McDonald’s said it will extend the deadline for this year’s scholarships from Feb. 6 to March 6 to accommodate any new applicants.
Blum applauded the settlement Friday.
“McDonald’s has wisely agreed to end this discriminatory scholarship program,” Blum said. “It is a shame that over many years thousands of students were shut out of this program because they were not the preferred ethnicity.”
McDonald's is one of many companies that have halted some diversity efforts in the wake of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned race as a factor in college admissions.
Earlier in January, McDonald's said it would retire specific goals for achieving diversity at senior leadership levels. It also ended a program that encouraged its suppliers to develop diversity training and to increase the number of minority group members represented within their own leadership ranks.