New Data Reporting System May Include Multiracial Option

Students who identify with more than one race may be officially recognized as "multiracial" for the first time under a controversial new proposal from the federal government.

After nearly nine years of study and planning, the U.S. Department of Education issued a draft guidance last Monday calling for colleges to revamp the way they collect and report data on student race, allowing students to choose multiple racial categories.

The move would overhaul a racial reporting system that many feel ignores the presence of mixed-race individuals.

Currently, college students can select only one of five racial categories: black, white, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander and Native American/Alaskan Native. If a student selects multiple ethnicities, only one is counted when the school reports racial statistics to the federal government.

Although some colleges have reworked their forms to let students check multiple boxes for their own internal records, such institutions still use the traditional system when reporting data to the government.

It is unclear how many students have marked multiple categories in past years. More than 6.8 million respondents picked more than one racial category in the 2000 U.S. Census, according to census statistics.

The new system of multiracial identity reporting would also ask students whether they are Latino or Hispanic and divide the Asian/Pacific Islander category into two distinct groups.

Though the idea of including a physical "multiracial" check box drew heavy criticism when proposed by former UC regent Ward Connerly in 2004, some UC officials say they support allowing students to check multiple racial categories.

"I think the idea of accurately representing one's racial heritage and identity strikes me as a good idea," said P. David Pearson, dean of the Graduate School of Education. "Having students identify with a multiracial box would be more accurate in representing our students' races."

A UC spokesperson declined to comment on the new proposal.

But Yvette Felarca, director of the local chapter of civil rights group By Any Means Necessary, said the new proposal sounded constructive.

"We support students being able to self-identify with their race as long as it's specific and it can make campuses accountable for the demographic makeup of their student body," Felarca said.

Other students said they welcome the change in light of the percentage of the nation's population that is mixed-race steadily rising.

"I choose not to answer the ethnicity question at all, because it's either choose one race over the other, or check the 'other' box," said UC Berkeley senior Jennifer Chen, who is Chinese and white. "But this actually acknowledges that I'm mixed."

The department's proposal could also encourage students who now refuse to answer questions on race to instead weigh in, some feel.

"For students, it would be hard for them to select one group over another, and it's even a personal thing with students," said Deborah Friedman, director of student academic services of the Graduate School of Education.

But some groups and officials have opposed the change, arguing it would hamper the study of racial trends in enrollment because new data could no longer be compared to past data.

In releasing its proposal, the department is complying with rules set forth nine years ago by the federal Office of Management and Budget, which mandated that people be allowed to mark more than one race on federal forms.

The department will hear public input on the proposal over the next several weeks. The change will not go into effect before 2009.

Proposed Guidelines

Allow students to identify themselves as multiracial, a category that is not currently included in government data

Specifically ask students to identify if they are Latino/Hispanic

Divide the Asian and Pacific Islander option into two distinct racial categories

U.S. Department of Education

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