(Chris Parker, Headline USA) Google has launched its Google Ph.D. Fellowship program, an initiative designed to provide up to $100,000 in grants to students seeking computer science degrees.
However, the program comes with a big stipulation: if a university nominates more than two students (with a maximum of four), the last two must be a non-Asian minority, a female, or a student suffering from gender dysphoria, reported Rebel News.
“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,” says Google’s FAQ.
In other words, white and Asian men are excluded based solely on their gender and race, regardless of how well-qualified they might be. The only exception is if they have a disability.
Lawyers are already crying fowl, claiming the race-based limitations violate civil rights laws, reported the Washington Free Beacon.
“It is illegal for Google to enter into contracts based on race under the Civil Rights Act of 1866,” said Adam Mortara, the lead trial lawyer for the plaintiffs in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, who are pressing the Supreme Court to outlaw affirmative action.
“And it is illegal for universities receiving federal funds to nominate students based on race under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.”
This means that universities risk losing federal funding if they comply with Google’s criteria and participate in the program. Most of America’s top ivory-league schools receive federal funding. A majority of those schools also have their own policies against discrimination.
“The Google Fellowship program is a blatantly unlawful and immoral quota plan that pits students against one another by skin color and ethnic heritage,” said Edward Blum, the founder of Students for Fair Admissions.
“Our nation’s enduring civil rights laws were passed to specifically forbid this type of racial discrimination.”
This isn’t Google’s first controversial race-based decision. Earlier this year, the tech giant announced plans for its AI to “correct” language that it considers noninclusive.
So if, for example, someone types “mankind” into Google Docs, the AI will suggest changing the wording to “humankind.”
