The first time I learned to identify myself as “white” on official government papers, I thought it was rather funny. To 12- year-old me, the term “white” did not extend beyond skin color, and the thought of me being identified in this way was so blatantly wrong that I didn’t know what to make of it other than a joke. By the time I was checking off “white” in the UC application as a high school student, however, it had stopped being funny. Instead, having to identify as “white” after reading through the entire list a few times felt constricting. This institute that prides itself on higher education, activism and diversity was clearly not wide enough for my cultural background.
This is the part where I tell you that with so-and-so percentage of Arab-Americans on campus, I’m surprised that the Arab-American community was not represented among the ethnic categories listed at the time.
Unfortunately, due to this lack of ethnic representation, this data is currently unavailable on the UC Berkeley enrollment website.
Since 1977, students identifying as Middle Eastern have been instructed to mark “white” in all federal and UC forms — with students marking “other” automatically reclassified as “white” in the U.S. census. Consistent efforts have been made to rectify this situation on both the federal and UC levels, among which was the “Invisible Minority in Campaign” initiative launched at UCLA in 2009 following the success of the Count Me In! Campaign. Unfortunately, the campaign did not gain enough momentum until it was rebooted at UC Berkeley in 2010 in collaboration with other UC campuses.
A real breakthrough occurred this past spring, however, with the passage of a new UC bill addressing the situation. Commonly known as SWANA, this new measure will expand the racial categories on the UC application to encompass a new category for Middle Eastern students, titled SWANA (South West Asian/ North African) starting in the 2013-2014 application cycle. SWANA students can now mark a separate box altogether, with 32 subcategories based on national identification.
But why is a simple check mark such a milestone in the history of the Arab-American community? The fact that this question was posed by many UC Berkeley students exemplifies the prior invisibility of the Arab community on campus better than my words ever could. Some students admitted they had not realized it was an issue at all.
The importance of SWANA has to do with why race is requested on the UC application to begin with. Contrary to common belief, racial categorization does not factor into UC admissions decisions at all, but is used to measure retention rates and to monitor campus diversity following admission. This data collection is vital for understanding educational accessibility within marginalized communities. Consequently, exclusion from these statistics has cost years of understanding the Arab-American community’s socio-economic conditions and learning how to advance them.
This checkbox doesn’t simply recognize the presence of a Middle Eastern student population on campus — a population previously made invisible by the insistence on classifying it as “white” — but it serves as a pathway for recruitment and retention services to better integrate this community. Having raw data to back up requests like the creation of an Arab American Studies program, for example, or the inclusion of Arab Americans in scholarship opportunities like the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (which lists African Americans, Chicanos/Latinos and Native Americans as its target minority groups) would give them credibility and power.
Yet some students are concerned this measure would “unfairly benefit” non-disadvantaged students at the expense of “programs aimed at the socially and economically disadvantaged” in the words of the ASUC senate bill. I understand where this concern is coming from, but the follow-up question on the UC application regarding parents’ income should take care of this issue. It is unfair to assume that all households within a minority group fall within the same income range.
Financial resources aside, the SWANA senate bill has been a struggle for recognition more than anything else. “I’m glad this checkbox will be there when I apply to graduate school,” an Armenian friend of mine said. “If you’re going to ask for my ethnicity, at least give me the right options to answer you.”
And I agree. But recognition goes far beyond an educational institute brimming with open-minded individuals to begin with. As much as I rejoice at this victory for the Arab-American community, I’d like to be able to mark “SWANA” next time I’m applying for a job or filling out a government form. That is the next milestone in sight.
Amy Mostafa writes a Thursday column on cultural issues. Contact Amy Mostafa at [email protected].