Project: Check It, a group of current and former students, is pushing the University to add the category "North African/Middle Eastern" to the race and ethnicity section of admissions applications for all University programs, departments, schools and colleges.

The group, which is lobbying for a similar addition to the University of Minnesota Law School's application, won the unanimous support of the Michigan Student Assembly Tuesday night, recommending that "North African/Middle Eastern" be added to any application questions regarding racial or ethnic background.

Sirene Abou-Chakra, a University alum, said she and Mahmoud Fadlallah, another alum, started the group because they didn't think Arab-Americans or students of North African descent could identify with any of the existing choices on the University's application.

She said adding a "North African/Middle Eastern" category would offer Arab and North African students - who often check the "Caucasian/White" or "Race not included above" box - a more accurate category with which to identify. Currently, the University's undergraduate admissions application allows students to choose between "African-American/Black," "Asian/Pacific Islander," "Caucasian/White," "Hispanic/Latino," "Native American/Alaskan" with a write-in space for tribal affiliation and "Race not included above" with a write-in space.

Abou-Chakra said adding the new category would exemplify the University's commitment to creating a more diverse campus.

"If we're going to say we're a University that prides itself on diversity and welcoming students, then the University's application should reflect that," Abou-Chakra said.

Abou-Chakra said larger cultural groups like the Black Student Union or the Latino Students Organization benefit from receiving contact information at the beginning of each year for students who selected the "African-American/Black" or "Hispanic/Latino" category on their application. She said this information makes it easier for groups to recruit large numbers of incoming students because the University provides the groups with that contact information.

Groups like the Arab Student Association, though, don't receive that information at the beginning of each year, said LSA sophomore Kamelya Youssef, the external relations chair for the Arab Students' Association. Youssef said that makes it more difficult for groups like ASA to contact Middle Eastern or North African students enrolling at the University.

"All of our contact is done by word of mouth and Festifall, and we have no contact with anybody simply based on their status as an Arab or North African," Youssef said. "These students will have a better campus experience if they're more involved with ethnic groups."

She said that by adding a check box, the University would be showing a commitment to the Arab community on campus

"Since the check boxes are really all about regional and ethno-geographic origin, when anybody thinks of the Caucasian category they think of places from all over Europe," Youssef said. "But when they think of Middle Eastern, they don't think of them as under that Caucasian headline."

The Michigan and United States censuses, which dictate what racial and ethnic categories the University includes on its admissions applications, don't classify Middle Eastern and North African people as a separate ethnic group on their surveys. Instead, the censuses categorize them as "White."

University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said the University collects racial and ethnic information on its admission applications as directed by the state and federal rules and regulations.

"We have certain reports that were required to submit to the state and the federal government, and so we collect specific data for those purposes," Cunningham said.

Until the state or federal governments add a racial or ethnic category similar to "North African/Middle Eastern" to their census surveys, the University will continue asking students for the same racial and ethnic information, Cunningham said.