PwC Drops Diversity Mandate for Internship Amid Legal Pressure

PwC has shed explicit diversity criteria for an internship program after the firm faced scrutiny from a conservative activist group that opposes corporate racial diversity efforts.

The change, first reported by the Financial Times after the firm released a purpose and inclusion report, broadened eligibility for a student internship program. Last year’s report characterized the firm’s “Start” internship for aspiring leaders as being “uniquely designed for high-performing college sophomores and rising juniors who self-identify as members of traditionally underrepresented minority groups in the professional services industry, including protected veterans and/or individuals with disability.”

The new language encourages those from underrepresented minorities to apply, but does not explicitly state that the program is designed solely for those groups.

PwC declined to comment.

The report noted that one challenge the accounting firm faces is the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College last summer against affirmative action in university admission decisions. America First Legal, a conservative advocacy group led by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, asked in a July open letter to PwC that the firm’s internship program not have any racial preferences.

The group also sent a letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asking it to open an investigation into the firm. America First Legal has targeted a range of companies’ corporate diversity efforts including Meta.

The firm “reflected on the Supreme Court ruling and applied rigor to advance our diversity commitment in a way that fully accords with the changing legal landscape,” the report from this month said. “Cultivating a diverse workplace and sustaining an inclusive culture is an ongoing endeavor.”

The recent report noted that PwC has increased its Black and Latino workforce by 37% over the past four years, from 6,955 employees to 9,494. The report also said PwC has posted a 15% increase from 253 women partner pipeline candidates to 290 since the 2021 financial year, but the firm has “more work we want to do.” For the same time period, the racial and ethnic diversity partnership pipeline has risen from 222 to 313 candidates.

Two of the top three candidates reported to be under consideration to replace the firm’s US leader, Tim Ryan, are women. But even if one of those candidates is selected, the firm will be behind competitors Deloitte LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, and KPMG LLP, which over the past decade each picked a woman to lead their US firms for the first time.

Last year, Pfizer made changes to its fellowship program opening up the program’s requirements to applicants of all racial backgrounds, rather than just for students of Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American descent. The move followed criticism from Do Not Harm, an advocacy group of health-care professionals, students and policy makers that said the fellowship illegally excludes potential White or Asian American candidates.