Health Fellowship at UC-Berkeley Recruits ‘Underrepresented’ Racial Minorities

Health Fellowship at UC-Berkeley Recruits ‘Underrepresented’ Racial Minorities

Diversity rules in higher education. It is the unofficial religion.

The College Fix reports:

UC Berkeley health fellowship recruits ‘underrepresented’ racial minorities

Insurance company Blue Shield of California and the University of California Berkeley have teamed up for a new fellowship program targeted at “underrepresented communities.”

Blue Shield will give $7 million to fund the “Health Equity Fellowship” which begins in August at the School of Public Health.

The initiative will “support graduate students from underrepresented communities” and “increase diversity among health professionals,” according to the news release.

The news release specifically listed “African American, Native American, Latinx, and Pacific Islander backgrounds” as the target groups.”

UC Berkeley denied that the program would be closed to white and Asian applicants.

“Like all of our academic programs, this fellowship is open to all qualified students regardless of their race, gender, origins or identity,” Elise Proulx, the public health school’s communications director, told The College Fix on Thursday via email.

The specific focus on “underrepresented communities” is a theme a Blue Shield spokesperson discussed in his comments to The Fix.

“Advancing health equity requires us to build innovative healthcare solutions and policies that center and include underrepresented communities,” Mark Seelig, the corporate media relations manager at Blue Shield of California, told The Fix recently.

His email returned an out-of-office message on June 9 when The Fix asked him for clarification on the program’s openness to white or Asian fellows. The designated alternative contact email bounced.

Spokesperson Ashleigh Norris responded on Thursday afternoon but did not provide comment by publication.

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