1962 I’m enlisting in the USAF and I’m checking over papers and the form in my hand says I’m “white". Why? I ask and the sergeant says that it says that because I’m “white". It’s obvious from looking at you, he says. You’re knocking one of my great and one of my gteat-great grandmothers I say. They were Cherokee Indians....at least that is what was said in public. There are some in the family who said maybe a little darker but the state of Virginia had laws so better they should be indians instaed of black. I’m 3/32 something else so “white may not be right, can’t we just leave the box unchecked? The sergeant, who was black laughed and said it was ok with him if it was ok with me. I may have been the first ‘none of the above’ or ‘other’ in Uncle Sam’s Air Force in October of 1962. In the 43 years since I have never checked a box other than ‘other’ and I have found it upsets other people much more than I think it should. ED CABANISSHolden Beach, NC

Ed Cabaniss, at 1:37 pm EST on February 16, 2005

None of the above

When I applied to the University of Miami School of Law, I also left a blank space next to the question about my race. But somehow, subsequent records kept coming back identifying me as “white.”

I pestered the registrar for about a year trying to get to the bottom of why my records listed me as “white", but never received an answer. I suspect that many college admissions departments will assume that non-respondents are white.

In other words, I strongly suspect that college admissions departments take the position that while the information about race is not mandatory, they will hold it against you if you fail to give it to them!

Brant Hadaway, at 1:38 pm EST on February 16, 2005

No racial disclosure

It’s about the money. Universities, even those who admit 75% of their applicants, will award scholarships based on race. My son, a high school senior, did not indicate his race on his applications. His SAT score, 1440, would usually merit some consideration for non-need based financial aid at “traditional” Universities. He received calls from some of these Universities asking for his “race.” Once he said “white,” they hung up.

Jack Ryan, at 1:45 pm EST on February 16, 2005

Additional Explanatory Factor

In an age when the most intimate details of our personal lives are collected and shared amongst powerful institutions (corporations, credit agencies, government agencies), it may be that some students merely wish to protect as much personal information as feasible. If true, this thesis also implies that there are serious trust issues between institutions of higher education and their customers. My own encounter with this system of personal data collection in its infancy in the early 1980’s certainly engendered trust issues.

The Midwestern land grant university I attended seemed eager to collect highly personal information about race, ethnicity, etc. at any available opportunity, always with the assurance that this information would remain secure and not be shared with any other parties. I tested this assurance by submitting false information about my race and religion. I evolved from a white Christian into an African-American Jew. Quite by coincidence, or so I was supposed to believe, I found myself the object of a relentless four-year membership campaign through the campus mail from the Legion of Black Collegians and Hillel.

Solve the trust issues and maybe these institutions can solve their information problem.

Tongueboy, at 1:47 pm EST on February 16, 2005

When I was about eight, there was a form in schoschool that asked about what was then called"nationality.” I asked my mother, who was born in Russia but would never admit it, what my nationality was and she said: “Put down American.”

I have followed this excellent advice ever since.

Miriam, at 7:06 pm EST on February 16, 2005

IQ

The article mentions that students of particular racial types are “underrepresented” in college: “Black, Hispanic and American Indian students all lag behind their share of the population when it comes to college enrollment and degrees earned."This is a misrepresentation. When corrected for IQ, the statistics show no underrepresentation, but overrepresentation, because of the racist effects of “affirmative action". And to say that IQ is unimportant for college achievement is to deny reality. Higher education experts should be aware of and correct these statistical distortions.

Robert Speirs, Mr., at 7:05 pm EST on February 16, 2005