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University of Oregon affirms all can apply to fellowship
Racially and sexually discriminatory language has been scrubbed from a fellowship listing at a University of Oregon affiliated research center, following questions from The College Fix.
Academic fellowship database ProFellow removed its listing for a geoscience fellowship through the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center following inquiries.
The “Geoscience Professional Development Fellowship” description said that “priority” would be given to “BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQ+,” applicants, as well as “first-generation students.”
The $1,000 stipend could be used to support networking, such as traveling to and presenting at academic conferences.
ProFellow’s description differed from the one on the research center’s website, which said “[p]reference will also be given to first-time conference or event attendees, those attending in-person, and those presenting.”
The director of the research center disclaimed the ProFellow list.
“We did not post our position on the ProFellow site, and as you noted, they are using outdated language that does not reflect our fellowship position search,” Professor Diego Melgar told The College Fix via email.
“We have contacted them [ProFellow] to ask that the listing be removed or updated to the correct information as soon as possible,” the earth sciences chair said.
“We do not take demographics into account when reviewing applications for any of our programs,” Melgar told The Fix. He encouraged anyone interested to apply.
ProFellow subsequently told The Fix “this fellowship is no longer listed in our database at the request of the fellowship staff.”
The Fix confirmed the fellowship has been removed.
ProFellow did not respond to a follow up question about how the language ended up on the website in the first place and how long it had been listed.
A civil rights expert told The Fix the posting raised legal issues.
“Public institutions should award opportunities based on individual merit, not race,” Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Chris Barnewolt told The Fix prior to the listing’s removal.
In regards to the ProFellow listing, he said that, “because this fellowship stated that priority would be given to certain racial groups, it raises serious constitutional concerns.”
This is the latest posting with discriminatory language to be subsequently disavowed by the sponsoring organization.
Last month, the University of Wisconsin Madison distanced itself from a posting on ProFellow’s website that advertised a law faculty fellowship specifically aimed at “candidates of color.”
“The two-year law school [Hastie] Fellowship reflects a commitment to diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and especially encourages applications from candidates of color and other underrepresented communities in the legal academy,” the description stated.
“The listing from ProFellow does not accurately list the criteria for the program,” Jennie Broecker, the associate director of communications for the law school, told The Fix on May 15. “We are requesting that ProFellow remove or correct the information on their website.”
The racially discriminatory language remains on the ProFellow website as of June 10.
The database also still has a 2022 article up about “law fellowships for women of color” that endorses the Hastie Fellowship.
