McDonald’s will expand a scholarship for Hispanic and Latino students to white applicants after the burger giant was served a DEI lawsuit from a group opposed to affirmative action.
Founded 40 years ago, McDonald’s HACER National Scholarship awards Hispanic and Latino high school seniors with at least one Latino parent money to support their college endeavors.
This year, McDonald’s HACER scholarship has already had over 3,000 applications and has awarded over $33 million since its founding.
However, the American Alliance for Equal Rights sued McDonald’s for unlawfully discriminating against students from other ethnic groups.
The AAER is led by Edward Blum, affirmative action foe who led to the Supreme Court’s ban of race-based college admission in 2023.
The case was filed on Jan. 12 on behalf of an Arkansas high school student with a 3.8 GPA who wanted to apply but was ineligible due to her ethnicity, according to the Daily Mail.
AAER believes that an “individual’s race should not be used to help them, or harm them, in their life’s endeavors,” according to its website.
Upon reaching a settlement with AAER earlier this month, McDonald’s changed the scholarship requirements to “any student who can demonstrate an impact on or commitment to the Latino community. Applicants no longer need to have at least one Latino parent.”
Prior to the lawsuit, HACER applicants needed to have meet certain GPA and age requirements, as well as having “at least one parent of Hispanic/Latino heritage.”
In McDonald’s public statement, company reps wrote that they “disagree” with AAER’s claim, but that the company settled and evolved the scholarship to best serve HACER recipients.
Additionally, McDonald’s announced an extension to HACER applications from Feb. 6 to March 6 to accommodate any new applicants.
Hacer — which means ‘to do’ or ‘to make’ in Spanish — previously aimed to ‘close the opportunity gap facing Hispanic or Latino students applying for college.’
