Google quietly backtracks on racial quota for PhD fellowship program: report
Elite universities like Harvard and Princeton participate in Google's PhD fellowship program
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Google has reportedly reversed its racial quota for its PhD fellowship program, which sought to limit the number of Whites and Asians admitted.
Google launched the PhD Fellow Program in 2009 "to recognize and support outstanding graduate students pursuing work in computer science, related disciplines or promising research areas."
Lettering with the logo of Google is stuck on a glass pane in the press center of Koelnmesse. (Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Reporting from The Washington Free Beacon highlighted Google’s racial quota which stated that if a university chose to nominate more than two students for the program, "the third and fourth nominees must self-identify as a woman, Black / African descent, Hispanic / Latino / Latinx, Indigenous, and / or a person with a disability."
Some complained the quota unfairly discriminated against Asians. Google later modified the policy. Instead of requiring the previous racial quota, the company now "strongly encourage[s]" additional nominees who fall under the aforementioned categories.
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Many elite schools have partnered with Google to nominate students for the program including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and the University of California, Berkeley, among others.
Adam Mortara, who is representing the plaintiffs in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, told the Washington Free Beacon: "It is illegal for Google to enter into its contracts based on race under the Civil Rights Act of 1866 … and it is illegal for universities receiving federal funds to nominate students based on face under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act."
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The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in the case later this month.
FOX Business has reached out to Google for comment.