"Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 10

[tokenadult]

<p>Ethnic Self-Identification Is Optional for College Admission</p>

<p>Students are often puzzled about how to respond to questions on college applications about race or ethnicity. The questions are required by a federal regulation. The regulation was revised in 2007 and came into effect for the 2009-2010 application season (2010-2011 school year for entering first-year students). The regulation </p>

<p>U.S</a>. Department of Education; Office of the Secretary; Final Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic Data to the U.S. Department of Education [OS] </p>

<p>makes clear that self-identifying ethnicity is OPTIONAL for students in higher education. "As a general matter, while educational institutions and other recipients are required to comply with this guidance, individuals are not required to self-identify their race or ethnicity." Below are examples of current application forms. </p>

<p>That self-identifying by ethnicity is optional has long been clear on the Common Application, </p>

<p><a href="https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013AppFY_download.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013AppFY_download.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p>which more than 450 colleges (for example Harvard, Carleton, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Virginia) use as their main or sole application form. The latest version of the Common Application includes a section titled Demographics with a subsection printed on a gray background with the heading "Optional The items with a gray background are optional. No information you provide will be used in a discriminatory manner." </p>

<p>The Common Application optional section includes the federally specified questions about ethnicity: </p>

<p>

@Common Application 2012-2013

1. Are you Hispanic/Latino? O Yes, Hispanic or Latino (including Spain) O No If yes, please describe your background ________________________________________________
2. Regardless of your answer to the prior question, please indicate how you identify yourself. (Check one or more and describe your background.) O American Indian or Alaska Native (including all Original Peoples of the Americas) Are you Enrolled? O Yes O No If yes, please enter Tribal Enrollment Number _________________________ </p>

<hr>

<p>O Asian (including Indian subcontinent and Philippines)</p>

<hr>

<p>O Black or African American (including Africa and Caribbean)</p>

<hr>

<p>O Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Original Peoples)</p>

<hr>

<p>O White (including Middle Eastern)</p>

<hr>

<p>

</p>

<p>Self-identifying ethnicity has also always clearly been optional on the Universal College Application, </p>

<p><a href="http://www.universalcollegeapp.com/documents/uca-first-year.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.universalcollegeapp.com/documents/uca-first-year.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p>which various colleges, including Harvard, accept. </p>

<p>Other colleges use their own application forms, but all must ask an ethnicity question as specified by the federal regulation. But that question is optional in any case by law, whether the college notes that the question is optional or not. </p>

<p>The University of Minnesota has an online application form, and its question is like this: </p>

<p>

@University of Minnesota Office of Admissions

</p>

<p>Ethnicity and Race </p>

<p>Providing the information below is voluntary and will not be used in a discriminatory manner. These questions comply with the U.S. Department of Education's standards for ethnic and racial data collection. </p>

<p>Ethnicity: Are you Hispanic or Latino? Yes No</p>

<p>Race: Please select one or more that apply.</p>

<p>American Indian or Alaska Native</p>

<p>Asian</p>

<p>Black or African American</p>

<p>Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander</p>

<p>White

</p>

<p>The colleges have to ask for ethnicity data, and have to report them to the federal government, but students don't have to self-identify with any ethnic or racial category. Colleges are NOT required to use self-identified race or ethnicity as an admission factor. Some colleges do and some do not. (Some state colleges and universities are prohibited by state law in their states from considering race as an admission factor.) The questions are asked for federal reporting requirements but may or may not be a significant admission factor at some college you like. At ALL United States colleges, with a limited exception*, it is permissible to decline to answer the questions during the admission process. </p>

<p>High school transcript indication of student race or ethnicity is optional </p>

<p><a href="http://www.pesc.org/library/docs/standards/High%20School%20Transcript/XML%20HS%20Trsc%20Impl%20Guide%20V%201.1.0.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pesc.org/library/docs/standards/High%20School%20Transcript/XML%20HS%20Trsc%20Impl%20Guide%20V%201.1.0.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p>and is not done at all in whole states of the United States. </p>

<p>Don't worry about it. Self-identify or not as you wish. You are always free to self-identify with humankind as a whole by not self-identifying with any narrower subset of humankind. Recognize that students from a variety of ethnic groups--including whatever group or groups you would identify with, if any--are admitted to each of your favorite colleges each year. On the other hand, admission to some colleges (e.g., Yale or Amherst) is just plain competitive, so lots of outstanding students self-identified with each ethnic group you can imagine (or not self-identified with any group) are not admitted each year. Do your best on your application, apply to a safety, and relax. </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/493318-don-t-forget-apply-safety-college.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/493318-don-t-forget-apply-safety-college.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>*The sole exception to the general statement that self-identifying ethnicity is optional in the college admission process is a college operated by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for American Indians (Native Americans), e.g., </p>

<p>SIPI</a> - Admissions and Records </p>

<p>which is a rare example, even among tribal colleges, </p>

<p>Tribal</a> College List -- White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities </p>

<p>of a college that is truly for students of one ethnic group. But even other Bureau of Indian Affairs colleges appear to accept students from a variety of races, and that is definitely true of and reported by other tribal colleges. </p>

<p><a href="https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/print-college-profile?id=4338%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/print-college-profile?id=4338&lt;/a> </p>

<p><a href="https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/print-college-profile?id=244%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/print-college-profile?id=244&lt;/a> </p>

<p><a href="https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/print-college-profile?id=4513%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/print-college-profile?id=4513&lt;/a> </p>

<p>(scroll down for federal reported ethnicity of students under Campus Life heading)</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>College reporting to the federal government is based on the U.S. Census bureau definitions for ethnicity and race categories, which in turn are based on regulations from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which were announced on 30 October 1997 </p>

<p>[Revisions</a> to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity | The White House](<a href=“http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_1997standards]Revisions”>http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_1997standards) </p>

<p>to take effect no later than 1 January 2003 for data collection by all federal agencies. </p>

<p>The Department of Education more recently updated its guidance to colleges on how to ask ethnicity and race questions </p>

<p>[U.S&lt;/a&gt;. Department of Education; Office of the Secretary; Final Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic Data to the U.S. Department of Education [OS]](<a href=“http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.html]U.S”>http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.html) </p>

<p>or </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>and requested colleges change their forms by the high school class of 2010 application year to ask a two-part question, first inquiring about Hispanic ethnicity and then about race, for each student. The student is still free to decline to answer either part of the question. </p>

<p>

@United States Department of Education regulations

Unlike elementary and secondary institutions, generally, postsecondary institutions and Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) grantees use self-identification only and do not use observer identification. As discussed elsewhere in this notice, postsecondary institutions and RSA grantees will also be permitted to continue to include a ‘race and ethnicity unknown’ category when reporting data to the Department. This category is being continued in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) because the National Center for Education Statistics’ experience has shown that (1) a substantial number of college students have refused to identify a race and (2) there is often not a convenient mechanism for college administrators to use observer identification.

</p>

<p>You can look up the detailed category definitions on the website of the United States Bureau of the Census. As the Census Bureau itself notes, </p>

<p>

@Census Bureau

U.S. federal government agencies must adhere to standards issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in October 1997, which specify that race and Hispanic origin (also known as ethnicity) are two separate and distinct concepts. These standards generally reflect a social definition of race and ethnicity recognized in this country and they do not conform to any biological, anthropological, or genetic criteria.

</p>

<p><a href=“https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?dept=769&id=5000[/url]”>https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?dept=769&id=5000&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>(Use the left menu on the FAQ page to select the subtopic “Race” from the main topic “People.”) </p>

<p>Categories used by colleges and universities to report to the federal government follow the categories used in the 2010 federal census under the 1997 OMB regulations. Those categories are detailed in the Census brief “Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010.” </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>

@Census Bureau

“White” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “White” or reported entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan, or Caucasian. </p>

<p>“Black or African American” refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Black, African Am., or Negro” or reported entries such as African American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian. </p>

<p>“American Indian or Alaska Native” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. This category includes people who indicated their race(s) as “American Indian or Alaska Native” or reported their enrolled or principal tribe, such as Navajo, Blackfeet, Inupiat, Yup’ik, or Central American Indian groups or South American Indian groups. </p>

<p>“Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Asian” or reported entries such as “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” and “Other Asian” or provided other detailed Asian responses. </p>

<p>“Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Pacific Islander” or reported entries such as “Native Hawaiian,” “Guamanian or Chamorro,” “Samoan,” and “Other Pacific Islander” or provided other detailed Pacific Islander responses.

</p>

<p>Footnote 7 to the Census brief notes that </p>

<p>

@Census Bureau

The race categories included in the census questionnaire generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and are not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race question include race and national origin or sociocultural groups.

</p>

<p>These federal standards mandate that race and ethnicity (Hispanic origin) are separate and distinct concepts and that when collecting these data via self-identification, two different questions must be used.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-04.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-04.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>

@Census Bureau

Definition of Hispanic or Latino Origin Used in the 2010 Census
“Hispanic or Latino” refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.

</p>

<p>The federal Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has posted guidance to colleges about how they are to ask about student ethnicity and race according to the federally defined categories. </p>

<p>[Standard</a> 1-5 - NCES Statistical Standards](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/2002/std1_5.asp]Standard”>Standard 1-5 - NCES Statistical Standards) </p>

<p>The instructions on the National Center for Education Statistics website provide details on how word ethnicity and race questionnaires and how colleges should report the various categories self-reported by students to the federal government. </p>

<p>See the National Center for Education Statistics Race/Ethnicity FAQ </p>

<p><a href=“IPEDS Data Collection System”>IPEDS Data Collection System; </p>

<p>and the Association for Institutional Research Race/Ethnicity Information webpage </p>

<p>[Race/Ethnicity</a> Information](<a href=“http://www.airweb.org/page.asp?page=1500]Race/Ethnicity”>http://www.airweb.org/page.asp?page=1500) </p>

<p>and its subpages for more information about the current of colleges as they implement the federal regulations for applicants to college. </p>

<p>Students of higher education (and applicants to schools of postsecondary education) are treated as adults, and are explicitly permitted to decline to identify their ethnic or racial category. </p>

<p>Note that the decennial census in the United States redefines “race” categories from time to time, </p>

<p>[Should</a> the Census Offer ‘Negro’ as an Identity Option? - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1955923,00.html]Should”>http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1955923,00.html) </p>

<p>and there is no consistency between the practice of the United States and that of any other country in this regard. </p>

<p>Moreover, not all consumers or producers of federal statistics on “race” follow exactly the same set of rules for determing race or reporting persons of more than one race, </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/us/10count.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/us/10count.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>so there is considerably ambiguity in the officially reported statistics. </p>

<p>[For</a> Citizens, Voting Rights and Responsibilities - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/voting-rights-and-responsibilities/]For”>For Citizens, Voting Rights and Responsibilities - The New York Times)</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>It would be dishonest, and possibly grounds for revoking an offer of admission, to self-report according to a category that doesn’t fit you at all. On the other hand, all of the categories named in federal law are based on self-identification and colleges have no means to double-check every student’s self-identifying. </p>

<p>I find it interesting that more and more college applicants are declining to self-report their ethnicity to colleges. Declining to self-report is everyone’s right under law and something that someone of any ethnic self-identification might choose to do. People can decide this issue for themselves, but I like to emphasize in my own life, as a member of a “biracial” family, the common humanity my children, my wife, and I share with all our neighbors and compatriots. We prefer the category label “human” but accept the category label “postracial” in our household. </p>

<p>The latest version of the Minorities in Higher Education Report </p>

<p><a href=“American Council on Education”>American Council on Education; </p>

<p>has a lot of detailed numbers (all based on reports colleges make to the federal government) about the growth in college enrollment in all the reported ethnic categories, and the growth of the reported category “race/ethnicity unknown.” The “race/ethnicity unknown” category has been the fastest-growing category by far in the reported years. Similarly, news reports indicate that many Americans no longer think in the same race or ethnicity categories that divided earlier generations of Americans. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/us/20race.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/us/20race.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/us/25race.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/us/25race.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Many college applicants find it inconvenient to fit themselves into categories they have never applied to themselves until the college application season. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/us/14admissions.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/us/14admissions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[tokenadult]

<p>Here are some selective colleges with fairly high numbers of enrolled students reported as “race unknown.” Note that some of these colleges do in-person admission interviews for almost all applicants and yet still report quite a few ENROLLED students as “race/ethnicity unknown.” These figures are based on Item B2, enrollment by racial/ethnic category, reported in the Common Data Set reports for each college (which in turn is based on IPEDS reporting to the federal government). For the fall 2011 entering class, the College Board’s online reporting of the “race/ethnicity unknown” category from the federal dataset, reported via the Common Data Set project, is under the heading “others,” and there is also a “two or more races” category reported. For online college profiles that report these data at all, which is not all of the College Board profiles, the data appear under the main heading Campus Life and subheading Race/Ethnicity, as for example for Colby College. </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>FALL 2011 ENTERING CLASS (or Fall 2010 for colleges without updated information) </p>

<p>20 percent undergrad at Smith (Fall 2010) </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Smith College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/smith]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/smith) </p>

<p>19 percent 1st-year at Bard College </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>18 percent undergrad at Colby </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Colby College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/colby]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/colby) </p>

<p>18 percent undergrad at Claremont McKenna </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Claremont McKenna College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/claremont_mckenna_college]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/claremont_mckenna_college) </p>

<p>17 percent 1st-year at Franklin Olin </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>9 percent first-year, 17 percent undergrad at Reed (Fall 2010) </p>

<p>[Reed</a> College 2010-11 Common Data Set SecB](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/cds/cds1011/cdssecb201011.html]Reed”>Reed College 2010-11 Common Data Set SecB - Institutional Research - Reed College) </p>

<p>9 percent 1st-year, 16 percent undergrad at Brandeis (Fall 2010) </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/institutionalresearch/pdfs/CDS2010_2011_final.pdf[/url]”>http://www.brandeis.edu/institutionalresearch/pdfs/CDS2010_2011_final.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>7 percent 1st-year, 14 percent undergrad at William and Mary </p>

<p><a href=“http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1112_part_b.pdf[/url]”>http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1112_part_b.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>14 percent undergrad at American University </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; American University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/american]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/american) </p>

<p>13 percent undergrad at Pomona College </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Pomona College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/pomona_college]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/pomona_college) </p>

<p>13 percent undergrad at Chicago </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; University of Chicago](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/uchicago]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/uchicago) </p>

<p>8 percent 1st-year, 12 percent undergrad at Case Western </p>

<p><a href=“Institutional Research | Case Western Reserve University”>Institutional Research | Case Western Reserve University; </p>

<p>12 percent undergrad at Lafayette </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Lafayette College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/lafayette]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/lafayette) </p>

<p>12 percent 1st-year at Dartmouth </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>12 percent 1st-year at NYU </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>12 percent 1st-year at Cooper Union </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>12 percent undergrad at Hamilton College </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Hamilton College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/hamilton]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/hamilton) </p>

<p>6 percent 1st-year, 11 percent undergrad at Amherst College </p>

<p><a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/386506/original/2011%20Enrollment%20and%20Persistence.pdf[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/386506/original/2011%20Enrollment%20and%20Persistence.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>11 percent undergrad at Brown </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Brown University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/brown]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/brown) </p>

<p>12 percent 1st-year, 11 percent undergrad at Tufts </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Tufts University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/tufts]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/tufts) </p>

<p>11 percent undergrad at University of Richmond </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; University of Richmond](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/richmond]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/richmond) </p>

<p>11 percent undergrad at College of the Holy Cross </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; College of the Holy Cross](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/holycross]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/holycross) </p>

<p>10 percent undergrad at Cornell </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Cornell University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/cornell]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/cornell) </p>

<p>10 percent undergrad at Wesleyan University </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Wesleyan University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/wesleyan]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/wesleyan) </p>

<p>10 percent 1st-year at University of Rochester </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>9 percent undergrad at Boston University </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Boston University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/bu]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/bu) </p>

<p>9 percent undergrad at Boston College </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Boston College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/bc2]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/bc2) </p>

<p>8 percent undergrad at Whitman </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Whitman College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/whitman]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/whitman) </p>

<p>8 percent undergrad at Swarthmore </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Swarthmore College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/swarthmore]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/swarthmore) </p>

<p>8 percent 1st-year at Tulane </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>8 percent 1st-year at The College of New Jersey </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>7 percent undergrad at Washington University in St. Louis. </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Washington University in St. Louis](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/wustl]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/wustl) </p>

<p>4 percent 1st-year, 6 percent undergrad at Carnegie Mellon </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/pdf/cds_2011_12/b-enrollment-and-persistence.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/pdf/cds_2011_12/b-enrollment-and-persistence.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>6 percent undergrad at Harvard </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Harvard University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/harvard]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/harvard) </p>

<p>6 percent undergrad at Penn </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/pobox]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/pobox) </p>

<p>6 percent undergrad at Duke </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Duke University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/duke]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/duke) </p>

<p>6 percent undergrad at Davidson College </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Davidson College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/davidson]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/davidson) </p>

<p>6 percent undergrad at Scripps (Fall 2010) </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Scripps College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/scrippscollege]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/scrippscollege) </p>

<p>6 percent 1st-year at University of Miami </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>3 percent 1st-year, 5 percent undergrad at Yale </p>

<p><a href=“http://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/cds_1.pdf[/url]”>http://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/cds_1.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>5 percent undergrad at Vanderbilt </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Vanderbilt University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/vanderbilt]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/vanderbilt) </p>

<p>5 percent undergrad at Harvey Mudd </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Harvey Mudd College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/harvey_mudd_college]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/harvey_mudd_college) </p>

<p>5 percent 1st-year at Emory University </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>5 percent undergrad at Lehigh </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Lehigh University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/lehigh]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/lehigh) </p>

<p>5 percent undergrad at Mount Holyoke </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Mount Holyoke College](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/mount_holyoke_college]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/mount_holyoke_college) </p>

<p>3 percent undergrad at Princeton </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Princeton University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/princeton]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/princeton)</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>Other colleges, not all of particularly great selectivity, admit high percentages of students who do not self-report race or ethnicity, so that the students are reported as “race/ethnicity unknown” (“others” in College Board reports) after they enroll. For the fall 2011 entering class, the College Board’s online reporting of the “race/ethnicity unknown” category from the federal dataset, reported via the Common Data Set project, is under the heading “others,” and there is also a “two or more races” category reported. For online college profiles that report these data at all, which is not all of the College Board profiles, the data appear under the main heading Campus Life and subheading Race/Ethnicity. </p>

<p>88 percent 1st-year at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>82 percent 1st-year at Barry University </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>68 percent 1st-year at Southern New Hampshire University </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>67 percent 1st-year at College of Coastal Georgia </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>60 percent 1st-year at Faulkner University </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>50 percent 1st-year at SUNY Maritime College </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>45 percent 1st-year at University of New Haven </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>42 percent 1st-year at Deep Springs College </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>41 percent 1st-year at Columbia University School of General Studies </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>37 percent 1st-year at Benedictine University at Springfield </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>33 percent 1st-year at Keystone College </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>32 percent 1st-year at University of New England </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>30 percent 1st-year at New York Institute of Technology </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>28 percent 1st-year at Spelman College </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>27 percent 1st-year at University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>24 percent 1st-year at Marlboro College </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>23 percent 1st-year at Champlain College </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search; </p>

<p>15 percent 1st-year at Hobart and William Smith Colleges </p>

<p><a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search;

[tokenadult]

<p>A lot of applicants wonder if colleges will guess their ethnicity from their family name, or from their parents’ birthplaces, or from something else that appears on the application form. (Such a guess would be a wild guess, and likely to be wrong, in my own children’s case.) But it should be clear that when the Ivy League universities have been reporting to the federal government for years that dozens of newly enrolled students at those universities are “race unknown” that those universities aren’t bothering to do this. Harvard endeavors to interview in person almost every student who applies, as does Yale, but both report a sizeable number of admitted students are “race unknown” even after enrolling. Colleges don’t bother to guess what they don’t know. They aren’t required to, and they aren’t expected to, and they don’t make any particular inference about students who exercise their right not to self-report ethnicity. </p>

<p>Note that colleges are not permitted, by federal guidelines, </p>

<p><a href=“IPEDS Data Collection System”>IPEDS Data Collection System; </p>

<p>to include a questionnaire checkbox such as “decline to state” or “refuse to answer.” </p>

<p>

@National Center for Educational Statistics

12. Can I include a “refuse to answer” checkbox on my data collection forms?</p>

<p>No. The guidance does not allow for such a response when collecting the data.

</p>

<p>Further, colleges are not allowed to use national origin information to infer student race. </p>

<p>

@National Center for Educational Statistics

13. Can I ask a student his/her nationality to determine race and/or ethnicity?</p>

<p>No. Nationality is not a sufficient proxy for determining race or ethnicity.

</p>

<p>Other Frequently Asked Questions and answers in the guidelines make this point very clear. </p>

<p>

@National Center for Educational Statistics

23. How do I know if a student or staff member refused to answer the race question, rather than just overlooking it?</p>

<p>For postsecondary institutions, the Department has indicated that presenting the data collection form to the respondent is sufficient to ensure that individuals have had the opportunity to respond to the race and ethnicity questions. It is not necessary to prompt the respondent to complete one or both questions if they have been left unanswered. . (For elementary and secondary institutions, the criteria for this are more stringent, since they are not allowed to report race and ethnicity unknown.)</p>

<p>24) How do I deal with nonresponse?</p>

<p>Under the guidance, IPEDS continues to allow the reporting of “Race and ethnicity unknown.”

</p>

<p>From the Association for Institutional Research FAQ: </p>

<p>[AIR</a> Race/Ethnicity FAQ](<a href=“http://www.airweb.org/page.asp?page=1502]AIR”>http://www.airweb.org/page.asp?page=1502) </p>

<p>

@Association for Institutional Research

Q: Can I require students/employees to complete the race/ethnicity questions?</p>

<p>A: No. You may only ask.</p>

<p>Q: How do I know if a student or employee refused to answer the questions or just overlooked them?</p>

<p>A: You don’t.</p>

<p>Q: What is the level of effort needed to collect the new information?</p>

<p>A: Presenting the data collection form to students/employees is sufficient to ensure that individuals have had an opportunity to respond. Postsecondary institutions can report unknown when the respondent doesn’t reply—there is no need to use third-party observation to supply race/ethnicity.

</p>

<p>Students have the opportunity to decide whether or not to self-report “race.” </p>

<p>[Some</a> Asians’ college strategy: Don’t check ‘Asian’ - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/asians-college-strategy-dont-check-asian-174442977.html]Some”>http://news.yahoo.com/asians-college-strategy-dont-check-asian-174442977.html)</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>United States Supreme Court cases on race as a factor in admission to state universities illustrate what some colleges have done over the years. </p>

<p>Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 438 U.S. 265 (1978) </p>

<p>[Bakke</a> Regents California - Google Scholar](<a href=“Google Scholar”>Google Scholar) </p>

<p>ruled on the admission practices of the University of California Davis medical school in the 1970s. The holding of the 5-4 divided court was that Bakke’s constitutional rights had been violated by the UC Davis practice of having places in the class reserved for minority applicants and ordered Bakke’s admission, while the 5-4 dictum (by a different combination of justices) written by Justice Lewis Powell suggested that future cases might find other patterns of consideration of race in higher education admission at state universities to be constitutionally permissible. </p>

<p>Two subsequent cases, decided by the Supreme Court on the same day, define current standards of constitutional review of college admission practices. </p>

<p>Gratz v. Bollinger 539 U.S. 244 (2003) </p>

<p>[Gratz</a> Bollinger - Google Scholar](<a href=“Google Scholar”>Google Scholar) </p>

<p>held in a 6-3 decision that the University of Michigan’s undergraduate admission affirmative action policy was unconstitutional. The policy used the university’s multiple-factor point system for ranking admission eligibility, in which having 100 points guaranteed admission, by awarding 20 extra points for admission eligibility to every “underrepresented” minority applicant. The court held that this policy violated both the Equal Protection Clause of the fourteenth amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. </p>

<p>Grutter v. Bollinger 539 U.S. 306 (2003) </p>

<p>[Grutter</a> Bollinger - Google Scholar](<a href=“Google Scholar”>Google Scholar) </p>

<p>held, in a 5-4 decision that the University of Michigan’s law school affirmative action policy was a “narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body.” Justic O’Connors opinion for the Court included the dictum that twenty-five years from the year of decision (2028) the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the law school’s interest in a diverse group of enrolled students. In a dictum, the Court reaffirmed that all government racial classifications must be analyzed by a reviewing court under strict scrutiny. </p>

<p>Many parents and students mistakenly believe that </p>

<p>

private colleges can do whatever they want

</p>

<p>when considering race as an admission factor. That is not a correct statement of the law. Indeed, a dictum in the Bakke case suggested that any practice illegal for state universities under the fourteenth amendment (the ground of decision in Bakke) would be equally illegal under federal civil rights statutes applicable to all colleges that receive federal funds (which are essentially all colleges in the United States, with exceedingly few exceptions). </p>

<p>The Civil Rights Office of the federal Department of Education is the regulator of college practices in admission as regards “race.” In 2003, the office published an interesting study of various models of college admission policies, </p>

<p>[RACE-NEUTRAL</a> APPROACHES IN EDUCATION:](<a href=“http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/edlite-raceneutralreport.html]RACE-NEUTRAL”>RACE-NEUTRAL APPROACHES IN EDUCATION:) </p>

<p>including some “race neutral” policies. That office also investigates complaints of violation of equal protection under civil rights law. Here is the link for how to report violations of federal civil rights laws in education: </p>

<p>[How</a> to File a Discrimination Complaint with the Office for Civil Rights](<a href=“http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/howto.html]How”>File a Complaint: Discrimination Form | U.S. Department of Education) </p>

<p>More recently, the a new guidance letter from the Department of Education </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/edu/documents/guidancepost.pdf[/url]”>http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/edu/documents/guidancepost.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>was published early in December 2011, during the last college admission season. </p>

<p>New York Times reporting on the guidance letter </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/education/us-urges-campus-creativity-to-gain-diversity.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/education/us-urges-campus-creativity-to-gain-diversity.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>draws a contrast between the current December 2011 letter and an earlier August 2008 letter </p>

<p>[The</a> Use of Race in Postsecondary Student Admissions](<a href=“http://web.archive.org/web/20100307104353/http://ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/raceadmissionpse.html]The”>http://web.archive.org/web/20100307104353/http://ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/raceadmissionpse.html) </p>

<p>and how they interpret the controlling Supreme Court cases (which have not changed between the dates of the two letters). </p>

<p>As a legal matter, the officials in the executive branch of the federal government are supposed to follow the law as it is written by Congress and interpreted by the Supreme Court. So strictly speaking, the Department of Education guidance has no authority for making a new announcement of what the law is. But as a practical matter, the Department of Education is the enforcement agency for federal law on nondiscrimination in education, so the guidance letter serves as a notice to colleges with the message “This is what we won’t bother referring for prosecution or other enforcement if we hear you are doing it.” The content of the guidance letter, as reported in the New York Times article (and as I agree after reading it) is an EXPANSIVE list of everything that is permitted for a college to do by way of being race-conscious in college recruitment and admission policies. It is possible to read the Supreme Court decisions more narrowly and emphasize different issues in college admission policies–as the guidance letter from the previous adminstration’s Department of Education did. One might ask, what does “limited in time” mean in the context of the 2011 guidance letter coming eight years after the Grutter decision? It is still possible for private actors (for example, college applicants) to use the federal court system to seek a more definitive, possibly narrower, description of which activities are permitted under a general statutory framework of nondiscrimination by race in education. </p>

<p>The Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 631 F. 3d 213, case, now accepted for review during the 2012-2013 term (“October 2012 term”) of the United States Supreme Court, </p>

<p>[Fisher</a> v. University of Texas at Austin : SCOTUSblog](<a href=“http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/fisher-v-university-of-texas-at-austin/]Fisher”>Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin - SCOTUSblog) </p>

<p>may change the legal landscape around college admission practices. A variety of journalists and legal commentators </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/us/justices-to-hear-case-on-affirmative-action-in-higher-education.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/us/justices-to-hear-case-on-affirmative-action-in-higher-education.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>[Supreme</a> Court: Will hear affirmative action case - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/21/nation/la-na-nn-supreme-court-affirmative-action-20120221]Supreme”>Supreme Court will hear case on affirmative action at colleges) </p>

<p>[Under</a> the U.S. Supreme Court: Affirmative action headin’ for a Texas showdown - UPI.com](<a href=“Under the U.S. Supreme Court: Affirmative action headin&#039; for a Texas showdown - UPI.com”>Under the U.S. Supreme Court: Affirmative action headin&#039; for a Texas showdown - UPI.com) </p>

<p>[The</a> Volokh Conspiracy Fisher v. Texas and the Future of Affirmative Action](<a href=“http://www.volokh.com/2012/02/21/fisher-v-texas-and-the-future-of-affirmative-action/]The”>Fisher v. Texas and the Future of Affirmative Action - The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy) </p>

<p>[The</a> Volokh Conspiracy Why Fisher v. Texas Might Turn Out to be a Pyrrhic Victory for Opponents of Racial Preferences](<a href=“http://www.volokh.com/2012/02/29/why-fisher-v-texas-might-turn-out-to-be-a-pyrrhic-victory-for-opponents-of-racial-preferences/]The”>Why Fisher v. Texas Might Turn Out to be a Pyrrhic Victory for Opponents of Racial Preferences - The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy) </p>

<p>[Overturning</a> or Modifying ‘Grutter v. Bollinger’? - Innovations - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/overturning-or-modifying-grutter-v-bollinger/32613]Overturning”>http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/overturning-or-modifying-grutter-v-bollinger/32613) </p>

<p>[The</a> Volokh Conspiracy Asian-Americans, Affirmative Action, and Fisher v. Texas](<a href=“http://www.volokh.com/2012/05/31/asian-americans-affirmative-action-and-fisher-v-texas/]The”>Asian-Americans, Affirmative Action, and Fisher v. Texas - The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy) </p>

<p>suggest that the Supreme Court decision may narrow means by which college admission policies may consider race as an admission factor. The legal rules will be much clearer after the Court’s decision in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>I invite everyone’s attention to a bibliography posted in Wikipedia userspace </p>

<p>[User:WeijiBaikeBianji/AnthropologyHumanBiologyRaceCitations</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:WeijiBaikeBianji/AnthropologyHumanBiologyRaceCitations]User:WeijiBaikeBianji/AnthropologyHumanBiologyRaceCitations”>User:WeijiBaikeBianji/AnthropologyHumanBiologyRaceCitations - Wikipedia) </p>

<p>with quite a few citations to the HUGE literature on various issues related to anthropology and formal study of ethnic groups. (Most of this literature, alas, is not reflected in any of the Wikipedia articles on those issues.) Plenty of trees have been felled to provide the paper for writing about these ever-contentious issues. I hope our use of electrons here promotes thoughtful discussion and checking better sources for facts. </p>

<p>Every year Harvard hosts a summer institute on college admission for admission officers from around the country, </p>

<p>[Harvard</a> Summer Institute on College Admissions, June 17-22, 2012, Homepage](<a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~sica/index.htm]Harvard”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~sica/index.htm) </p>

<p>and every year the Harvard Summer Institute on College Admissions website hosts a bibliography </p>

<p>[Harvard</a> Summer Institute on College Admissions, June 17-22, 2012, Suggested Reading](<a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~sica/reading.htm]Harvard”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~sica/reading.htm) </p>

<p>listing books and online articles more or less related to the work of college admission officers, including several books that explicitly advocate for “affirmative action” in college admission. The bibliography gives a good year-by-year glimpse at what writings are influencing the decisions of college admission committees. </p>

<p>The online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a pretty good article about affirmative action </p>

<p>[Affirmative</a> Action (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)](<a href=“http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/affirmative-action/]Affirmative”>Affirmative Action (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)) </p>

<p>with an extensive bibliography. </p>

<p>The National Conference of State Legislatures overview page on affirmative action </p>

<p>[Affirmative</a> Action: Overview](<a href=“http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/educ/affirmative-action-overview.aspx]Affirmative”>http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/educ/affirmative-action-overview.aspx) </p>

<p>links out to online resources </p>

<p>[Affirmative</a> Action: Resources](<a href=“http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/educ/affirmative-action-resources.aspx]Affirmative”>http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/educ/affirmative-action-resources.aspx) </p>

<p>about affirmative action, including the websites of advocacy groups on various sides of the issue.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>I’m a baby boomer, which is another way of saying that I’m a good bit older than most people who post on College Confidential. I distinctly remember the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated–the most memorable day of early childhood for many people in my generation–and I remember the “long hot summer” and other events of the 1960s civil rights movement.</p>

<p>One early memory I have is of a second grade classmate (I still remember his name, which alas is just common enough that it is hard to Google him up) who moved back to Minnesota with his northern “white” parents after spending his early years in Alabama. He told me frightening stories about Ku Klux Klan violence to black people (the polite term in those days was “Negroes”), including killing babies, and I was very upset to hear about that kind of terrorism happening in the United States. He made me aware of a society in which people didn’t all treat one another with decency and human compassion, unlike the only kind of society I was initially aware of from growing up where I did. So I followed subsequent news about the civil rights movement, including the activities of Martin Luther King, Jr. up to his assassination, with great interest.</p>

<p>It happens that I had a fifth-grade teacher, a typically pale, tall, and blonde Norwegian-American, who was a civil rights activist and who spent her summers in the south as a freedom rider. She used to tell our class about how she had to modify her car (by removing the dome light and adding a locking gas cap) so that Klan snipers couldn’t shoot her as she opened her car door at night or put foreign substances into her gas tank. She has been a civil rights activist all her life, and when I Googled her a few years ago and regained acquaintance with her, I was not at all surprised to find that she is a member of the civil rights commission of the town where I grew up.</p>

<p>One day in fifth grade we had a guest speaker in our class, a young man who was then studying at St. Olaf College through the A Better Chance (ABC) affirmative action program. (To me, the term “affirmative action” still means active recruitment of underrepresented minority students, as it did in those days, and I have always thought that such programs are a very good idea, as some people have family connections to selective colleges, but many other people don’t.) During that school year (1968-1969), there was a current controversy in the United States about whether the term “Negro” or “Afro-American” or “black” was most polite. So a girl in my class asked our visitor, “What do you want to be called, ‘black’ or ‘Afro-American’?” His answer was, “I’d rather be called Henry.” Henry’s answer to my classmate’s innocent question really got me thinking. Why not treat all of my neighbors as individuals, one at a time?</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>

My dad is white, but from South Africa, so I technically am South African-American.

</p>

<p>No. See below. </p>

<p>

I’m white but my ancestors are from South Africa. Can I put down that I am African American?

</p>

<p>The answer to this question is always the same, by the United States federal definitions. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-05.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-05.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>"DEFINITION OF WHITE USED IN THE 2010 CENSUS </p>

<p>"According to OMB, ‘White’ refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. </p>

<p>“The White racial category includes people who marked the ‘White’ checkbox. It also includes respondents who reported entries such as Caucasian or White; European entries, such as Irish, German, and Polish; Middle Eastern entries, such as Arab, Lebanese, and Palestinian; and North African entries, such as Algerian, Moroccan, and Egyptian.” </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>"DEFINITION OF BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN USED IN THE 2010 CENSUS </p>

<p>"According to OMB, ‘Black or African American’ refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. </p>

<p>"The Black racial category includes people who marked the ‘Black, African Am., or Negro’ checkbox. It also includes respondents who reported entries such as African American; Sub-Saharan African entries, such as Kenyan and Nigerian; and Afro-Caribbean entries, such as Haitian and Jamaican.* </p>

<p>“*Sub-Saharan African entries are classified as Black or African American with the exception of Sudanese and Cape Verdean because of their complex, historical heritage. North African entries are classified as White, as OMB defines White as a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.” </p>

<p>Here’s a simple rule of thumb: if no one in South Africa would have called you “black” or “coloured,” especially during the days of apartheid, </p>

<p>[Afriaca</a> Encyclopedia - Brings You The Best of The Web](<a href=“http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html]Afriaca”>Apartheid in South Africa: What Really Happened and How Did It End?) </p>

<p>you have no basis in America for calling yourself “African American,” the official synonym of which is “black.” A person who checks “Black or African American” is asserting that he or she has “origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.” Not all people who live on the continent of Africa have origins in a black racial group, and that is the official definition–you are only “African American” if you are black. If you call yourself white, and your friends do too, it doesn’t matter where your parents were born, or what countries they lived in. You also have the choice of not indicating any ethnicity or race at all. What a college does with what it sees on your form varies from college to college. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications, and good luck to everyone else applying in the coming application season.</p>

<p>

My parents came from Somalia [Ghana, etc.]. Am I African American?

</p>

<p>By the federal definitions, </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Somali students who grew up in the United States are definitely black, and the terms “black” and “African American” are synonyms in the federal definitions of “race” categories. The same applies to young people whose parents came from other tropical African countries where black people live. (North African people are categorized as white by the federal definitions.) You also have the choice of not indicating any ethnicity or race at all. What a college does with what it sees on your form varies from college to college. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications, and good luck to everyone else applying in the coming application season. </p>

<p>

I am half Black/half Korean

</p>

<p>For admission seasons since 2009-2010, all college application forms are required by federal regulation to have an optional ethnicity question that is in two parts, first asking about Hispanic ethnicity (yes or no) and then asking about the federal defined “race” categories, with the instruction “select one or more” (or some language very similar to that) meaning that you can choose one or more category. (You can choose no category at all by not answering the question.) You also have the choice of not indicating any ethnicity or race at all. What a college does with what it sees on your form varies from college to college. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications, and good luck to everyone else applying in the coming application season.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>

My parents were born in Pakistan. I was born in the United States.

</p>

<p>By the federal definitions, </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>you are Asian. </p>

<p>“‘Asian’ refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as ‘Asian’ or reported entries such as ‘Asian Indian,’ ‘Chinese,’ ‘Filipino,’ ‘Korean,’ ‘Japanese,’ ‘Vietnamese,’ and
‘Other Asian’ or provided other detailed Asian responses.”</p>

<p>You also have the choice of not indicating any ethnicity or race at all. What a college does with what it sees on your form varies from college to college. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications, and good luck to everyone else applying in the coming application season. </p>

<p>

Does being Indian as in people from India count as being “Asian”? I’ve been given mixed responses.

</p>

<p>The mixed responses you have received are correct if they agree with the federal definition, which is that people from India (or Pakistan or Bangladesh or Sri Lanka) are Asian. That’s the current federal definition. I can remember the time when people from that part of the world were officially deemed “white.” The definitions are arbitrary. They may not be a good idea, but they are the law. </p>

<p>You can, of course, decline to answer the race question on a college application, in which case your race will be officially reported by colleges to the federal government as “race unreported.” </p>

<p>

Does being from the Philippines make me a URM?

</p>

<p>The federal definition of “Asian” (one “race” category for domestic students) definitely includes students of Filipino heritage. The “Pacific Islander” category includes people from Hawaii or from Guam, but it excludes people from Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, or Indonesia (all of which are countries located on Pacific islands). </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>

@Census Bureau

“Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Asian” or reported entries such as “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” and “Other Asian” or provided other detailed Asian responses. </p>

<p>“Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Pacific Islander” or reported entries such as “Native Hawaiian,” “Guamanian or Chamorro,” “Samoan,” and “Other Pacific Islander” or provided other detailed Pacific Islander responses.

</p>

<p>I have not seen any evidence for claims one way or the other that colleges usually distinguish people from the Philippines for more favorable admission consideration than that given to other “Asian” applicants. Colleges each make up their own policies in this regard, but I’m not aware of any college that is on record as having such a policy. Filipino people I know locally have very lofty college ambitions and probably apply to college in large numbers around the country. </p>

<p>

Is Taiwanese considered as a Pacific Islander?

</p>

<p>All persons from Taiwan are regarded as “Asian” for the federal race categories, including persons whose ancestors were Taiwan aboriginals who never lived on the mainland of Asia during historical times. (The same is true of Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia, all countries with territory on islands in the Pacific Ocean.)</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>

Is it safe to leave the “race” part on Common Application blank? I heard people saying that it’s better for people to leave it blank than to fill in a race that might get looked down on?

</p>

<p>The answer to this frequently asked question makes up the first few posts in this FAQ thread. </p>

<p>You have and everyone has the legal right to leave the form blank ( [post</a> #1](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635764-post1.html]post”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635764-post1.html) ). </p>

<p>The recent national trend has been for an increasing number of college applicants to decline to self-identify any ethnic group ( [post</a> #3](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635780-post3.html]post”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635780-post3.html) ). </p>

<p>Many colleges admit many students each year for whom they do not know of any ethnic affiliation ( [post</a> #4](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635789-post4.html]post”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635789-post4.html) ). </p>

<p>You don’t need to worry about this. If you choose not to self-report any race or ethnicity, for whatever reason you have, the college won’t hold that against you, because for all the college knows you are just a student who is very aware of your legal rights and chooses to exercise those rights. See </p>

<p>[post</a> #5](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635803-post6.html]post”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635803-post6.html) </p>

<p>for evidence that colleges don’t care about a blank response, because they can’t infer anything from it, and aren’t required to do anything about it. </p>

<p>

If I have an Asian last name, should I still indicate my race?

</p>

<p>The Census Bureau has done several studies of the most common family names in the United States and what “race” or ethnicity is reported by people with those last names. A lot of family names are characteristic of (that is, highly correlated with) one federally defined “race” group or another, or of Hispanic ethnicity, but there are always exceptions. Wang is a family name in Norway as well as in China. “Leroy Johnson” could be a black man or a white man. And so on. People marry people of other “races,” and adopt children from other “races,” and thus family names are not an unerring guide to anyone’s “race,” especially if you look closely at the federal definitions. </p>

<p>What you decide about how to fill out your application form is up to you. But notice that many [great</a> colleges report lots of enrolled students as "race/ethnicity unknown](<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635789-post4.html]great"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14635789-post4.html)," so not every admission committee guesses about every applicant.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>

So I am a middle class white guy, but my grandfather was full Mexican (this makes me a quarter).

</p>

<p>The definition of Hispanic ethnicity used by the federal government </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-04.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-04.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>"Definition of Hispanic or Latino Origin Used in the 2010 Census </p>

<p>“‘Hispanic or Latino’ refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.” </p>

<p>makes clear that a great variety of people of varying ancestry or “heritage” or “country of birth” can categorize themselves as Hispanic. You have the choice to indicate Hispanic ethnicity, by that definition, and to indicate white “race” after indicating Hispanic ethnicity. (The forms used in this application season first ask a Hispanic ethnicity yes-no question, and then suggest “select one or more” for the “race” question.) You also have the choice of not indicating any ethnicity or race at all. What a college does with what it sees on your form varies from college to college. </p>

<p>It’s always a good idea to let a college know about any diversity factor you might bring to a new enrolled class at the college. It’s unclear how weighty different kinds of ethnic heritages are in college admission decisions at which colleges. </p>

<p>

If I am part Spanish (“ETHNICITY-HISPANIC OR LATINO: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central America, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.”), is it correct for me to click “Yes” for this category?

</p>

<p>A well posed question. To the surprise of some onlookers, people from Spain or with origin from Spain are perfectly welcome to check yes to Hispanic or Latino ethnicity on college application forms by the federal definitions. What a college specifically does as to admission factors, if anything, varies from college to college and is not well publicized. It may be (or it may not be) that some college will consider origin from one country to be a more desired admission factor than origin from another country. Most colleges are not at all clear what their policies are in this regard. Colleges that care about this issue will look at any information in your admission file that indicates what country you are from (which you can tell the colleges, or not tell the colleges, as you wish).</p>

<p>

Hispanic is not a race. It means that you are from a Spanish speaking country. So if you are from Spain or Mexico, then you are Hispanic. There are Hispanic blacks, Jews and blue-eyed blonds who may have been born, raised and educated is Spain (for example), who are absolutely Hispanic. “Looking Hispanic” is a stereotype.

</p>

<p>Correct as to the current federal definitions, which don’t imply any particular pattern of physical appearance. Definitely a person of any pattern of physical appearance, including fair, blue-eyed, and blond-haired, can be Hispanic. And, as the federal definitions say, a Hispanic person can be of any race.</p>

<p>Note that people from the Philippines, a country situated on islands in the Pacific (which was long a colony of Spain), are called “Asian,” and are not called Hispanic even if they have Spanish surnames (as many do), while people from Guam (also formerly a Spanish colony) are called “Pacific Islanders.” This is politics, not history or science. Meanwhile, presumably people from the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara are called “White,” and people from the former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea, which uses Spanish as an official language, are called “Black,” and I’m not aware of whether or not any college has ever treated an applicant with heritage from that country as a Hispanic applicant. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications, and good luck to everyone else applying in the coming application season.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>

My family was born and raised in Morocco.

</p>

<p>You are white by the federal definitions, </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>as are other people of North African origin and various people of Middle Eastern origin. </p>

<p>“‘White’ refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as ‘White’ or reported entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan, or Caucasian.” </p>

<p>You also have the choice of not indicating any ethnicity or race at all. What a college does with what it sees on your form varies from college to college. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications, and good luck to everyone else applying in the coming application season. </p>

<p>

I am Persian.

</p>

<p>You are white by the federal definitions, </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>as are other people of Near Eastern or Middle Eastern origin and various people of North African origin. </p>

<p>“‘White’ refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as ‘White’ or reported entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan, or Caucasian.” </p>

<p>You also have the choice of not indicating any ethnicity or race at all. What a college does with what it sees on your form varies from college to college. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications, and good luck to everyone else applying in the coming application season. </p>

<p>

Since when was “Middle Eastern” a sub-category of “White”?

</p>

<p>Since the beginning of federal law on the subject. There has never been a separate “Middle Eastern” category (even though some people in some eras have asked for one) and Middle Eastern people have long been construed as just as white as Icelanders, Italians, Greeks, Latvians, and Irish people for purposes of any law in the United States that distinguished white people from other people.</p>

<p>One consequence of this is that there was much more immigration to the United States in the 1920s by Arab people than by Chinese or Japanese people (who were banned from immigration to the United States). There have been various social consequences of this after arrival as well. </p>

<p>This may not make sense to you, but it is the law. </p>

<p>

My paternal grandfather is Bahraini . . . My paternal grandmother is Irani from her father and an Afghan from her mother. </p>

<p>My father was born in Iran and grew up there.</p>

<p>My maternal grandfather is an Arab `Iraqi . . . and my maternal grandmother is . . . an Arab Irani since she (and her parents) were born in Iran. </p>

<p>My mother was born in Pakistan since my maternal grandfather worked in several nations as a hydroelectric engineer. She grew up in Pakistan for awhile and later moved to Iran.</p>

<p>Should I mark “Asian” since all of these nations are in Asia, should I mark “White” even though I don’t see myself this way, or should I simply consider myself as “Other”? </p>

<p>EDIT: What would somebody who is purely a descendant of Afghans do?

</p>

<p>Your personal example, and then the general follow-up question at the end, illustrate the arbitrary and ambiguous nature of the federal race categories in the United States, which as the Census Bureau notes, “reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and are not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically.” The general definitions of the categories </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>say that “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of . . . the Middle East” is white, while “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent” is Asian. But is Afghanistan a part of the Middle East, or part of the Indian subcontinent? Several countries are listed as examples in the federal category descriptions, but Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are not. If they are treated as Middle Eastern countries, like Iran, their inhabitants are “white,” but if they are treated as Indian subcontinent countries (less likely), like Pakistan (the only “-stan” country mentioned in the federal definitions), their inhabitants are “Asian.” </p>

<p>Good luck on your applications.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>

At what point do Asians disappear into the mainstream and become Jews of 2012, where they are not labeled separately?

</p>

<p>That’s an interesting question. There seems to be nobody in the United States advocating that the percentage of Irish people, or of Jewish people, or of French-speaking people, or of left-handed people, on college campuses should be “representative” of the percentage of such people in the general United States population, so why is it important to define exactly and only five “race” categories and two “ethnicity” categories </p>

<p>[Revisions</a> to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity | The White House](<a href=“http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_1997standards]Revisions”>http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_1997standards) </p>

<p>in federal regulations, when even at the time of adoption those categories were not universally agreed to? </p>

<p>Because east Asian (Chinese and Japanese) persons were largely barred from immigrating to the United States in all but tiny numbers until the early 1960s, many persons who might have fled the war zone of the Sino-Japanese phase of World War II in the 1930s and 1940s as refugees were unable to do so. Similar restrictions on immigration in place from the end of World War I to the end of World War II also resulted in the deaths of a lot of Jewish people in Europe. United States immigration law was very harsh and uncivilized between the two world wars. </p>

<p>Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book review, [“Getting</a> in: The social logic of Ivy League admissions”](<a href=“http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/10/051010crat_atlarge]"Getting”>Getting In | The New Yorker) of Jerome Karabel’s book The Chosen. In the review he discusses the policies Ivy League colleges used to exclude Jewish applicants between the world wars. </p>

<p>

@Malcolm Gladwell review of The Chosen

At Princeton, emissaries were sent to the major boarding schools, with instructions to rate potential candidates on a scale of 1 to 4, where 1 was “very desirable and apparently exceptional material from every point of view” and 4 was “undesirable from the point of view of character, and, therefore, to be excluded no matter what the results of the entrance examinations might be.” The personal interview became a key component of admissions in order, Karabel writes, “to ensure that ‘undesirables’ were identified and to assess important but subtle indicators of background and breeding such as speech, dress, deportment and physical appearance.” By 1933, the end of Lowell’s term, the percentage of Jews at Harvard was back down to fifteen per cent.</p>

<p>If this new admissions system seems familiar, that’s because it is essentially the same system that the Ivy League uses to this day. According to Karabel, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton didn’t abandon the elevation of character once the Jewish crisis passed. They institutionalized it.

</p>

<p>You can read about these practices also in James Gleick’s biography of Richard Feynman, especially the chapter “Feynman is of course Jewish.” Isaac Asimov is another example of a Jewish college applicant considered undesirable on those grounds (being shunted to Seth Low Junior College at Columbia when Columbia College had already filled its quota for Jewish students). </p>

<p>After World War II, because of the horrifying example of the defeated Axis regimes, it was no longer fashionable in the United States to systematically deny Jewish persons access to opportunities for higher education at highly selective colleges and universities. There has never been a proposal since the war to redress past wrongs by adding a “Jewish” ethnicity category to federal forms.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>

I’d like to bring up another issue that was brought up in previous threads: Why does the Common App forgo the inclusion of an “other” category? There are other racial groups in the world that are not covered by the racial categories offered on the Common App; one that comes to mind is Indigenous Australian (often known as Aborigines). Would an applicant of this descent be forced to leave the race section unmarked, and thus be subjected to the still ambiguous potential disadvantages of that situation?

</p>

<p>The federal regulations </p>

<p>[U.S&lt;/a&gt;. Department of Education; Office of the Secretary; Final Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic Data to the U.S. Department of Education [OS]](<a href=“http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.html]U.S”>http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.html)</p>

<p>are part of United States law, set for United States political purposes. As the Census Bureau itself notes, </p>

<p>

@Census Bureau

U.S. federal government agencies must adhere to standards issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in October 1997, which specify that race and Hispanic origin (also known as ethnicity) are two separate and distinct concepts. These standards generally reflect a social definition of race and ethnicity recognized in this country and they do not conform to any biological, anthropological, or genetic criteria.

</p>

<p><a href=“https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?dept=769&id=5000[/url]”>https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?dept=769&id=5000&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>(Use the left menu on the FAQ page to select the subtopic “Race” from the main topic “People.”) </p>

<p>So if there is a missing category for Australian Aborigines, that is simply because United States federal bureaucrats and Congress have not seen the need for such a category. </p>

<p>No other country in the world uses the same categories as the United States for official documents about “race” or ethnicity.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>I’d like to ask a serious question, because in the midst of discussion of college admission policies there are from time to time references to “underrepresented” groups without explaining how “underrepresentation” is demonstrated. </p>

<p>If a medium-size privately operated national research university takes applicants from all over the country, and indeed all over the world, but has a plurality of its applicants living within 500 miles of the university (a fairly common pattern), should the university </p>

<p>a) balance “representation” by the world population of all college-age young people? </p>

<p>b) balance “representation” by the national population of all college-age young people? </p>

<p>c) balance “representation” by the regional population–within a specified distance from the college–of all college-age young people? </p>

<p>d) balance “representation” by the world population of all college-age young people who have completed secondary education? </p>

<p>e) balance “representation” by the national population of all college-age young people who have completed secondary education? </p>

<p>f) balance “representation” by the regional population of all college-age young people who have completed secondary education? </p>

<p>g) balance “representation” by the world population of all college-age young people who are as academically qualified–determined by that college’s rules–as the least qualified admitted students from the year before? </p>

<p>h) balance “representation” by the national population of all college-age young people who are as academically qualified–determined by that college’s rules–as the least qualified admitted students from the year before? </p>

<p>i) balance “representation” by the regional population of all college-age young people who are as academically qualified–determined by that college’s rules–as the least qualified admitted students from the year before? </p>

<p>j) balance “representation” by the actual group composition of that college’s applicant pool that year? </p>

<p>k) simply admit students based on the college’s judgment of academic and personal qualifications, as long as its admission procedures admit some representatives of every major ethnic group officially recognized in the United States? </p>

<p>There are quite a few possible standards here, with different possible results, and it’s not usually clear to me which standard participants in the discussion are appealing to when they call one group or another “underrepresented.” Underrepresented by how much? Which students actually apply to which colleges?</p>

[lake42ks]

<p>The longest OP I’ve ever seen on CC. Great job, tokenadult. It seems race would disappear from application forms soon, or at least becomes meaningless.</p>

[ginomaglaque]

<p>how do i post on here?</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>

how do i post on here?

</p>

<p>I see you are new to College Confidential. Welcome aboard. If you want to post a reply to this thread, you can do what you did, and post a reply with some follow-up question you have. If you want to post a new thread to ask a question on a different topic, you go to the main page of the appropriate forum, and look for the link (it looks like a button, just above the list of thread headings) to post a “New Thread.” Choose a meaningful title for the thread that helps readers know what the thread is about, and ask away. </p>

<p>I hope this helps. Please ask follow-up questions as needed.</p>