Incumbent Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams demanded Columbia University release Zohran Mamdani’s admission records in which the Democratic socialist candidate identified as Asian and African American — before he became a US citizen.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old Muslim immigrant from Uganda who is the frontrunner in the city’s mayoral race, applied to the Ivy League in 2009 and checked the two boxes for “Asian” and “African American” because he felt that either alone didn’t encompass his identity, he told the New York Times Thursday.
The Queens lawmaker was not yet a US citizen at the time and was naturalized in 2018. He holds dual citizenship in the US and Uganda, the outlet reported.
In another portion of the application — which was ultimately rejected — that allowed him to elaborate on his identity, Mamdani clarified that he was Ugandan.
Adams was appalled by Mamdani’s actions, especially for skirting around the system in “an insult to every student who got into college the right way.”
“The African American identity is not a checkbox of convenience. It’s a history, a struggle and a lived experience. For someone to exploit that for personal gain is deeply offensive,” Hizzoner, who is black, said in a statement.
His campaign went a step further, accusing Mamdani of possibly having taken away an admission offer from a true African American applicant.
“It’s now clear that Zohran Mamdani misrepresented his racial identity to gain admission to Columbia University, and at the time, he wasn’t even a US citizen. This is not just dishonest — it’s possibly fraudulent. It may have taken a place away from a qualified African American applicant and misused a process designed to correct real, systemic inequities,” campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro charged in the statement.
“We need answers. Because the people of New York deserve to know whether the man asking for their vote built his career on a possibly fraudulent foundation.”
Mamdani’s application was leaked to the Times after a “hacktivist” reportedly stole sensitive information from more than 2 million members of the university, including applications.
The Adams campaign ordered Columbia University to make Mamdani’s admissions records public, perform an investigation into whether it violated university policy, and clarify whether his status as a non-citizen impacted their decisions.
Mamdani’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor of anthropology, political science and African studies at Columbia University. He joined the faculty in 1999.
Mamdani is the clear frontrunner in November’s general election, an American Pulse survey released Thursday shows.
He nabbed 35% of voters polled, while ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo pulled in 29%. Republican Curtis Sliwa had 16% while incumbent Adams, who is running as an independent, came in with 14% while fellow independent candidate, Jim Walden, had 1%.
The Post has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign.
