Multi-Racial Option A Mixed Bag
The US Department of Education has forwarded a report suggesting that public universities retool their racial statistics data to allow for the selection of a “multi-racial option. From the Daily Cal:
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 (editor’s note: didn’t she graduate?), 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.
When Yvette Felarca, the Daily Cal, and the federal government agree on anything, generally CalStuff needs to disagree. simply for reasons of consistency.
Let’s be frank: if the university is going to truly reflect upon and study “racial diversity”, then it needs to stop using simplistic terms like “white”, “asian”, and “multiracial”, that tell us little to nothing about the students on this campus. Instead of using yet another encompassing term, I’d rather see there be twenty detailed options rather than six, and the option to check as many boxes as deemed fit. At least that way we’d be able to see exactly how multi-racial this campus actually is.
You can point people to the actual document. The new recommendations include a two basic categories, “Hispanic” and “not Hispanic,” and then split the “non-hispanic” category into five races and “multiracial.”
The problem with using 20 different categories is that it becomes nearly impossible to present information, often tabled in many dimensions.
Comment by Beetle — August 18, 2006 @ 3:57 pm
Yvette Felarca, Ward Connerly, the Federal Government and the Daily Cal, for that matter.
Funny how people support it and oppose it based on Ward Connerly’s presence, and not the idea itself.
Comment by RepBast1984 — August 18, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
I think it is a good idea. Probably everyone has some multiracialness if you trace your family back far enough, so we could all check the multiracial box, and then we wouldn’t have to hear this incessant b*tching about affirmative action and underrepresentation.
Comment by chet (CEO) — August 18, 2006 @ 4:43 pm
OK so I’m confused about one of the possibilities here. Can a half-hispanic/half-other student pick the hispanic box and one of the minorities under the non-hispanic box or do they still have to choose one?
Comment by Josh M. — August 18, 2006 @ 8:36 pm
Race is an illusion and national boundaries are always in flux. It’s no more meaningful to say ‘chinese’ than it is to say ‘asian’. And, quite frankly, it really doesn’t matter. They shouldn’t collect racial data at all, but for the purposes that they use it for, relatively broad categories are probably fine. Whether you’re korean or japanese, the experiences you have in this country are probably more alike (on average) than dissimilar. Certainly, I think most people would find it obvious that the Korean experience is much closer to the Chinese experience than the, say, Puerto Rican experience. What does knowing that you’re Korean vs. Asian add, in an actionable way?
It’s all rubbish, anyways. It’s the culture that matters, not some arbitrary ‘racial’ tag that we apply to cultural groups. The use of racial constructs implies and suggests a broader set of differences than actually exist.
Comment by Spanky McCrackers — August 18, 2006 @ 8:50 pm
There is no Hispanic box. First the student picks Hispanic or NotHispanic, and then chooses one or more of the five races (white, black, asian, pacific islanderish, american indian). If the student picks Hispanic, that’s what’s reported, otherwise, the race is reported (or ‘multiracial’ if more than one is picked). I think Hispanic students still pick races, they just aren’t reported.
Comment by Beetle — August 18, 2006 @ 9:29 pm
Unfortunately there is no way to produce an anywhere-near-accurate codification of “race,” as the world’s modern (western) interpretation of nation-states does not translate to represent anyone’s real biological ethnic makeup.
I somehow doubt Ward Connerly is going to contract the sociological and historical research needed to create checkboxes that do justice to the intricacies of ethnicity in this country. And I somehow doubt Yvette Felarca will want checkboxes that respect the intricacies of European-American identity.
Comment by Eddy Crochetiere — August 18, 2006 @ 9:58 pm
Ward Connerly is knowledgeable of the sociological research and Yvette Felarca when push comes to shove will be at peace with this option.
Comment by RepBast1984 — August 18, 2006 @ 10:59 pm
dude, check out this video. I’m crapping in my pants!
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com /et/emailThis?clickMap=view This&etMailToID=2023322492
Comment by Berkeley Mountain Lion Patrol — August 23, 2006 @ 1:26 pm
accompanying story:
http://www.kktv.com/news/ headlines/3704751.html
Comment by Berkeley Mountain Lion Patrol — August 23, 2006 @ 1:29 pm
must have been one of them meth addicted mountain lions. wonder if he found what he was looking for.
Comment by mano — August 23, 2006 @ 5:08 pm
So is this blog officially dead? No posts during welcome week. No posts during the first week of class. No comments in the past 8 days. How do I contact Kevin and let him know how this thing turned out.
Comment by Berkeley Mountain Lion Patrol — August 31, 2006 @ 12:41 pm
I’m sure Kevin knows his blog is dead.
Poor Mano — where can he spew his hate now?
Comment by Anon — September 1, 2006 @ 11:37 am
How sad when was the last REAL comment? A logn time ago a post about ward connerly and yvette felarca woudl have generated close to 100 comments.
Comment by Anonymous — September 1, 2006 @ 7:09 pm
And now, all we have are petulant anon-bots. For shame.
Comment by Chris Smyr — September 1, 2006 @ 8:12 pm
I think anony-bots is the more generally accepted term. If you say it out loud, it flows very nicely.
As for lack of posts, it is kind of a shame. Comments were usually at least entertaining if nothing else, and the posts themselves kept me somewhat informed about stuff going on around school.
Comment by James McBride — September 2, 2006 @ 3:08 pm
NO ONE GIVES A FUCKING SHIT UPDATE THIS
Comment by Anonymous — September 3, 2006 @ 11:14 pm
This blog is a joke. We have more spammers about mountain lions than real comments.
Comment by Anonymous — September 3, 2006 @ 11:20 pm
I think that more standardized tests should allow for more background options. People of today are proud of where they come from and what cultural values they hold dear to their hearts. It is also interesting to talk with some people who have parents or grandparents of two different races and only see themselves as one race. So the final question is will institutions or the government ever get an accuate account of how many people fit into one “race?” It is also interesting to see that the number of multi-racial individuals are stepping up and not fitting themselves into one category or another.
Comment by Darla Cooper — October 28, 2006 @ 2:11 pm