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McDonald's opened a longstanding diversity program to all races and ethnicities last week following a lawsuit from a legal group opposed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. The lawsuit was filed by American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), an organization dedicated to challenging race-based preferences and discrimination. AAER argued that the fast-food chain’s HACER National Scholarship Program was discriminatory against non-Hispanic/Latino students as the program required applicants to have at least one parent of Hispanic/Latino heritage.

The company is making the move as part of a lawsuit settlement. McDonald’s has agreed to stop accepting only Latinos into a scholarship program, as part of a settlement in a lawsuit alleging the program was discriminatory. McDonald’s has only accepted students with Latino heritage to its HACER National Scholarship Program since the program was started in 1985. The company says more than 17,000 students have received more than $33 million in scholarships through the program. Applicants to the program are still required to “demonstrate their impact and contribution to...