Dean Larry Kramer was briefly quoted in the following article by the San Jose Mercury News’ Chris O’Brien on comments made by Vivek Wadha, a fellow at the Rock Center for Corporate Governance.

If there is some kind of digital dogfight in Silicon Valley, chances are that Vivek Wadhwa is smack in the middle of it.

Name a controversial subject: immigration, investment bubbles, age discrimination, women and minorities in tech, Google’s search results. Wadhwa, the most provocative voice in Silicon Valley, has likely staked out a controversial position that has everyone in Silicon Valley taking sides. And his penchant for straight talk and challenging the conventional wisdom about the valley being a meritocracy has catapulted him to national prominence online and on the airwaves.

Maybe you love him, maybe you hate him. But you can’t ignore him.

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“My impression when I came out here was that Silicon Valley was the world’s greatest meritocracy,” Wadhwa said during a recent talk at a TEDxWomen’s event. But after his research showed that women start only 3 percent of tech companies, he decided: “Silicon Valley, some of your VCs have a gender problem.”

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“As far as the attacks go. I have to admit that they do hurt,” Wadhwa said in one email exchange we had. “I pretend not to care, but I do lose sleep when I receive the types of emails I’ve received.”

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“Controversy invites conversation,” said Larry Kramer, dean of the Stanford Law School, “That’s a good thing for a university. We want to be a platform for those discussions.”

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