That was the point though on a number of the application forms there was no OTHER - there were categories for Pacific Islanders and Native Americans and so on, but nothing that allowed anyone who has black/white mix to tick other than Black or White so forcing you to make a decision between the two. Now for me personally if I was in that situation I'd tick black for the simple reasons that I don't identify as white anyway and neither do almost all the other mixed folk I know, plus - I'd be applying to a black college so it would make more sense to go with the flow as it were - what actual difference that would make in someone's experience at the college I don't know as presumably the contents of the form aren't made public. But, if other mixed folk are made to choose in the same way you might end up with a campus looking rather whiter/lighter than the official stats suggest.
On the other hand if the college is short of funds and can gain more if white students attend I can see it being very tempting when any light mixes turn up for an interview to say to them 'ah I see you ticked black, but you're obviously mixed - would you mind redoing the form and ticking white so we can get some more funding?' - now if that was happening you'd have the opposite effect - the stats would show the number of whites in the college rising, but the actual race of the students would be the same as it might have been 20 or 30 years ago
On a side issue it would be interesting to know how a white person would get on in a black college compared to a mixed person who looked white in terms of the different ways they might be treated by staff, students etc
On the other hand if the college is short of funds and can gain more if white students attend I can see it being very tempting when any light mixes turn up for an interview to say to them 'ah I see you ticked black, but you're obviously mixed - would you mind redoing the form and ticking white so we can get some more funding?' - now if that was happening you'd have the opposite effect - the stats would show the number of whites in the college rising, but the actual race of the students would be the same as it might have been 20 or 30 years ago
On a side issue it would be interesting to know how a white person would get on in a black college compared to a mixed person who looked white in terms of the different ways they might be treated by staff, students etc