Fired Google Manifesto Author Hails From Romeoville

ROMEOVILLE, IL — A software engineer who made headlines this week after his memo on diversity and political correctness cost him his job at Google has ties to Chicagoland. James Damore, a Romeoville native and graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was fired Monday after he sent a memo "advancing harmful gender stereotypes," Google executives said.

The memo, dubbed sexist by some and defended by others, was a 10-page critique of the company's "political correctness" and diversity initiatives, which Damore says result in discrimination against men. The memo cost him his coveted Google gig but earned him support from mens rights advocates and some on the alt-right, who defended Damore on Twitter.

Damore, 28, was a University of Illinois Bronze Tablet scholar and attended the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora. He also enrolled at Harvard but dropped out before completing his Ph.D., according to Business Insider. His doctoral studies in biology at Harvard originally appeared on his LinkedIn page, but have since been removed.

He is originally from Romeoville, according to the Chicago Tribune.

In a memo called "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," Damore acknowledged that women face unfair discrimination in the tech sector — a hot-button issue that has publicly dogged the industry for years — but said that biological differences between men and women are significant and may explain some of the gender gaps at Google. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Monday that parts of the memo "violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace." Later that day, it was announced that Damore was fired. Read more via Mountain View Patch.

Watch: Google Engineer Blasts Its Workforce Diversity Policies

Since his termination, Damore has created a Twitter account with the handle @FiredForTruth. He told Bloomberg his is “currently exploring all possible legal remedies” and in a statement said he values diversity and inclusion, saying his memo has been misrepresented.

Even so, the memo has drawn fire from women in science and engineering fields. Melissa Aquino, a mother of five and chemical engineer who serves as a corporate vice president for a Fortune 200 company, took to social media to blast Damore's remarks. She said she wrote "Dear Mr. Google Manifesto" because "women in science and engineering fields need to start telling their stories."

Read Damore's full memos at Gizmodo

Image via Twitter screenshot