raised. However, not everybody has to prove his or her cultural ties. “This question was developed by Common App to conform with the requirements for colleges in their reporting back to the federal government,” he said. “So when students self-identify, that information is collected and becomes part of a student’s record at Ithaca College.” The race and ethnicity question on the Common Application is optional to answer but restricted to the categories provided. If you don’t identify with the racial and ethnic selections there is no “other” box with a write-in component. Those who choose not to answer are part of the “unknown” category of students. In regard to the absence of an “other” category Turbide shrugged and said, “The option is whether to answer or not.” *** Other than what is provided on the Common Application, colleges are left to speculate. Take Aaron Lipford, an African American student who works at the Ithaca College phonathon, engaging in conversations with numerous parents and alumni. Sitting in a chair at work with his hands folded neatly in front of him, Aaron exudes a cheery temperament as he greets each person through his headset. The people he speaks to haven’t a clue about Aaron’s racial or ethnic identity, just like they couldn’t guess his hair color or what T-shirt he is wearing. A Biochemistry major with minors in the Humanities and Sciences Honors Program and African Diaspora studies, Lipford is a freshman who received a Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Scholarship when he applied to the college. MLK Scholarships are awarded to incoming freshmen that have demonstrated strong academic aptitude and are members of an underrepresented minority group. Lipford said that although he applied to be an MLK Scholar, he never had to prove his minority status during the application process. “On the [MLK Scholar] application you don’t have to prove you’re a minority because you already applied to Ithaca,” he said. “Admissions has it on file.” That file is based on a five second decision a student makes once they get to the box selection on the Common Application. However, the lack of proof is not true for all scholarships. For example, one of the scholarships unaffiliated with Ithaca College, but promoted in the Office of Financial Aid, is the 2008 Korean Honor Scholarship. This scholarship requires
a certificate of proficiency in Korean, a Korean SAT test score of 700 points or higher, or a transcript for a Korean language course. In addition, many multicultural scholarships require Native Americans to produce a certificate of tribal affiliation. *** Dr. Roger Richardson, Associate Vice President and the Dean of Student Affairs and Campus Life. has many roles. When he first came to the college he served as the director of student multicultural affairs. He created the MLK Scholar program at Ithaca shortly after taking the position in 2000. He previously established the MLK program at New York University and brought the program to Ithaca. Currently, Richardson is the Chair member of the President’s Advisory Committee on Diversity otherwise known as PAC-D. Richardson’s responsibilities at PAC-D are evaluating how the campus coordinates diversity programming and educational experiences on campus. “If the majority of students leave this institution and they are not prepared to deal with the diversity that they may experience then as an educational institution, we have not given them the tools that they need,” he said. Richardson said the phrase “ALANA” was coined to construct inclusive semantics. The word “minority” had possible negative connotations for students that fall into that category, especially since numerically some of these students are not in the minority on the scale of the world population. “There was a lot of sensitivity to that population of students to be referred to as
‘minority’ – as if they were ‘less than,’” he said. With the word “minority” being a sensitive issue, colleges sought another phrase to refer to underrepresented students. “Multiculturalism and diversity is not just for those students,” he said. “I would argue that if it’s about anyone, it’s about the majority of students having the experience to participate in these programs.” Richardson also said there are more students that are showing a preference for not identifying themselves. The reason students are choosing not to identify by the categories provided remains a mystery. “There may be a lot more students who are not being counted as being representative of ALANA,” Richardson said. “But because they don’t identify we don’t know.” The statistics support this growing void of students in the “unknown” population. Fall 2011 enrollment indicates 13% of the student body preferred that option. In fall 2010, 12% of the students did not indicate their race or ethnic background. I’m Hispanic and I don’t have to prove it. The admissions’ office doesn’t know all that about me. And who knows? How I identify myself may change. As I filled out the census in my freshman year, my mom’s words echoed in my head. Once you’re mixed, you’re mixed. I scanned over the census one more time and placed a check mark next to Some other race. In the space provided underneath I wrote five neat little letters: Human.
Illustration by Karlem Sivira
25