Zohran Mamdani Under Fire For Marking 'Black' Race On Columbia Form Despite Current Denial

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Last Updated:July 04, 2025, 07:26 IST

Zohran Mamdani recently denied being identified as Black or African American. However, a report revealed that he had checked all such boxes in his Columbia University application.

Report reveals he checked multiple boxes in college application (Reuters Image)

Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, has landed in a fresh controversy after a report revealed that he identified himself as ‘Black or African American’ in an application to Columbia University in 2009, contradicting his recent claims of not being recognised as any of these races.

Mamdani had recently said that he does not identify himself as a Black or African American, but rather “an American who was born in Africa".

A New York Times report on Thursday revealed that he ticked ‘Asian’ and ‘Black or African American’ boxes in his 2009 application. The report also said that listing his race this way might have helped him get an advantage in the admissions process. His application was unsuccessful at Columbia University, and he went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in African studies from Bowdoin College in Maine.

The NYT report was based on internal college data that was leaked in a hack.

Mamdani explained the reason behind his choices on the application form to the NYT, “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 that he mentioned that he was “Ugandan", where the application sought students’ specific information.

“Even though these boxes are constraining, I wanted my college application to reflect who I was," the Democratic nominee said.

At the time Mamdani applied to college, his father was a professor at Columbia University.

Mamdani has never publicly confessed that he identifies as African American or Black. During his campaign against Andrew Cuomo, he spoke about his Muslim and South Asian background. He is now running in the mayoral election, where one of his opponents is current Mayor Eric Adams.

He told NPR earlier this week that he is the first Muslim elected official to “ever run for mayor".

“As the first South Asian elected official, the first Muslim elected official to ever run for mayor, the turnout in those same communities has been incredible to see," he had said.

Ashesh Mallick

Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes...Read More

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