Study raises questions about accuracy of demographic studies.

A NEW REPORT BY THE JAMES IRvine Foundation raises questions about campus demographic figures. Each year, a growing number of students list their race or ethnicity as "unknown." Nationally that figure has risen from 3.2 percent enrolled in 1991 to 5.9 percent in 2001, a nearly 100 percent increase.

Researchers at the James Irvine Foundation Campus Diversity Initiative explored this trend in a study of three California campuses and revealed that, at least in the studied group, many of the "unknown" students were, in fact, white. One campus showed a 150 percent increase in white-only students after the "unknown" category was analyzed.

All U.S. colleges and universities are required to provide annual demographic data on enrolling students, classified by race/ethnicity. The Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System (IPEDS), compiled annually by the Department of Education, is used in part to help guide universities toward diversity goals. On enrollment, students are asked to classify themselves according to the following categories: Nonresident Alien; black, non-Hispanic; American Indian/Alaska Native; Asian/Pacific Islander; Hispanic; white, non-Hispanic; and race/ethnicity unknown. IPEDS data has shown a dramatic increase in the percentage selecting the "unknown" category.

California was chosen for study because in addition to the IPEDS data, schools there participate in the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), a first-year student survey. Although CIRP categories are somewhat different than IPEDS categories, on analysis the data shows a smaller increase in unknowns than does IPEDS. The study's authors note that one reason may be that CIRP data is gathered after matriculation. They write that although further research is needed, "it may be that stu dents who perceive their race/ethnicity to be a 'strike against them' in the admissions process are more likely to specify racial/ethnic backgrounds once they have enrolled." The report is available at www.irvine.org.

"Campus A" Race/Ethnicity Via First-year Enrollments
and CIRP Respondents, 2000 and 2001

Enrollment      CIRP
African American/Black   2000            2000

Latino(a)/Hispanic         2% [4]         3% [6]
American Indian            8% [17]       11% [22]
Asian American/            1% [1]         3% [6]
Pacific Islander
White                     12% [27]       15% [30]
Other                     42% [92]       70% [143]
Unknown                    3% [7]         7% [14]
Total                     32% [70]        4% [8]
CHIP response rate       100% [218]
Total CHIP responses                     93% [203]
229 *

Enrollment   CIRP
African American/Black     2001       2001

Latino(a)/Hispanic          7% [15]     6% [13]
American Indian            10% [22]    12% [26]
Asian American/             1% [1]      3% [7]
Pacific Islander
White                       9% [20]    13% [28]
Other                      50% [111]   72% [157]
Unknown                     2% [4]      5% [11]
Total                      22% [49]     1% [2]
CHIP response rate        100% [224]
Total CHIP responses                   97% [218]
244 *

This table, representing one school in the study, shows changes
in enrollment data compared with CIRP data gathered after
matriculation. In each column, the percentage of respondents is
followed by the actual number of students in brackets. * CIRP preserves
multiple responses, so 229 responses from 203 respondents indicates
that up to 26 students selected multiple racial/ethnic categories.

--Source: James Irvine Foundation Campus Diversity Initiative
Evaluation Project