By Liz Skinner
For years we have been seeing the demographic race/ethnicity disclosure boxes on applications for jobs and schools. For years we have grown accustomed to our answers being voluntary. The government has requested, but not required, us to answer those nosy little questions. So why is it that this year, at the University of Louisville, answering those questions doesn’t feel voluntary? Why did this come about? And how do we know that our answers aren’t being stored?
It took some effort, and many phone calls, to find the person who could answer these questions. But Rebecca Patterson, the director of institutional research and planning at the Office of Academic Planning and Accountability, was able to shed some light on the issue. According to Patterson, the Department of Education recently mandated a change in the way ethnicity data is to be collected, from a single-question format to a double-question format. This means that we now have the option of selecting two races, rather than one, if applicable. According to Patterson, the submission of data is voluntary.
“Data previously provided by the student are pre-populated,” said Patterson in an e-mail statement. According to Patterson, students have the option to uncheck this pre-populated data. The only option that needs to be selected to continue is a box which reads “the information is correct as entered.”
“The selection of this box documents, in a PeopleSoft table, that U of L provided the student an opportunity to answer the two-question format,” said Patterson. Patterson said that the Department of Education requested the documentation.
My concern with this is that the word pre-populated indicates to me that my information is being stored, and is directly connected to my user ID. Therefore, it is connected to my personal identity. Many students have found themselves unable to proceed with enrollment without answering these questions. Because this option has been provided by U of L as an opportunity, those that don’t wish to take advantage of this opportunity could feel slightly imposed upon.
“Race/ethnicity data are only reported in the aggregate to the federal government, as part of our submission to the Department of Education,” said Patterson.
While I understand this, I still can’t shake the feeling that my answers are being stored by U of L. So while the Department of Education may not see the individual information, U of L does see it and does record it.
A solution to this seems necessary, in order to protect our privacy on a very personal matter. Might I suggest that once I have filled out that checkbox, U of L simply note in the records that I have completed this? Therefore I need not do it every time I register. It seems it wouldn’t be too difficult to remove that checkbox completely, send it to the anonymous pool for the Department of Education, and not present it to us again as a pre-populated item. After all, my race will not change from one semester to the next, will it? At the very least, maybe online enrollment processes could be modified so that we aren’t forced to check anything before continuing. That, to me, would feel much less mandatory.
