The newspaper quotes an April email from the the nonprofit’s general counsel, Nishat Ruiter, who told senior leadership that she, too, had been “touched inappropriately but let it go.”
Ruiter went on to write she was finding it difficult to believe the issue was being “addressed by TED effectively. We are clearly not doing enough.”
Moreover, the nonprofit is has facing sexual harassment complaints against its own managers. Jordan Reeves, a former staffer, tells The Post he was harassed by Tom Rielly, the organization’s director of partnerships.
Reeves says he complained about the incidents to TED owner Chris Anderson and another executive, but was told Rielly was joking and to keep the conversation between them. Reeves quit six months later.
Organizers of the local TEDxLSU say the allegations are not expected to have much of an impact on their event, which returns for a sixth year in March. Still, the report is generating concern.
“There always is concern about that whether it affects a local TEDx event or just in general,” says Rebecca Burdette, a co-founder and organizer of TEDxLSU. “As an organization, TEDxLSU is doing everything we can to make sure that’s not happening in our organization.”
Burdette, who says the issue is “very close to her heart,” had not seen The Washington Post article when Daily Report contacted her.
While some may draw connections between the national and local organizations, Burdette says the two hardly interact.
The national organization functions as a governing body that organizes trainings for local organizers, but is largely hands off, she says.
“Once our license is approved and we have our rulebook, we don’t really interconnect,” she says, adding that the setup ensures that local organizations are not impacted by political or other pressures affecting the national nonprofit.
TEDxLSU is a subsidiary of LSU, Burdette says. As such, reports of sexual harassment, if they arise, would be handled according to university protocols.
