MENASA (Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian) students deserve to be seen and heard. MENASA students who apply to UCSB every year are forced to identify as "white" on all UCSB forms, surveys, and common apps. The lack of a MENASA category on all UCSB forms makes MENASA students invisible, mislabeled, and unaccounted for. This further contributes to the lack of diversity and inclusion of MENASA students not only within UCSB but within academia. It creates disparities in enrollment, and attainment, as well as gaps in earnings, and employment.

The University of California Santa Barbara offers a key pathway for social mobility and economic opportunity to students. However, that pathway is challenging and often out of reach for MENASA students. In absence of a MENASA category in its racial category, the university continuously misrepresents students from the region in its demographics and diversity reports. Currently, MENASA students must categorize themselves as "white" under ethnic origin in all the university data collection forms. But this doesn’t correspond to their lived experiences nor to others’ perceptions. UCSB’s inaccurate depiction of MENASA students on its forms and common apps is a cause for limiting data collection and the use of statistics that can improve educational access, attainment, and achievement. More importantly, disparities and inequalities faced by MENASA students at UCSB, its facilities, and services will remain hidden. Examples of current services that fail to recognize MENASA student identities and cultural differences range from health services and counseling to academics and career services. Students have no dedicated space to foster connections with others of a shared background and are left with far fewer resources than other groups. 

'This is about correcting a major historic injustice and ending the systemic erasure of an entire community

- Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib

To all students, academics, researchers, and anyone interested in landing their voice to make a change, we need you! And we need your voice in recognizing the presence of the MENASA community, their histories, and their contributions within academia and universities starting with UCSB. Let's advocate for a more equitable UCSB, a place where differences, cultures, and backgrounds, are celebrated and embraced. Sign the petition for UCSB to add a MENASA category on all its university forms.  

Are You of Middle Eastern or North African Descent?

Letter to the Editor: Let’s push for the inclusion of more racial categories

The U.S. census sees Middle Eastern and North African people as white. Many don't