And Now For Some Diversity Humor…

“The same venture-capital firm known for its involvement in a discrimination lawsuit filed by former employee Ellen Pao may have just found itself in hot water again,” Sally French begins her article on MarketWatch a few days ago.

In hot water again? Perhaps Ms. French has forgotten that “Ellen Pao lost her gender discrimination lawsuit against former employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers…. The jury found for Kleiner on all four claims brought by Pao.” Not only did she lose, but “Ellen Pao owes Kleiner Perkins $276,000 for lawsuit costs.” Kleiner Perkins agreed to waive the fee if Pao decided not to appeal, and Pao agreed.

I’m sure many defendants in discrimination suits would love to be in Kleiner Perkins’s  old “hot water,” but what hot water has it jumped into now? Here’s Ms. French again:

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers venture capitalist John Doerr spoke onstage Tuesday afternoon at TechCrunch Disrupt SF in a conversation with a journalist.

But one comment Doerr made on recruiting and the company’s newest hires didn’t sit well with the broader tech community.
“We have two partners who are so diverse, I have a challenge pronouncing their names,” Doerr said onstage.

Those partners are Swati Mylavarapu and Muzzammil Zaveri.

Tasteless, perhaps, but nevertheless funny.

“The Internet,” Ms. French notes, referring of course to the supreme judge and jury of correct behavior, “responded to the latest comments from Kleiner Perkins with a steady stream of outrage.” All of it, no doubt, in good taste.

If Ms. Mylavarapu and Mr Zaveri were sufficiently offended, perhaps they could apply for a teaching position at Cornell, which recently announced that it “is seeking to hire a tenure-track assistant professor in some area of the humanities or qualitative social sciences.” Any area — doesn’t matter what, so long as the candidate is diverse … or studies diversity: “We are especially interested in considering applications from members of underrepresented groups, those who have faced economic hardship, are first-generation college graduates, or work on topics related to these issues.”

“Speculation began to stir on social media,” the Chronicle of Higher Education noted. “Was it a hoax?” Such speculation is easily understandable, since the announcement does seem like an Onion parody. But no. “It is not. Cornell administrators have confirmed that the job is real….”

Reality, as so often happens in this Age of Diversity, often outdoes parody.

 

Say What?