Zohran Mamdani faces scrutiny over college application racial identification

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in New York City's upcoming mayoral race, is facing new questions over a college application he submitted in 2009, in which he reportedly identified as both “Asian” and “Black or African American.”

The revelation appears to contradict his recent public statements regarding his racial identity.

According to a recent report by The New York Times, the information surfaced following a leak of internal college application data.

Mamdani, who is of Indian-Ugandan descent, applied to Columbia University in 2009. While he has publicly stated he does not identify as Black or African American and preferring instead to describe himself as “an American who was born in Africa”, his application reportedly marked both “Asian” and “Black or African American” under racial categories.

Mamdani defended his decision to the NYT, explaining that the application did not provide an option for his specific background.

“Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background,” he said. He also noted that he identified his nationality as Ugandan in the section that allowed for further detail.

Despite listing those racial categories, Mamdani’s application to Columbia was unsuccessful. He later attended Bowdoin College in Maine, where he earned a degree in African Studies. At the time of his application, his father, the prominent academic Mahmood Mamdani, was a professor at Columbia.

Mamdani, who has built his political profile on progressive policies and advocacy for marginalised communities, has never publicly identified as Black or African American in his campaign materials. Instead, he has highlighted his South Asian and Muslim heritage. His racial self-identification is now drawing scrutiny as he challenges incumbent Mayor Eric Adams in the race for City Hall.