Minority student leaders are attacking the methodology used in an introductory-level statistics project released last week that found upperclass houses to be racially imbalanced in a way that matches stereotypes of those houses.

In compiling their final project last spring for Statistics 100: "Introduction to Quantitative Methods," Nienke C. Grossman '99 and Mark F. Veblen '99 examined a sample of facebook pictures and assigned students to one of the three racial categories: "white, African-American or Asian/South Asian/Indian/Near Eastern."

Student leaders not only dispute the project's premise that it is possible to determine the race of an individual by looking at a facebook picture but also criticize the first-years' failure to include Hispanics and Native Americans as racial categories.

"Race and ethnicity in this country are so important to personal development because it reflects so much of people's culture and history," said Jessy J. Fernandez '99, the co-president of Minority Students' Alliance.

"When you look through a facebook and assign them to one race, you are classifying them in a way that may not be fair," said Fernandez, who is of Indian descent.

Sandy R. Santana '97, president of the Dominican Students' Organization, agreed.

"You have to understand that race is a social construct," he said. "The study is not right--any study done today should ask people how they want to classify themselves."

The student researchers said Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 rebuffed their requests for the pertinent data. Lewis has said he does not want to release such data until the houses become fully random in the fall of 1998, saying that to do so would simply confirm stereotypes.

Lewis has refused to confirm or deny the figures provided by the students.

The students' report acknowledges the difficulty of identifying race by pictures but argues that this problem should not affect the final results unless there was "systematic bias in identifying race."

But Professor of Statistics Carl N. Morris said even the most well-intentioned researchers are sometimes affected by unconscious bias.

The professor challenged those who contest the study to try to replicate it.

"We would have to get someone who is blind to the knowledge of the houses [to get completely unbiased data]," he said. "[Critics] should get and MIT student...[to] repeat the study."

No Hispanics

Other students, such as Asian American Association (AAA) Cultural Co-chair Ellie Kim '98, criticized the lack of inclusion of Hispanics or Latin Americans in the project.

Hispanics comprise about six percent of the Class of 1999, while Native Americans make up about one percent, according to figures released by the admissions office.