CVK
We’ve seen quite a few articles lately discussing the fact that many college students who choose not to identify themselves racially on admissions applications are not mixed–as administrators had previously assumed–but rather, white. They left the race box blank because they worried that being white would work against them in this era of affirmative action.

Cari Lynn Hennessy, a student at the University of Virginia, was one of these students and now she regrets her decision. In this column, she explains that identifying as white actually has little effect either way on your chances for getting into college, and that these myths about affirmative action need to be publicly challenged. She has some interesting thoughts on how white students may feel about having to identify as white on a form:

Some white students might truly feel that the race question asks for an offensive simplification of their heritage. Race is, after all, a social construction, and each category encompasses a wide range of cultures and geographic origins.

It’s also hard to admit to whiteness when the category is associated with the oppression of other groups. But even as we understand that racial categories aren’t based on biological reality, it’s important to acknowledge that appearing “white” or “black” or “Asian” has mattered tremendously in our nation’s history, and we are still a long way from racial equality.