The Virginia Informer

Last Updated:11/20/09 Section: News

During the class selection process and through other extensive uses of Banner, many students have noticed that there is an option to edit their race and ethnicity, and have asked why.

According to the registrar's office the new tab is part of recently enacted federal guidelines that mandate universities do this. According to the National Center for Education Statistics the new questions must state: "The first question is whether the respondent is Hispanic/Latino. The second question is whether the respondent is from one or more races from the following list: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, White." The data will then be reported to the center in aggregate form for the entire student body.

The new tab on banner asks only these questions, and is entirely in compliance with the new guidelines.

According to Sara Marchello, the university registrar, who said, "given the new federal requirements, we changed the way we ask applicants for admission and employment about their race and ethnicity so that the information fit the new reporting structure"

Additionally, for already enrolled students Ms. Marchello said: "We wanted to allow students and employees to correct or amend their information if they desired, so we therefore implemented the update feature in Banner self-service."

There is no school verification of what students self report on Banner, and it is only used to report the information to the National Center for Education Statistics as per the new federal mandate.

Since there is no independent verification and the system is only used for aggregate reporting fears that some students have that some other students will abuse the system in order to get better scholarships or look more favorable on applications are unfounded since the information is not verified and just reported as a whole. Individual student's names are not attached to the sent data.

However, some have raised concerns that changing their race/ ethnicity for no reason or to something false could actually skew the college's data set to something innacurate with the federal government, which could reflect poorly on the college and make the overall statistics utterly useless.

According to Dean Broaddus the reporting has "no bearing on scholarships," which alleviates the concern of many inquiring students.

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