In its push for diversity, the Air Force announced this week that it will have 100 additional scholarships available to students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps coordinated with leadership within Junior ROTC and its aviation program, the AFJROTC Flight Academy from across the country to find rising college freshmen that demonstrated leadership ability, aviation competencies, a propensity to serve in the U.S. military and an interest in attending an HBCU. Those awarded will receive a Type 1 ROTC scholarship which covers full tuition and fees and provides an annual book stipend.
"Air Force senior leadership wants to drive opportunities for both our Department, in how we embrace a more inclusive culture, and for our ROTC students to rise to an academic challenge,” said Brig. Gen. Leslie Maher, commander of the Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions and Citizen Development. "Thus, in coordination with the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, the leadership requested something new and bold from ROTC in order to pursue increasing the diversity of accessions through the ROTC program."
The Air Force was arguably at the forefront of the military's vocalized stance on the uprising against racial injustice sparked by the killing of George Floyd. Former Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth Wright was the first senior military leader to publicly share a message of equality in the days following Floyd's death. The Air Force also recently swore in the first-ever Black service chief, Gen. Charles Brown.
But the Air Force has not been immune to criticism for its handling of racial injustices over the years. In May of this year, advocacy group Protect Our Defenders released a report alleging that the Air Force covered up its mishandling of racial discrimination instead of addressing those issues directly.
The additional scholarships are just the most recent step the Air Force has taken in recent months to address racial discrimination in its ranks -- listening sessions, surveys, reassessing of policies, and targeted recruiting have helped the Air Force to further push diversity in the ranks.
"Although HBCUs make up a small percentage of our nation’s colleges and universities, they have historically graduated a large percentage of Blacks with STEM degrees,” said Col. Christopher Bennett, Air Force ROTC commander. "Additionally, because the student bodies of HBCUs tend to have a higher percentage of racial and ethnic diversity, students at those schools have more opportunities to learn from the valuable insights of their peers that should help them be better leaders to all the diverse Airmen they will be responsible to lead."
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