CA. Regents vote against adding a 'multiracial' box

University of California regents rejected the idea of adding a "multiracial" box to application forms, a proposal which was criticized because it would make it harder to collect data on minorities. The regents' educational committee on Wednesday voted 12-1 against the new box. The proposal came from Regent Ward Connerly, who argued that the additional category would give students more options in defining themselves and recognize a growing segment of the population. "Multiracial is an identity for some people," he said. "They don't want their kid to choose between this or that." Connerly, who is of white, American Indian and black descent, and whose wife is white, made a personal appeal to fellow regents, saying his family prefers to think in terms of a blended whole. "The term we use is multiracial. That is the term that many Californians use. It is a term of choice," he said. "And yet you deny, you expressly deny us the right to accept that term." But opponents said UC's current policy of allowing students to check as many boxes as apply follows federal guidelines and produces more reliable data. They disagreed that not providing a "multiracial" category limits students. "We don't define ourselves by what box we check," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who is also a regent. UC applicants now have the choice of checking one or more of 13 race or ethnicity boxes including "other." Checking the boxes is voluntary. [more]