Pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., headquartered in New York City, touts itself as an "equal opportunity employer." Its CEO, Albert Bourla, has said, "We don't just talk about the importance of equity, we put our words into action."
The company is now offering a prestigious "Breakthrough Fellowship" that gives college students multiple internships, a fully funded master's degree, and several years of employment. It also restricts applications to "Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic and Native American" students.
Civil rights lawyers say this is a violation of the law, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
"This Pfizer program is so flagrantly illegal I seriously wonder how it passed internal review by its general counsel," said Adam Mortara, one of the country's top civil rights attorneys.
Gail Heriot, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, described the fellowship as a "clear case of liability" under federal law: a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which bans racial discrimination in contracting, and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bans racial discrimination in employment.
"Major corporations seem to have forgotten that there's such a thing as law," said Heriot, who also is a law professor at the University of San Diego. "They seem to think that as long as they're woke, they're bulletproof."
Pfizer did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Free Beacon.
Companies like Pfizer adhere to ESG or Environmental, Social, Governance considerations, which have grown in importance in investment, operational, and purchasing decisions.
Companies that integrate ESG into their business strategy can turn global concerns into business opportunities, positively impact their communities, and create equitable work environments.
Pfizer's annual report in 2021 states: "By having a clear overarching DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) vision, we're able to outline distinct DEI roles and accountabilities, align our therapeutic areas and divisions with our vision, and assess our progress against measurable outcomes."
Other companies like Uber, NASDAQ, and JPMorgan Chase publicize racial quotas to achieve their racial goals. According to The Chicago Tribune, "After years of failed diversity pledges and good-faith promises to hire more minorities, some of the biggest U.S. corporations are taking a more aggressive approach and setting concrete racial quotas."
The Washington Freee Beacon also reported that "Google is setting strict caps on the number of white and Asian students that universities can nominate for a prestigious fellowship program, a policy legal experts say likely violates civil rights law and could threaten the federal funding of nearly every elite university in the United States."
"The Google Ph.D. Fellowship, which gives promising computer scientists nearly $100,000, allows each participating university—a group that includes most elite schools—to nominate four Ph.D. students annually. "If a university chooses to nominate more than two students," Google says, "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."
"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. "And it is illegal for universities receiving federal funds to nominate students based on race under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act."