I believe this excerpt is actually what led to her firing on such short notice. Actually, I find it surprising that this is going largely unnoticed. Jeff's ema

I believe this excerpt is actually what led to her firing on such short notice. Actually, I find it surprising that this is going largely unnoticed. Jeff's emails, which were surely also crafted with sign off from PR and legal, attempt to frame this "resignation" as an issue of the paper's content, as well as the inability to meet Timnit's demands. However, this framing does not seem to align with the experiences of other Google researchers, and does not explain why she was terminated in this particular manner. If that were really the case, why didn't they just wait for Timnit to return from vacation, try to resolve the issue, and if unsuccessful, accept her resignation? Why not try to deescalate and handle the situation more tactfully? Timnit's account of the email she received also seems to confirm this: "we believe the end of your employment should happen faster than your email reflects because certain aspects of the email you sent last night to non-management employees in the brain group reflect behavior that is inconsistent with the expectations of a Google manager. As a result, we are accepting your resignation immediately ..." [1] So, what aspects of that email triggered such a prompt termination? Well, Jeff's first email says that Timnit was telling employees to "stop work on critical DEI programs", and I've similarly seen some comments focus on the part of her email that reads, "What I want to say is stop writing your documents because it doesn't make a difference," but Timnit is clearly not saying to stop DEI work, she's saying to "focus on leadership accountability" and to apply external pressure. That seems to me to be the real issue, and the sort of thing that would trigger pressure from legal. The fact that the tone of the email is frustrated, and it airs some dirty laundry, would not necessarily result in firing, if leadership really wanted to keep her on, they could work something out. According to Timnit, her own manager was not informed, she's well liked by her academic community and her Google reports (who are expressing their dismay on Twitter), and Jeff has regularly praised Timnit in the past. So, the mention of congressional pressure in her email really seems to me to be the real catalyst here. [1] https://www.twitter.com/timnitGebru/status/1334364735446331392 https://www.twitter.com/timnitGebru/status/13343647354463313...