When international relations senior Jaime Chao applied to MSU, she had to choose the race with which she identified, she said.
Chao, who's multiracial, said the pressure to identify with one race or another creates a dilemma for students of mixed race.
"It's hard to figure out not just who you are, but what that means within your community," she said.
Multiracial students from around the country will be in East Lansing for Saturday's 10th annual National Mixed Race Conference, said Nicole O'Brien, assistant director for staff development and diversity in the Department of Residence Life.
"It's a fantastic opportunity for scholars, parents and individuals all over Michigan and beyond to have an opportunity to connect," she said.
There are 316 undergraduate students who consider themselves to be multiracial this semester, according to admissions data from the Office of the Registrar.
Rachel Gonzalez, vice president of the Multiracial Identity eXperience, or the MIX, said there's a small multiracial population, but it's growing.
She said numbers of those who identify as being multiracial could be greater, but many individuals choose to identify with one race, even though they're multiracial.
"They don't connect with the other side of their identity and there's nothing wrong with that," Gonzalez said about some students of mixed race. "It's hard to identify with two sides."
Registration for "360 Degrees of M.E.: The Multiracial Experience" will start at 10 a.m. at the Marriott at University Place, 300 M.A.C. Ave.
The conference will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is no cost. Hapa Asian Pacific Alliance hosts the conference along with the MIX.
Paul Turner III, president and founder of the MIX, said this is the third-mixed race conference at MSU and the first national conference the university has presented.
He said the conference will educate society about the pressures multiracial students face.
"Most of the time, multiracial students are induced to assimilate and they're overlooked with the broader community," he said.
"This conference will educate people on the dynamics of being multiracial."
Chao, who is a racial ethnic student aide in Yakeley and Gilchrist halls, said multiracial students have different needs than students who aren't of mixed race.
"There's not a sense of how to be multiracial, so it's different to claim," she said. "There's a lot of pressure to figure out who to be."
