Fact check: Fact check hacked Columbia documents that revealed the New York Democratic mayoral nominee identified as "Black or African American" on his college application.

1. Summary of the results

The analyses confirm that hacked Columbia University documents did reveal that New York Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani identified as "Black or African American" on his 2009 college application ^{[1] [2] [3]}. The sources establish that Mamdani also checked "Asian" and wrote in "Ugandan" for additional background on the same application ^[2].

The hack itself was politically motivated, with Columbia University confirming that student data was stolen by a hacker who aimed to prove the university continued to employ affirmative action policies after a Supreme Court decision ^{[4] [5]}. This cyberattack caused a dayslong IT outage at the university ^[5].

Mamdani has publicly addressed the controversy, explaining that his responses on the application were meant to reflect the complexity of his heritage within the constraints of available options and were not intended to seek any advantage in the admissions process ^[3].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original statement lacks several crucial pieces of context:

• Mamdani's current self-identification: The sources reveal that despite checking "Black or African American" on his application, Mamdani does not currently consider himself Black ^[2]. This creates a significant distinction between his past application choices and his present identity.
• The political motivation behind the hack: The original statement fails to mention that this was part of a politically motivated cyberattack specifically targeting affirmative action policies ^{[6] [5]}. This context suggests the leak may have been strategically timed to damage Mamdani's campaign.
• Broader political attacks on Mamdani: The analyses show that Mamdani has faced other political attacks, including false claims that he is a communist, when he actually identifies as a democratic socialist ^{[7] [8]}. This pattern suggests coordinated opposition research.
• The complexity of racial identity on applications: Missing is discussion of how college applications often force complex identities into limited checkbox categories, which Mamdani has cited as his reasoning ^[3].

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

While the core factual claim appears accurate, the original statement presents potential bias through selective framing:

• Omission of Mamdani's explanation: The statement fails to include Mamdani's own account of why he made these choices on his application, which could mislead readers about his intentions ^[3].
• Lack of context about the hack's political nature: By not mentioning that this was a politically motivated cyberattack targeting affirmative action policies, the statement obscures the potential partisan motivations behind the document's release ^{[6] [5]}.
• Timing and sourcing concerns: The statement doesn't address whether the leaked documents were verified through proper journalistic channels or simply published as part of the hack, raising questions about the ethical implications of using stolen data for political attacks.

The New York Times faced liberal backlash for their coverage of this story ^[3], suggesting that even established media outlets struggled with how to responsibly report on politically motivated leaks targeting a candidate's decades-old college application.