Expand USC's Racial Categories on the Common App and University Forms
Expand USC's Racial Categories on the Common App and University Forms
The Issue
Each year, thousands of MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) students apply for admissions to one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, the University of Southern California. With the lack of a MENA category on USC's Common App, and USC forms, MENA Students will always be mislabeled, and unaccounted for.
Why should signing this Petition matter to you and I?
This lack of university racial/ethnic inclusion causes inaccurate depiction of data, including student body diversity demographics, funding, research, and equitable minority resources.
The absence of a MENA Category results in data that will only contribute to misinformation in the University’s census and monetary expenditure. The most conspicuous implications of the lack of racial recognition on the University census are integrated into USC’s student health services and professional programs. For instance, due to the absence of a MENA or North African category, there is an absence of culturally-specific and competent therapy appointments for these students within the USC counseling and mental health services. The USC Mental Health and Counseling Office boasts multiple culturally-specific therapy programs where students meet with a therapist that shares the same cultural background as them. These appointments can be made through “the Student Equity and Inclusion Programs: APASS, CBCSA, La CASA, LGBTQ+ Student Center and First Gen+ Success Center.” This lack of a MENA category is inextricably linked to the absence of a USC MENA Alumni Association leaving students without a dedicated space to foster connections with people of a shared background and without resources that other groups have.
Whether you are MENA or not, and regardless of your political and religious affiliations, we need your voice to help make USC a place that not only celebrates different cultures and backgrounds, but also puts equity at the forefront of its core. Sign the petition to push for a MENA category on the Common App and all University Forms.
Read about the implications of a lack of MENA Category and how it continues to marginalize MENA Students on Campus and deprive them from essential resources:
Little Background about the Issue:
Due to historical reasons stemming from U.S. citizenship discrimination against people of color, the MENA community had to fight for naturalization, and their only spear was to persuade the U.S. government was that they were of white descent. This strategy was adopted by many immigrants including those of Syrian, Lebanese and Mexican backgrounds. To this day, the U.S. Census continues to classify MENA individuals as white regardless of the ceaseless efforts pushing to add a MENA category to the census. The resounding reality is that MENA individuals, such as myself, are classified as white but without the many privileges of whiteness, and it continues to cause resounding problems within the MENA community. This is particularly evident in the lack of statistics and transparent data on the MENA population, resulting in a lack of health research, community funding and programs such as language assistance to newly arrived refugees and immigrants.
The U.S. Census Bureau was going to make this critical change for the 2020 Census but unfortunately changed their minds in 2018, citing lack of research. This comes despite the decades' work of MENA advocacy organizations and the simple fact that people from the MENA region are a distinct racial group.
Who are MENA (Middle Eastern or North African) people?
Middle Eastern and North African people have indigenous MENA origins. This spans from Modern Day Morocco to Iran and up to the Caucasus and down to Yemen.
The invisible unacknowledged Minority:
The 2.5% MENA invisible minority in the US should be afforded at the least the accurate racial category with which they can identify.
After public outcry, the category is again being reconsidered by the Census Bureau for the 2030 Census.
More about the issue:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-census-rashida-tlaib-carolyn-maloney-mena-category
358
The Issue
Each year, thousands of MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) students apply for admissions to one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, the University of Southern California. With the lack of a MENA category on USC's Common App, and USC forms, MENA Students will always be mislabeled, and unaccounted for.
Why should signing this Petition matter to you and I?
This lack of university racial/ethnic inclusion causes inaccurate depiction of data, including student body diversity demographics, funding, research, and equitable minority resources.
The absence of a MENA Category results in data that will only contribute to misinformation in the University’s census and monetary expenditure. The most conspicuous implications of the lack of racial recognition on the University census are integrated into USC’s student health services and professional programs. For instance, due to the absence of a MENA or North African category, there is an absence of culturally-specific and competent therapy appointments for these students within the USC counseling and mental health services. The USC Mental Health and Counseling Office boasts multiple culturally-specific therapy programs where students meet with a therapist that shares the same cultural background as them. These appointments can be made through “the Student Equity and Inclusion Programs: APASS, CBCSA, La CASA, LGBTQ+ Student Center and First Gen+ Success Center.” This lack of a MENA category is inextricably linked to the absence of a USC MENA Alumni Association leaving students without a dedicated space to foster connections with people of a shared background and without resources that other groups have.
Whether you are MENA or not, and regardless of your political and religious affiliations, we need your voice to help make USC a place that not only celebrates different cultures and backgrounds, but also puts equity at the forefront of its core. Sign the petition to push for a MENA category on the Common App and all University Forms.
Read about the implications of a lack of MENA Category and how it continues to marginalize MENA Students on Campus and deprive them from essential resources:
Little Background about the Issue:
Due to historical reasons stemming from U.S. citizenship discrimination against people of color, the MENA community had to fight for naturalization, and their only spear was to persuade the U.S. government was that they were of white descent. This strategy was adopted by many immigrants including those of Syrian, Lebanese and Mexican backgrounds. To this day, the U.S. Census continues to classify MENA individuals as white regardless of the ceaseless efforts pushing to add a MENA category to the census. The resounding reality is that MENA individuals, such as myself, are classified as white but without the many privileges of whiteness, and it continues to cause resounding problems within the MENA community. This is particularly evident in the lack of statistics and transparent data on the MENA population, resulting in a lack of health research, community funding and programs such as language assistance to newly arrived refugees and immigrants.
The U.S. Census Bureau was going to make this critical change for the 2020 Census but unfortunately changed their minds in 2018, citing lack of research. This comes despite the decades' work of MENA advocacy organizations and the simple fact that people from the MENA region are a distinct racial group.
Who are MENA (Middle Eastern or North African) people?
Middle Eastern and North African people have indigenous MENA origins. This spans from Modern Day Morocco to Iran and up to the Caucasus and down to Yemen.
The invisible unacknowledged Minority:
The 2.5% MENA invisible minority in the US should be afforded at the least the accurate racial category with which they can identify.
After public outcry, the category is again being reconsidered by the Census Bureau for the 2030 Census.
More about the issue:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-census-rashida-tlaib-carolyn-maloney-mena-category
358
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Petition created on August 7, 2022