A photo emerged Thursday of a chart comparing freshman admissions rates at the University of Maryland between two categories, “White or Asian students” and “Students of Color minus Asian.”
The photo has the University of Maryland’s logo attached at the bottom. The chart compared admissions and enrollment rates among freshmen in the fall of 2017 to admissions rates in the fall of 2021. The data showed that general admissions have gone up as have average weighted GPAs, according to the chart posted by journalist Christopher Rufo.
The chart classifies students by race, though the university opted to create a new racial category called “Students of Color minus Asian.” Asian students aged 18-24 have the highest nationwide college enrollment rates, averaging approximately 60 percent, according to a 2020 study by the National Center for Education Statistics.
We’re at the point in the discourse when colleges have created the highly scientific and totally legitimate racial category of “Students of Color, minus Asian” pic.twitter.com/3Nzgs6Iszt
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) November 10, 2021
The University of Maryland shared a statement with the Washington Examiner stating that the data was designed to show underrepresented student populations, which does not include Asian students.
“During his annual State of the Campus address, President Pines shared information about the demographics of the freshman class, including information about the diversity of the class,” the university spokesperson said. “The data in this specific section of the slide refers to student populations that are considered underrepresented on our campus.”
The university’s Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard similarly creates a separate category for Asian students. The university boasts of its “underrepresented minority” category, which includes students who are “African-American/Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Native Hawaiian.”
Asians are categorized as “other minority” alongside students who identify as “multiple races.”