A Professional Development Award – But Only for Black Scientists?

Should life-changing opportunities be curated on the basis of applicants’ race?

Take the Rising Black Scientists Award by Cell Press, which publishes several medical science journals as well as scientific journals in other fields including chemistry and plant science.

As part of its diversity initiatives, Cell Press has for the past five years awarded funds to support the careers of rising scientists – who must be black to be eligible for the award.

Winners receive a $10,000 award and $500 in travel funds, as well as publication of their essays in issues of Cell Press journals Cell and iScience. Honorable mentions receive $500 as well as publication in iScience.  

These types of discriminatory awards are commonplace in the medical and scientific fields: Do No Harm recently filed a federal civil rights complaint against the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) over an early-career internship program that was only open to black students. ARM removed the racial requirement following Do No Harm’s complaint.

Oftentimes, these awards and opportunities are justified on the basis of providing career pathways to groups deemed underrepresented or underprivileged.

“The award is meant to break down barriers and create opportunities by providing funds to support professional development,” Cell Press’ description of the award reads, stipulating that applicants must “identify as Black/African-American” to be eligible.

The award matches Cell Press’s larger infatuation with DEI initiatives and racial politics over the past few years.

In the midst of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and riots, Cell Press flagellated itself for its perceived lack of diversity and pledged to recruit more black employees, as well as initiate efforts to promote more black professionals.

“Cell Press is part of the problem,” the pledge began. “We are not a diverse enough organization. We do not count enough underrepresented minorities among our staff. We do not have enough Black researchers on our advisory boards or reviewer pools. We have not invited nearly enough content from Black authors, nor have we sufficiently used our platform to raise up Black voices.”

“Going forward, we will create more opportunities for Black professionals to succeed in STEM publishing, support Black researchers in developing their careers, and use our journals to showcase more Black researchers and their work,” it continued.

Science should, of course, be open to people of all racial backgrounds.

But prioritizing race over merit is not the answer, and is antithetical to a genuine commitment to scientific excellence. The proper course of action is to value merit, achievement, and brilliance over scientists’ specific racial background.

Racial discrimination in any form is immoral, no matter what justification its proponents use.