Non-discrimination Clauses and Race-specific Scholarships
What language do you use related to non-discrimination in your fundholder agreements and public communications about scholarships? Do you refer to a specific law, or have a list of "we do not discriminate based on X"?
How do you rectify these non-discrimination clauses with scholarships that are for a specific race, gender, etc.? For example, we have several that are for African American students, but it feels like we are contradicting ourselves with the non-discrimination language. I know that many Community Foundations have race, gender, or other protected class-based scholarships, so how do you handle that from a legal perspective? In some of our external communications we say that there is a "preference" for X.
Note: We aren't looking to change or take away these scholarships--they are needed! We are just revising our fund agreements and want to know how others word things.
Comments
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Our foundation uses language similar to, "Scholarship is available to ______ students" . So far we have had no problem with it, our Universal Application Process links candidates to available scholarships based off of information about race and gender that they have provided. An EDI Consultant told us to be sure to include a "prefer not to answer" option for any question in the application process that might be deemed discriminatory i.e. gender, race, orientation. I thought that was a really great idea.
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