This is not a joke ... be careful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[twarga]

Since "Hispanic" is a cultural designation, and not a racial one, I'd be willing to give Tex the benefit of the doubt if-if-if he was adopted as a very young child.  Now, if he was adopted at, say, 17 or 18, then forget it.

Ask Tex how many times he was called a wetback or worse.  I bet none.  That's what I meant by "white as me."  Maybe he witnessed his dad being called names, but not on his own.  He's a handsome white man with all the privileges that go with being a handsome white man.  Prospective employers don't look at him and think, "Can I trust this guy?"  White girls aren't apprehensive about brining him home to mom and dad.  This is what I'm talking about.  Not all this liberal (and I'm a Democrat, so don't start) hand-holding Benetton ad garbage.

Tex saw a way to buck the system and it bit him in the big white ass.

[RegularGuy]

You need to expose this school so we all can know. This school needs to be publicly shamed! If I were in your position, I would get the media involved. They practiacally tried to sabatoge you based on incomplete information.

I agree with you 100% and then some.  This school, even with a slam dunk, should have contacted him first.  Contact other schools after the fact, but goddamn, contact the guy first before you go and put a cloud over his app at other schools for what could have been an intentional act of deception but could also have been anything fron a misunderstanding to an honest mistake (speaking independtly of the OP's situation...i don't care about him at all, just the principle).  And if that is the sort of opinion that makes me a 'troublemaker', well, I'm pretty easy to identify and the ad comms are welcome to do so.  In fact, I get closer and closer to posting the last four digits of my LSAC# just so they're sure it's me...though I"m fairly positive i'm the only person with my numbers combo AND little background story in the entire country, so they probably don't need it.

[zakrob]

Ok, I'm not trying to pass judgements, but I just thought I'd throw this out there. This is a true (and I imagine not uncommon) story. I have a friend whose mother is white and biological father is black. He never really knew his biological father.  His mom married a white man when he was about five years old and he soon had 2 half sisters who are entirely white. So since he grew up in a white family (all the relatives he's ever known are white) should he check the white box? Being the only biracial person in a white family certainly made his experience different than the others...i don't know.

[twarga]

I think most adopted children would say that they identify with their parent's race.  Regardless.

I happen to know a blonde haired blue-eyed little boy whose parents are both hispanic.  He just ended up with some buried recessive genes.  Does that mean he's not an URM?  

Being an URM is not edxclusively about your skin color.  It's about overcoming years of oppression and poverty.

I personally think their should be a box for poor white folks too.  

My mom grew up the 9th of 12 children on a cotton farm in Oklahoma.  Poor as dirt.  There wasn't a box for that.  Darn it.  Now Tex's dad, HE can check the URM box.  The blonde haired hispanic boy, HE can check the URM box.  Tex?  No.

And being hispanic is more than just a cultural thing.  It's not something you can feel long enough and "become" any more than you can become black just by wanting it badly enough.  

[hunterhogan]

Based on the information that we currently have, School X should be publicly reprimanded in my opinion.

Regardless of BigTex's actions, School X did not perform their due diligence. If they had contacted BigTex directly early in their investigation, then their conclusions would be much more valid.

Again, I do not think the collection of the information was inappropriate, I think their actions afterward are the real problem.

[Dante]

tag...

[HKrustofsky]

Big Tex lied and got caught.  He is a liar.  He tried to be slippery and write his "addendum" to cover his butt, but when he checked "hispanic" his file made it to a separate pile from the white applicants.  He got preferential treatment based on his lie, and as a person competing against Big Tex for a spot at Harvard, I'm outraged.  He's as white as me, and his application should not have any weight over mine because of his lie.  

You are truly insane. What part of Tex submitting an addednum to fully explain his situation (except for one case that he explained) equate to lying? The adcoms had complete information. How is that an attempt to decieve? You are bitter about something, that much is obvious.

[veedonfleece]

most of these posts miss the issue.

he considers himself hispanic.  he checked the box.  he clearly stated in each of his aplications (save one) WHY he checked the box.  after that, its the school's call, not ours. 

[Tristana]

The more I think about this, the more I think Tex should have just clicked "white" or "other" and explained his situation. You really don't want to mess with these applications. I can understand where the school in question thought he was being dishonest (since they didn't have the addendum). I am 1/8 Chippewa/Ojibway but just put white because I am not a member of the tribe and did not grow up on the reservation. I am not going to take the spot of a true Native American just so I can take advantage of the situation and so some school can fill their diversity quota.

[twarga]

Merriam Webster's definition of hispanic:  

of, relating to, or being a person of Latin American descent living in the U.S.; especially : one of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin.

I don't think Tex has heard the last of this.  The sh*t hit the fan today, but I think it'll be splattering around for awhile.  While we might never know when Tex was adopted or why he felt he was entitled to URM status, you'd better believe all of those schools are going to want to know.  Addendum or not, I think he's going to have some explaining to do.