Former employees say Joshua Wolf Shenk made women feel ‘uncomfortable’ prior to nude Zoom call

Ex-employees say that former Believer magazine editor-in-chief Joshua Wolf Shenk had a reputation for ‘making women uncomfortable’ – revelations that have emerged since he resigned after flashing dozens of employees on a Zoom call. 

Shenk, who served as editor-in-chief at Believer magazine, and artistic and executive director of the Black Mountain Institute, handed in his resignation after flashing his staff. 

In February, Shenk stood up during a Zoom call and exposed himself to about a dozen staffers from Believer magazine and the Black Mountain Institute, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

On March 24, the publisher of Believer magazine and staff at the Black Mountain Institute, a literary arts center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas were informed that Shenk resigned due to the incident, the Los Angeles Times reported.   

Shenk’s literary agent, Ira Silverberg, explained to the Los Angeles Times that Shenk was soaking in a bath to relieve nerve pain related to fibromyalgia during the Zoom call.

Silverberg said that Shenk had chosen a virtual backdrop to hide his location and was wearing a mesh shirt, but when he stood up to charge his computer without turning off the camera or covering the lower half of his body, he exposed himself to staffers.  

But now current and former employees tell Vice that Shenk had a history of problematic behavior prior to his bathtub incident, which they said was no ‘random accident.’ 

‘I wasn’t surprised in the sense that it seemed like something that would happen,’ a Believer staffer told Vice about the Zoom incident. ‘Like, of course there would be this. I don’t think it’s fair to categorize him as someone who’s predatory, but you can categorize him as someone who just didn’t care. He didn’t have any respect for boundaries or comfort or what his coworkers deserved from him in terms of attention or time or decency.’

Shortly after the LA Times article published, staffers from The Believer and BMI wrote an anonymous open letter accusing Shenk of being an ‘inattentive and negligent boss,’ and said his behavior on the infamous Zoom call ‘matched a pattern of callousness and abusive disregard for the staffers who worked under him.’

‘We see this act as the culmination of a years-long pattern of inappropriate and disrespectful behavior that belies a chronic lack of care and concern for the comfort, boundaries, and safety of the staff — not to mention that of students, fellows, and others in BMI and The Believer’s communities,’ the open letter said. ‘This pattern of behavior resulted in a workplace culture that was difficult and at times painful to operate within. We worked, in spite of this, to create the successful programs and publications BMI and The Believer are known for — work for which Shenk is credited throughout the LA Times article.’ 

Two former female Believer staffers told Vice that they had been warned about Shenk’s conduct early on in their employment.  

Four current staffers told Vice that he made female staffers deeply uncomfortable, but none said he had sexually harassed them.

‘He doesn’t seem to be aware of his body or of other people’s comfort or reality,’ one staffer told Vice.   

Shenk responded to the accusations in an emailed statement to Vice that said that he needs to work on boundaries around both men and women. 

‘I’m often awkward around folks regardless of their gender, and I own that,’ he said. ‘In imaginative spaces, you’ve got to balance deep appreciation for people’s boundaries with openness and creative risks. For any times I got that balance wrong, though, I want to learn from them and make amends.’

A staffer also said that in order to make leeway at work or be ‘taken seriously’ she was forced to befriend him and spend time with him after work, which was frustrating because at the time, many people on staff were contractors and being paid very little.

Shenk is also being accused of underpaying staffers of color.  

An employee told Vice that at one point, every person employed as a full staffer with benefits was white, while everyone who was a person of color was on contract.

‘He had a clear pattern of tokenizing in the most literal sense,’ an employee said.  

Silverberg disputed that claim, telling Vice that Shenk had created 6.5 salaried positions, with benefits, for women of color and had a pending full-time offer to another woman of color out at the time he left. 

‘These numbers represent a commitment to DEIA principles,’ he said in an email statement. ‘They exist in all aspects of BMI/The Believer’s work.’  

In a farewell letter following his resignation Shenk called the Zoom incident ‘a dumb, reckless choice to disregard appropriate setting and attire for a Zoom meeting.’

‘I crossed a line that I can’t walk back over. I sorely regret the harm to you — and, by extension, to the people we serve. I’m sorry.’ he wrote.  

At least two witnesses of the incident reported it to the university’s Office of Equal Employment and Title IX, but the University dismissed and closed the Title IX complaints when Shenk resigned. 

Additionally, staffers at Believer are now claiming that a public records request put in by Vice was used to intimidate them and gain access to their personal correspondence.  

While reporting on the Shenk story, Vice sought documents from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, that were created by staff at the university, Believer and the Black Mountain Institute and that had certain keywords.  

The university sent a follow-up email to Vice on May 20 regarding the public records request and around the same time emailed magazine staff telling them that under state law they had to turn over private texts and emails as part of Vice’s public records request. 

Despite Vice clarifying the specifics of its inquiry, the university took days to relay that information to Believer staff. Some staffers released private correspondence  to the university while others did not. Some even sought legal counsel. 

On May 26, the university told staffers their private records were no longer required and said that the university had received clarification on the Vice request that day despite actually getting clarification on May 20. 

Some staffers find the situation suspicious. 

‘We’re not worried about the requesters, about you guys,’ a Believer staffer told Vice. ‘We’re worried about what university officials are going to be reading our private correspondence, much of which is critical of the university.’