Oracle, a giant of the tech industry, hosted scholarship and internship opportunities in conjunction with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) that excluded both white and Asian applicants on the basis of their race.
The two opportunities specifically notify white and Asian individuals who attempt to apply that they are ineligible on the basis of their race.
One of the two programs, archived here, is called the “Oracle Corporate Scholars Program.” According to the description, “The Oracle Corporate Scholars Program provides extended learning experiences at Oracle headquarters during the summer of 2023.” It goes on to list the racial requirements, saying, “The program includes scholarship support for African American, Hispanics or Native Americans.”
Under a section titled “eligibility requirements,” the description lists acceptable ethnicities, which excludes white and Asian applicants and instead are limited to “African American/Black, American Indian – Alaska Native, Hispanic American.”
“Successful candidates will be offered internships during the summer of 2023 and subsequent scholarship awards for academic year 2023-24 upon successful completion of the program,” it also explains.
An almost identical program lists the same selection criteria. Titled the “Oracle Developer Scholars Program” and archived here, the description says, “The Oracle Developers Scholars Program seeks to identify students to serve as technical development interns during the summer of 2023.”
At the conclusion of the internship, interns will have an opportunity to receive a $10,000 scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic school year,” it also notes.“This program seeks Black, Hispanic, and Native American students,” it goes on to say. The program lists the same race-based eligibility requirements.
Oracle advertises the two racially discriminatory internship offerings on its website, archived here, saying, “We offer two different types of programs for students who come from underrepresented communities in STEM.”
The tech company has partnered with the United Negro College Fund to give “students from underrepresented communities the opportunity to launch their career with a world-class internship experience and scholarship funding.” It also notes donations of more than $12 million “to our shared mission.”
Oracle is set to hold the same internship and scholarship opportunities in the summer of 2024. Applicants can apply for the programs on the United Negro College Fund website but are barred from accessing the application if their profile lists “Caucasian” or “Asian Pacific Islander American” as their ethnicity.
When white and Asian applicants click the “apply now” button on the Oracle Corporate Scholars Program page, they are informed, “Based off the following information in your applicant profile, you are deemed ineligible for this opportunity.”
David Bernstein, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, told The Daily Wire that, although an individual who was barred from applying might have standing to sue, “it’s a tricky question.”
“It looks like Oracle has delegated selection of the candidate, and that UNCF determines the rules for who can apply. UNCF isn’t bound by Title VII, because it’s not the employer,” Berstein added. He went on to note, however, “I think that if someone sued Oracle for hiring a grant recipient, knowing that whites and Asians were excluded, that person would likely win.”
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Oracle is not the only tech company that has hosted racially discriminatory internship opportunities that disadvantage white and Asian people. A report from the Washington Free Beacon found that Google put a cap on the number of white and Asian students that universities could nominate for a fellowship program.
Microsoft also capped the number of white and Asian students that could be nominated for one of the tech company’s fellowships. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer was hit with a lawsuit over a fellowship that racially discriminates against whites and Asians.
There’s also Voya Investment Management, which hosted a Financial Services Diversity Scholarship Program that did not allow white applicants, with an eligibility requirement reading “Self-identify as Black or African American; Hispanic or Latino; American Indian or Alaska Native American; Asian; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; or multi-racial.”
Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.