Multiracial Student Issues in Colleges and Universities

Influence of College on Multiracial Students

The college environment is uniquely suited to support and challenge students' identity choices for several reasons. First, the salience and ubiquity of race within higher education provides numerous opportunities for students to question, explore, and express their own racial identities in various ways, and for institutions to affirm students' racial background and identity choices. Students are asked about their racial background verbally and in writing, such as on the application for admission and institutional surveys. Students have an opportunity to express their racial identity in the spaces they occupy on campus, such as racially based clubs and groups. The number and variety of options on campus that specifically address the needs of multiracial students depend largely on the racial demographics of the student body and whether there is a sufficient population of students interested in exploring multiracial issues. In the case of course work addressing multiracial student issues, the availability and interest of faculty with relevant expertise is also required.

The change in context and the exposure to new ideas, individuals, and environments that college brings are other reasons why college offers a unique opportunity for multiracial identity exploration. College can also provide some separation from parents, whether physical, psychological, or both. Parents may have imposed certain preferences [Page 1586]about how students should identify or represent their racial backgrounds that may not reflect students' own preferences. Alternatively, students may feel a self-imposed pressure to identify in a way that does not exclude the racial background of one or both parents. For some students, these external or self-imposed pressures persist in college, while others are able to explore, develop, or maintain a multiracial identity in spite of these pressures.

Students are more likely to express a multiracial identity within college environments that have visible and supported multiracial communities. The change in context from home and neighborhood environments to the college environment may bring demographic shifts that provide or limit exposure to new identity options and opportunities to explore or represent one's racial background in different ways and for different purposes. Increased exposure and identity opportunities have been associated with moving to a more racially diverse environment for college, living on campus, studying abroad, taking racially/ethnically based courses, and joining a racial or ethnic club or group in college.

Capturing the Complexity

A logical first step in affirming multiracial students is to provide accurate counts of the individuals who self-identify in this way. The Office of Management and Budget creates standards for collecting and reporting racial and ethnic data, and the U.S. Department of Education creates guidelines that colleges and universities must follow to ensure compliance with these standards and comparability of data across institutions. Current guidelines include a category for individuals marking two or more racial categories. The benefit of this approach is that it provides visibility and recognition for those wishing to express having a multiracial background. The challenge is that the “two or more races” category oversimplifies a diverse group, some of whom do not claim a “multiracial” identity even if they acknowledge having more than one race in their background.

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