Into the Unknown: A Descriptive Exploration of Institutional-Level Data for “Race and Ethnicity Unknown”

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Pulling Back the Veil and a Closer Look (Table 32)

Abstract

Race and Ethnicity Unknown (REU) may present a racial equity challenge. A sizeable REU proportion in selective institutions (Ford et al., 2020, 2022) or growing REU category with a significant white representation (Smith et al., 2005) obscures institutions’ racial diversity snapshot. Moreover, “dropping” REU from datasets can also impact this snapshot and introduce bias (Ford & Holland, 2020). Furthering examining this REU phenomenon, I conduct a descriptive exploration of REU at one Minority-Serving Institution. Framed by Masuoka’s (2017) identity choice framework and Bonilla-Silva’s (2018) color-evasive racial ideology, I (a) connect a campus survey to institutional-level enrollment data by identification numbers to examine the racial make-up of a sample of REU students and (b) analyze students’ rationales for declining racial identification.

Author

• Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza, California Lutheran University