September 14, 2022

Google And IBM Scrap Diversity Requirements For Fellowship Nominations

Are companies sticking to their BLM promises

In the wake of George Floyd’s death, many organizations made public pledges to support the anti-racism movement and end systemic racism by committing to workplace diversity. However, how much progress has been made as we look back? 

Tech giants Google and IBM have decided to reverse the criteria that ensured a diverse range of students would be nominated for their doctoral fellowship programs.

Initially, if a school nominated more than two students for Google’s fellowship, the third and fourth students should come from an underrepresented background. Similarly, IBM previously required half of its nominees to be from an underrepresented background. These companies have since removed the requirements.

The initial diversity criteria aimed to give underrepresented students more chances to join a fellowship. The fellowships are highly beneficial for students as they recognize and support exceptional graduate students and provide them with mentorship opportunities across the tech and computer science industries. 

Since the move, the fellowships still require schools to nominate a diverse pool of candidates. Still, they no longer have an obligation to pick any BIPOC students.

Where does the law come in?

According to the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative political journal, lawyers said that both organizations likely violated civil rights laws by imposing a cap on the number of white and Asian nominees.

Recent reports reveal that after facing legal problems that include “anti-white discrimination,” organizations have decided to scrap their diversity requirement and change it to “clarify their nomination criteria.” Further complaints also suggested that the fellowships discriminated against students based on race and sex. 

Despite the above, some Fortune 500 companies stand by their programs. For example, Pfizer’s prestigious “Breakthrough Fellowship” remains exclusively for students of Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic and Native American descent. When questioned by outlets, Pfizer insisted it hadn’t done anything wrong. 

“All of our actions comply fully with all US employment laws. We create opportunities for people without taking them away from others.” Pfizer told Fox Business. 

This article was edited on September 15, 2022 to clarify the fellowships’ initial nomination criteria.

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Kumba Kpakima

Kumba Kpakima is a reporter at POCIT. A documentary about the knife crime epidemic in the UK got her a nomination for the UK's #30toWatch Young Journalists of the Year.