To settle a conservative group’s discrimination lawsuit, McDonald’s said it will no longer require Hispanic heritage for students who apply to its decades-old Hispanic college scholarship program.
American Alliance for Equal Rights filed a lawsuit in January in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee against McDonald’s and the International Scholarship and Tuition Services, the Nashville-based company that administers the fast food chain’s HACER scholarships.
The lawsuit said the Chicago-based fast food giant discriminated against non-Hispanics by not making its HACER scholarship available to everyone. That same month, McDonald’s announced it would roll back its diversity goals, joining other major companies like Moline-based John Deere and Walmart.
McDonald’s on Friday said it disagreed with AAER’s claim but will settle the lawsuit. There was no financial exchange as part of the settlement, nor any admission of wrongdoing by McDonald’s, according to the company.
McDonald’s “will remove the criteria for at least one parent to be of Hispanic/Latino heritage,” it said in a statement. “Instead, applicants must demonstrate their impact and contribution to the Hispanic/Latino community through their activities, leadership and service.”
AAER’s legal challenge would have placed 2025 applications and scholarships on hold. McDonald’s said “settling this lawsuit and evolving the program is the right thing to do for its recipients.”
During a virtual media briefing on Friday, a McDonald’s spokesperson said, “There are kids counting on this money now.”
AAER President Edward Blum previously formed Students for Fair Admissions, which filed lawsuits that led to the U.S. Supreme Court ending affirmative action in college admissions.
McDonald’s announcement comes a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to eliminate federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which he and conservatives have said are discriminatory.
McDonald’s said more than 3,000 students had applied so far for this year’s HACER scholarship. The Feb. 6 deadline will be extended to Mar. 6 to accommodate the change in application criteria. Scholarship winners will be announced this spring.
The HACER program, started in 1985, previously awarded 30 college scholarships worth up to $100,000 each year to students with at least one parent of Hispanic/Latino heritage, among other criteria.
McDonald’s said changing the program’s criteria will “safeguard HACER, which has been a deeply important program that has existed for nearly 40 years and has been instrumental in creating educational opportunities for Hispanic students pursuing higher education.”
Since its inception, more than $33 million in scholarships have been awarded to more than 17,000 students, according to McDonald’s.
For its other education scholarships, McDonald’s will “continue to evaluate and look at programs and evolve them where it makes sense,” said a spokesperson.
The fast food chain doesn’t expect legal challenges to its Black & Positively Golden Scholarship Program with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. That scholarship is for students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities and does not focus on applicants’ identity, said a spokesperson.
A McDonald’s fact sheet said its overall “position and our commitment to inclusion is steadfast.” But the fact sheet added, “As part of our ongoing inclusion efforts, our work is evolving.”