“Office Hours for White Men” and “Office Hours for Everyone Else”

[SFLemonade]

A former CMO in Boston is hosting free office hours for the public, but in the name of increasing diversity in tech, he's limiting the number of office hours that White Men are allowed to take. This is spelled out pretty blatantly in the two buttons on his page, "Office Hours for White Men" and "Office Hours for Everyone Else": http://www.mikevolpe.com/office-hours

I get it, we need to increase diversity in tech. That's our noble cause right now. But how is this not even remotely seen as blatant discrimination? How is this so widely accepted in our industry that a high profile CMO feels completely justified in doing it? Those buttons so closely resemble the iconic "Colored Water Fountain" images from the MLK days that it's almost laughable. Seriously: http://blog.ericharmatz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/segregated-water-fountains.jpg

I think our community needs to have a very real and open discussion about this.

[notdiverseenuf]

I think this is an example of a mutually beneficial filter. To me someone setting up separate office hours for white men and for everybody else sends a strong signal: "this is a person you don't want to deal with; avoid!" On the other hand, it makes them more likely to meet people who endorse the same kind of thinking, white male or not.